ABSTRACT
The religious had been the greatest advocates of 'reform' and devout defenders of the Roman primacy. Often giving himself over to prayer and contemplation, in 1202, at Subiaco, it was witnessed that neither heat nor insects could disturb Innocent from hisorisons. It was the pope's sincere desire to battle against the vanities and pride of this world which led to the decisions he took both when dealing with the secular and the religious world. The product of the crusades par excellence, the idea of the warrior religious appealed to all levels of Iberian society and the success of the knights and the diversity of their activities in the Peninsula are well-known. Innocent was vigorous in his defence of the female religious against lay intrusions and granted valid communities papal protection. The nature of the propositum was such that it gave Duran and his followers the character of a religious community without allowing them the status of a religio.
