Tradition and temerity: papal attitudes to deviants, 1159–1216
The fourth Lateran council of 1215 represented a watershed in the official attitude towards heresy. It marked the end of a period of considerable flexibility and real experiment in dealing with dissident movements. For nearly sixty years, the Church had been seeking possible solutions to the problems posed by the formation of new religious groups which not only deviated in various ways from orthodox belief but which also failed to conform to accepted social patterns within the Christian community. Tradition and temerity were two elements in papal policy at this time. The tentative developments of the pontificate of Alexander III were given positive direction by the energetic actions of Innocent III who examined some of these groups to find a way by which they might be contained within the Church and thus allowed to fulfil their vocation. But at the same time, the Church was becoming institutionalised and its framework more rigid. The freedom of manoeuvre of the pope was limited. The episcopate and the regular orders saw Innocent’s actions as inimical to the hierarchical structure of the Church and, therefore, brought the whole weight of traditional opinion and influence to bear against the continuation of such policies.