“Ut ordo eo efficacius surgeret”: Innocent IV, the Bonites and the origins of the Order of the Augustinian Hermit Friars

This paper contextualises the role of pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) as promoter of the future Order of Augustinian Hermit Friars or ordo eremitarum sancti augustini. It briefly details the nature of his support, while taking for granted that a pope only intermittently engaged directly in decisions made in his name. The core of the discussion therefore focuses on the contribution of the cardinal protectors appointed by Innocent and in particular on the pope’s nephew, Guglielmo de’ Fieschi, cardinal deacon of S. Eustachio (d. 1256) and cardinal protector of the Bonite hermit order that would later join the fledgling Augustinian Hermit Friars. The bulk of the analysis is a close reading of Guglielmo de’ Fieschi’s letter to the Bonites, Variam (eremitarum) ordinis (8 January 1253), outlining the steps involved in forming and then reuniting the order following an internal schism. For the Bonites, Guglielmo recorded not just an agreed version of their early history but what amounted to a dry run for the magna unio (great union) of 1256 which created the larger order of friars. For modern historians, Variam (eremitarum) ordinis represents an official if legally-minded history of the Bonites, drawing our attention to the role of the different actors involved. It is a guide to both the difficulties inherent in such processes and the approach to structures of leadership, names and, not least, forms of profession. It thus merits attention alongside the more widely studied merger of another of the precursor orders, the Tuscan hermits, achieved in 1244 and often presented as the key preliminary to the magna unio.