“Les petits renards qui détruisent la Vigne du Seigneur Sabaoth”. Innocent III et le Cantique des cantiques

Rist, R. A.C. (2015) “Les petits renards qui détruisent la Vigne du Seigneur Sabaoth”. Innocent III et le Cantique des cantiques. In: Cahier 50. Innocent III et le Midi. Cahiers de Fanjeaux. Publication annuelle d'histoire religieuse du Midi de la France au Moyen Age, Mairie - Place des Halles, F-11270 FANJEAUX, France, pp. 255-277. ISBN 9782708934542

Abstract/Summary

This article examines medieval interpretations of the Song of Songs and their appearance in the correspondence of one of the greatest popes of the High Middle Ages: Innocent III (1198-1216). Innocent III’s depiction of heretics in the south of France as ‘the little foxes which destroy the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts’ was not unprecedented: decades earlier Saint Bernard of Clairvaux had also likened the ‘little foxes’ to heretics in his sermons. Bernard’s renown both as mystical theologian and tireless political advocate of the papacy meant that Innocent is likely to have drawn on such sermons for inspiration when composing his correspondence to the Christian faithful. Innocent’s references to the Song of Songs also provide conclusive evidence that a significant number of his letters have a highly personal flavour and that we really can discern a pope’s own ‘voice’ through his correspondence.