The Fourth Lateran Lateran

The fourth Lateran Council was the twelfth council of the Catholic church and took place in 1215 under the reign of Pope Innocent the III. This council was at the origin of a series of important overhauls of the Christian world. The decisions calling for a strengthening of the battle against heresy, the Jews and the Saracens set in place the foundations of the future Inquisition. It also enabled the organisation of the 1217 Crusade (the fifth crusade). The Council also widely reformed the customs of the clergy in inserting a large quantity of articles into canonical law, reinforcing the discipline of clerics and laypeople.