CRUSADES FROM HUNGARY. 295 Ninoslav threw himself heart and soul with the Cathari, and the struggle was bloody and prolonged. The Legate Giacopo induced Bela ly. to take an oath to extirpate all heretics from every land under his jurisdiction, and the Franciscans hastened to take a hand in the good work. They commenced with the city of Zara, but the Archbishop of Zara, instead of seconding their labors, impeded them, which earned for him the emphatic rebuke of Gregory. Indeed from the account which Yvo of Narbonne gives about this time of the Cathari of the maritime districts, they could not have been much disturbed by these proceedings."^ In 1235 the crusaders were unlucky. Bishop John lost all hope of recovering his see and asked Gregory to reheve him of it, as the labors of war were too severe for him ; but Gregory reproved his faintheartedness, telHng him that if he disliked war the love of God should urge him on.f In 1236 the aspect of aflPairs im- proved, probably because Bela lY. had replaced Andreas on the throne of Hungary, and because the crusaders were energetical- ly aided by Sebislav, Duke of Usora, the son of the former Ban Stephen, who hoped to recover the succession. He was rewarded by Gregory caUing him a lily among thorns and the sole repre- sentative of orthodoxy among the Bosnian chiefs, who were all heretics. At last, in 1237, Coloman triumphed, but heresy was not eradicated, in spite of his efforts through the following years. In fulfilment of his request, Gregory ordered the consecration of the Dominican Ponsa as Bishop of Bosnia, and soon afterwards appointed Ponsa as legate for three years in order that he might exterminate the remnant of heresy. It must have been a tolerably large remnant, for in the same breath he promised the protection of the Holy See to all who would take the cross to extirpate it. In 1239 the Provincial Prior of Hungary was ordered to send to the heretic districts a number of friars, powerful in speech and ac-
- Epist. Saec. XIII. T. I. No. 574, 601. — Ripoll L 70. - Potthast No. 9726,
9733-8, 10019, 10052.— Klaic, p. 96.-Batthyam Legg. Eccles. Hung. I. 355.-1 Matt. Paris ann. 1243 (Ed. 1644, pp. 412-13). t Bishop Jolin succeeded in resigning his bishopric, and became Grand Mas- ter of his Order. A contemporary, who knew him personally, describes him as a man of apostolic virtue, who distributed in alms the revenue of his see, amount- ing to 8000 marks, and performed his journeys on foot, with an ass to carry his books and vestments. After his death at Strassburg he shone in miracles.— Tho- mae Cantimprat. Bonum universale Lib. ii. c. 56.
