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Ch. XI THE FIFTH CRUSADE 381 
Meanwhile Simon, the newly appointed archbishop of Tyre, already in France
as a crusading preacher and as papal representa tive at the Council of Melun,
had in December 1216 been desig nated by Honorius as legate in France.9 
 In western Germany, the task of preaching a crusade was en trusted to an
impressive array of bishops, abbots, and other high clerics.10 By far the
most successful of these was the scholasticus Oliver of the school of Cologne.
The term scholasticus appears to have been employed to designate his role
as scholar, teacher, and man of letters, rather than in its narrower significance
as a student of scholastic theology." It has been conjectured that Oliver
was probably of a noble Westphalian family which had long been in possession
of the episcopal see of Paderborn.12 Innocent again called upon him, this
time designating as his province Westphalia, Frisia, Brabant, Flanders, the
diocese of Utrecht, and neighboring regions. His success was phenomenal.
In the maritime cities and towns fifty thousand are said to have taken the
cross; at any rate 300 ships were fitted out in Cologne.13 As usual, one
must accept such figures with reservations. 
 A third crusading preacher, James of Vitry, had, in the early years of the
thirteenth century, come under the influence of the saintly Mary of Oignies,
had become a canon regular, and after 1210 had preached the crusade against
the Albigensians. His reward was election as bishop of Acre. Honorius III
in 1217 sum moned him to preach the new crusade in the Latin settlements
of Syria, a task all the more difficult because of the widespread cor ruption
prevalent in the cosmopolitan ports of Acre, Tyre, and Sidon, and because
of the general use of the Arabic tongue in many communities.14 
 As if determined to prevent the revival of the mercenary interests which
had diverted the Fourth Crusade, James unrelentingly attacked the westerners,
especially the Venetians, Pisans, and Genoese, who had colonized the port
cities. As he traveled through Syria he saw, with rising indignation, the
extent to which the colonists had adopted not only the language but the manners
and 
  Epistolae Honorii papae III, in RHGF, XIX, 616. 
 10 Listed by R. Röhricht, Studien zur Geschichte des funften Kreuzzuges,
p. and ac companying notes. 
11 Petit-Radel, "Olivier ou Olivarius," Histoire littéraire de la
France, XVIII, 14 if. 
 12 Ibid., and see also Junckmann, "Magister Oliverius Scholasticus," Katholische
Zeit schrift, 1851, pp. 101 if.; H. Hoogeweg, "Die schriften d. Domscholasters
Oliverus," Biblio thek des litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, CCII (Tubingen,
1894), pp. x if., xx if. 
 13 See the letter of Oliver in Westdeutsche Zeitschriftfur Geschichte undKunst,
X (1891), 170. 
 14 James of Vitry, Epist. II, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, XIV,
1 1 5.