The fourth Lateran Council coincided with the rise of the universities and of the new orders of friars, those of St Francis and St Dominic, and marked the beginning of a new era in the pastoral life of the church. When it called the direction of souls ‘the art of arts’ it made clear the purpose of the pastoral programme which its decrees laid upon bishops and clergy: an informed laity instructed by a reformed clergy. The clergy, who had to be disciplined, educated, orthodox and fitted by character and training for the direction of souls, were the key to its success. They had, in effect, to live good lives and to study theology. The friars grasped the full implication of the conciliar decrees and made a determined effort to put them into practice. Their studies always had a practical side: ‘the purpose of study is preaching, and of preaching the salvation of souls’, as Humbert of Romans (master general of the Dominicans 1254–63) put it. The studies of the friars were aimed at their apostolate of preaching in the pulpit and instruction in the confessional. This combination of learning and its practical application to Christian life made them indispensable to those committed to making a reality of the conciliar decrees.