With this minimalist and somewhat grudging conclusion to his biography, the Vita Eugenii, Boso, former chamberlain or camerarius of the Roman Church and cardinal deacon of SS. Cosma e Damiano, stands accused of seriously underplaying the vigorous recovery and unprecedented territorial expansion of the Patrimonium beati Petri which Eugenius III set in motion during his pontificate. Through a combination of methods born of undoubted financial acumen and relevant administrative experience as vicedominus to the archbishop of Pisa, together with the skilful use and re-working of institutions already established by his predecessors to recoup these losses, Eugenius was instrumental both in masterminding and in organizing the successful initiative directed towards achieving security and stability in papal lands. The novelty of his scheme, which provided the model for recovery over the next half century, was that he and his successors no longer focused solely on securing isolated strong points and consolidating patrimonial frontiers but instead sought to create a dense chequerboard of fortifications from north to south of the Patrimony. An