The Avignon Papacy, 1309 - 1378
From 1309 to 1378, for nearly seventy years, the papacy resided at Avignon (Exceptions: Urban V (1362-70) briefly lived in Rome from mid-1367 to 1370, but then returned to Avignon. Gregory XI (1371-78) lived in Rome for the final year of his papacy). This period has often been referred to as the “Babylonian Captivity” of the Medieval Church. This is due to the supposed similarities between this episode and the actual Babylonian Captivity of the Jews in the sixth century B.C. This characterization, however, seems somewhat reductionist and simplistic. The Popes at Avignon were not merely puppets controlled by the whims of the French king. Nor was it true that the popes were held “captive” at Avignon for the entire period. The papacy became increasingly tied to Avignon for many economic and administrative reasons and turned the city into the normal residence of the pope. The popes at Avignon enjoyed a large degree of autonomy; under their tutelage the Church became more centralized and brought in more revenues than ever before. The successive Avignon popes gained increasingly more independence and authority over the Church administration as well. The legacy of the Avignon papacy lasted well into the fifteenth century and beyond.
Comparisons between the papacy’s residence at Avignon and the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews were first made by Petrarch, the fourteenth century Italian scholar, poet, and humanist. Petrarch lived occasionally at Avignon and even held lucrative benefices from the popes. Interestingly enough, the “term of the papacy in exile at Avignon (1309-78) virtually coincided with the span of Petrarch’s life (1304-74).” In 1312, Petrarch’s family settled just fifteen miles from Avignon in the town of Carpentras, where he witnessed the entrenchment of the papacy at Avignon. The term “Babylonian Captivity” of the Church is polemical, in that it refers to the claim that the prosperity of the church at this time was accompanied by a profound compromise of the Papacy’s spiritual integrity, especially in the alleged subordination of the powers of the Church to the ambitions of the Frankish emperor. Petrarch wrote of the popes at Avignon:
"Now I am living in France, in the Babylon of the West…Here reign the successors of the poor fishermen of Galilee; they have strangely forgotten their origin. I am astounded, as I recall their predecessors, to see these men loaded with gold and clad in purple, boasting of the spoils of princes and nations; to see luxurious palaces and heights crowned with fortifications, instead of a boat turned downward for shelter."
Petrarch’s words reflect his own dislike for Avignon and his desire for the papacy to return to the Eternal City of Rome. He believed the residence at Avignon had corrupted the papacy and that the cure was a return to Italy. Petrarch’s harsh caricature of the popes was adopted by many writers and critics after his time. Most especially his image of the Avignon papacy as “equal to the Babylonian Captivity, the idea that the popes lived in thrall just as the Israelites spent seventy years in captivity in Babylon, an image Martin Luther embraced with alacrity.” Again, this characterization of the Avignon papacy has several inherent fallacies. As more recent scholarship has demonstrated, the popes were not held “captive” at Avignon like the Jews at Babylon in the sixth century B.C., nor were they merely driven by greed and corruption as Petrarch asserts.
To establish how the papacy came to reside at Avignon, it is necessary to examine events which took place toward the end of the thirteenth century. When Clement V was elected pope in 1305, the papacy was clearly weakened by the recent conflicts between King Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303). This episode was the first serious defeat for the mature papacy at the hands of the rising national monarchies. Boniface’s first clash with King Edward I (1272-1307) of England and King Philip IV (1285-1314) of France was over money. The kings were preparing for war with each other over territory in southwestern parts of modern France. Both kings expected the church in their kingdom to pay taxes in support of the war. According to canon law, “the prevailing law of Christendom, the church was exempt from taxation by lay rulers…During the thirteenth century, a ruler wishing to tax his clergy had usually obtained the approval of the pope.” Philip and Edward, however, were both taxing their clergy directly, without papal approval and in clear violation of canon law. In response, Boniface issued a papal bull in 1296 known as the Clericis laicos, which forbade any taxation of the clergy without the permission of the pope. The clergy was forced to choose between the pope and their respective king. In the end, the kings secured the support of their clergy; while the pope could excommunicate them, Edward and Philip had much more immediate and direct power to influence their lives. Boniface VIII was forced to back down. This encounter proved that in a “direct confrontation, the kings of England and France had the practical power to tax their clergy, whatever canon law said.”
In 1301, Philip IV ordered the arrest of the bishop of Pamiers. This was another challenge to the authority of the church. According to canon law, “the clergy had privileged status: no matter what a clergyman’s crime, he was subject to the jurisdiction of the church, not of the state.” The bishop appealed to the pope for aid, but Philip refused to recognize the pope’s jurisdiction. This infuriated Boniface; however, while considering how to retaliate, Philip seized the initiative. The king of France and his chief advisor, Guillaume de Nogaret, circulated forged papal letters that were insulting to the French. They also assembled representatives of the clergy and laity in the first meeting of the Estates General, where they publicly accused the pope of serious crimes, including heresy and sodomy. Philip demanded that Boniface be tried before a church council. The French laity supported the king, as did the clergy, albeit reluctantly. Boniface excommunicated Philip and in 1302 he issued the Unam Sanctam, a papal bull which claimed that both spiritual and temporal power was under the jurisdiction of the pope, and that kings were subordinate to the will of the papacy. This assertion, however, turned out to be a false one. In late 1303, Guillaume de Nogaret led a military force to the town of Anagni, where Boniface was residing. Nogaret successfully captured Boniface and held him prisoner for two days. Boniface was most likely beaten and maltreated, but was for some reason released from captivity. He perished soon after his release as a result of this traumatic experience. Obviously the papacy did not collapse after the humiliation inflicted upon it by Philip IV. It remained one of the leading institutions in Europe. “But in fact a watershed had been crossed. In a direct confrontation between a pope and a king, people who were subjects of both chose to support their king.” Philip emerged victorious in this battle of wills.
Pope Boniface VIII was succeeded by the Italian Cardinal Nicola Boccasini, who took the name Benedict XI. After his election in 1303, he rescinded Philips IV’s excommunication, which was laid on him by Boniface. Benedict also largely ignored Boniface’s bull Unam Sanctam. Clearly, he was not willing to challenge Philip as Boniface had. After only eight months as pope, Benedict XI died suddenly at Perugia (Located in central Italy) in 1304. Neither Boniface VIII nor Benedict XI resided in Rome when they died. In fact, this was not uncommon. Since the eleventh century “their [the pope’s] struggles with the Emperor or the Roman commune had driven the popes from Rome or left them insecure there.” They moved about the Papal States, and even beyond the Alps. Indeed, between 1100 and 1304 the popes “spent one-hundred and twenty-two years out of Rome as against eighty-two actually in residence.” The pope was very often outside of Rome.
Petrarch accused the popes at Avignon of being subordinate to the French king’s ambitions and of reducing the spiritual integrity of the papacy. However, when the actions of the popes are examined with more scrutiny, it is clear that virtually all of the decisions they made were in attempt to further secure the authority and independence of the papacy, not simply kowtowing to the French king’s whims. Furthermore, all of the Avignon popes expressed at least some desire to return the papacy to Rome, but were prevented from doing so for various reasons; the least of which was being the “captive” of the French king.
The successor of Benedict XI, Bertrand de Got, was elected pope in 1305; he took the name Clement V. He was a compromise candidate due to a split between French and Italian cardinals in the college. It was decided to choose a candidate outside of the college; hence, the archbishop of Bordeaux was selected. Clement had every intention of returning to Rome when he was elected pope. He announced his intention of going “to Italy as soon as peace was made between the kings of England and France.” In fact, the reason Clement chose to have his coronation at Vienne rather than on Italian soil was to “attract the kings of France and England to the ceremony and to take advantage of their presence to work for the conclusion of a lasting peace between them.” At the behest of Philip IV, however, Clement later changed the location of the coronation to Lyon. The ceremony took place on November 14, 1305. It was followed by important negotiations. Philip was insistent that the trial of Boniface VIII be renewed. The two agreed to discuss it further at a future meeting; this meant Clement V was obliged to put off his departure for Italy until a more favorable time. Clement was further impeded by illness which kept him in the Bordeaux area for nearly a year (May 1306-March 1307). Clement met with Philip again in April 1307, but still did not reach a decision on the lawsuit against Boniface VIII. On October 13, 1307, Philip IV ordered the mass arrest of the Templars. Clement met again with the king in 1308 to discuss this. At this meeting, Clement V decided:
"Not to proceed with his enterprise. He could not contemplate going to Rome. It would have been madness to leave Philip the Fair master of the situation on the eve of the opening of the Council of Vienne, where decisions would be taken gravely affecting the interests of the Church, and where in particular the scandalous trial of the Templars would be debated. In complete agreement with the cardinals, Clement V decided to transfer the court to Avignon."
Far from being held captive, Clement V and the cardinals had decided in unison that Avignon was the most sensible place to take up residence in preparation for the upcoming Council of Vienne. He arrived in March 1309, and thus began the papal residence at Avignon. However, it still remained largely provisional at this point. Clement did not build any residence for himself in Avignon; instead he stayed in the convent of the Dominicans. He also left most of the papal records and treasure in Assisi. Clement spent much time on the lawsuit against Boniface VIII between 1309 and 1311, delaying the proceedings and attempting to silence the dead pope’s accusers. The trial of the Templars was also settled at the Council of Vienne in 1312. At this moment, when perhaps Clement considered a return to Rome, his health took a turn for the worse. Even if he was healthy, however, the unrest in Italy would have made it difficult for him to return. Clement V succumbed to his ailments on April 20, 1314.
The choice to stay in Avignon by Clement and the cardinals was conscious and clearly thought out. Rather than being held “captive,” the papacy specifically chose Avignon as its residence with good reason. The city had several valuable assets including: frequent communication with Italy that was ensured both by water and land; a close proximity to France but not dependent upon her; also, Avignon formed an “enclave in the Comtat-Venaissin, a possession of the Holy See. No town could provide the papacy with a more peaceful refuge and more powerful guarantees of independence and security.”
Clement V’s successor, Jacques Duese, was elected in 1316; he took the name John XXII. John had in fact been bishop of Avignon from 1310 until he became a cardinal in 1312, and this “doubtless prompted him to move the curia back to Avignon” (The curia had been in Carpentras during Clement V’s reign). John also had the ultimate goal of returning the papacy to Rome, however, “Avignon was pleasant to the pope, there was the precedent of Clement V, there were great affairs still unsettled in the West, and Italy and Rome were disturbed and insecure.” In 1319, John XXII equipped a papal army to re-conquer the Italian territories. He charged Bernard Du Poujet to lead the expedition. Poujet cooperated with troops of Robert of Naples and Florence “against the Ghibelline (A member of an aristocratic political party in medieval Italy supporting the authority of the German emperors) forces, and himself commanded sizeable and costly armies of mercenaries.” Du Poujet operated mostly in Lombardy, but crusaders also fought in Tuscany, and in the eastern provinces of the Papal States. Although, his expedition was not particularly successful, the “legation of Bertrand Du Poujet represented the first major exertion of the papacy’s military and financial power in the Avignon period.” The military expedition demonstrated the commitment of the Avignon popes to secure the Papal States and eventually return to Rome. It further demonstrated the vast amount of wealth and military might at the disposal of John XXII, the Avignon pope, and supposed “captive” of the French king.
In 1328, Louis of Bavaria went to Rome and had himself “crowned emperor at the hands of representatives of the ‘Roman people’. He declared John deposed as a heretic.” This was done largely out of vengeance, as John previously refused to ratify his election and even excommunicated Louis in 1324. Louis also installed an anti-pope in Rome called Nicholas V in 1328, although Nicholas was never a real threat to John XXII’s legitimacy. However, this episode clearly showed the unrest and lack of stability that was present in Rome and the Papal States, and hindered any attempted return of the papacy to Italy during John’s reign. It was certainly in the pope’s best interest to remain at his comparatively safe abode in Avignon.
Despite John’s efforts to take the papacy back to Rome, it remained at Avignon for his eighteen years as pope. These years further showed what an “excellent center Avignon was and the advantages it held as a center of Church government.” Firstly, it was calm and peaceful compared to Rome. The last thing the Avignonese wanted was to offend the pope. “Above everything they wanted him to stay. The bishop’s palace was strongly fortified, and…was in a strong position of natural defense. The king of ‘Sicily’ was owner of the town as count of Provence, and the pope and cardinals had already appreciated the protection which he…always would give them.” This helps to explain why John felt secure enough at Avignon to openly oppose Louis without fear of direct repercussions.
A second advantage Avignon had over Rome was its centralized location in the Christian world. In the Middle Ages the shape of Christendom was different than at earlier times. Islam “had taken the Middle East, Africa, and much of Spain; the Greek schism had removed the Balkans and Russia…Fourteenth-century Christendom was no longer the Roman world, and its center of gravity was northwards.” The papacy continued to stay in Avignon due to its prime location and because, in light of Italy’s persistent violence and unrest, the city offered the popes the greatest amount of security and autonomy possible.
The papacy of John XXII came to an end in 1334. He was succeeded by the Cistercian monk Jacques Fournier, who was elected pope in that same year, and took the name Benedict XII. He too wanted to return the papacy to Rome. In July 1335, Benedict decided, along with unanimous support of the cardinals, that the “court would leave Avignon about the first of the following October and transfer provisionally to Bologna.” This was planned as the first step of an eventual return to Rome. The plan was altered, however, when the cardinals had a change of heart. They felt that there was urgent business in need of settling and that Bologna was still too unstable to transfer the Holy See within its walls. This proved to be wise as Bologna revolted once more against the Church, and in Rome revolution reigned from 1347 to 1354.
Benedict XII came to the realization that he could not return to Rome. “Civil war raged on in Rome between the Colonna and the Orsini, between people and nobility; so Benedict had to stay on in France…He had told his electors he wanted to go back, he had had the roof of St. Peter’s repaired; but he could not return.” Benedict took several actions that solidified the ties of the papacy to Avignon and made it the “normal residence of the popes.” In 1336, he began the reconstruction of the bishop’s palace in Avignon, which became the new papal palace. Once Benedict realized “there could be no return to Rome and had meditated the obvious advantages of staying in Avignon, he decided to give the papal court the surroundings it needed to function properly.” Furthermore, in 1339, Benedict had the papal archives brought to Avignon from Assisi where they had been since 1304. Benedict XII made it clear that he expected to stay at Avignon as long as he was pope.
These are hardly the actions of a “captive”. Benedict and his cardinals came to the decision that the time had not yet come for the return of the papacy to Rome. The Eternal City was neither stable nor secure enough. When this decision was reached, Benedict determined to make Avignon a city fit for the pope and his court. He reestablished a sense of permanence to the papacy by erecting a physical structure. The Palace of the Popes was an immense and imposing construction, well fortified and defended. It demonstrated the vast wealth and power that the pope wielded.
In 1342, Benedict XII’s papacy came to an end. That same year, Cardinal Pierre Roger was elected, taking the name Clement VI. Yet again, the disordered state of Italy prevented a return to Rome. Clement was aware of the situation when he was elected and “it may be safely said that he never thought of such a return [to Rome].” He told the Roman embassy plainly when they came to congratulate him that he “would not go back because the Anglo-French war claimed all his attention and because Rome was much too disturbed.”
Clement VI further cemented the papacy’s ties to Avignon as well. He quickly began the construction of a second papal palace, only this time even grander and more extravagant. The palace altogether occupying “a surface of more than 15,000 square meters.” Furthermore, in 1348 Clement purchased “Avignon from the countess of Provence and it remained a papal possession until the French Revolution.” He paid 80,000 florins for the city. The pope was now ruler of Avignon, in addition to his other holdings. When the second palace was built and Avignon was purchased, it became clear that Clement VI planned to stay in the city permanently. Petrarch was annoyed at this,
"but in vain: there the pope was, in a really papal palace, no longer any other ruler’s guest, or in any relationship which risked dependence, with sufficient power, a strongly fortified residence and a splendid court, all to make him at home and secure, and as sovereign over the town where he was living as he would be in Bologna or Rome. Avignon was now a capital city, one of the great capitals of the world."
The last years of Clement VI’s rule saw the city at its peak.
Despite the fact that Clement VI was settled at Avignon with no real plans of returning to Rome, he still hoped to bring the Papal States back in line and under his control. Clement launched a military expedition in 1350 to reclaim the lost provinces of Romagna and Marches. Astorge de Durfort, Clement VI’s nephew, was given command. While Durfort saw some early success, he ran out of money to pay his mercenaries and could not continue the mission.
Clement VI died just two years later in 1352. He and his predecessor, Benedict XII, had solidly fixed the papacy to Avignon over the course of their pontificates. They both realized the advantages of Avignon and established it as the normal residence of the popes. Again, the popes consciously chose to stay in the security of Avignon rather than venture into the unstable and potentially dangerous Papal States and Rome. They were not the “captives” Petrarch believed them to be.
Clement VI was succeeded by Cardinal Etienne Aubert in 1352, who took the name Innocent VI. He concluded that the first necessity of the Church was to establish order in the Papal States. In 1353, he sent a military expedition to Italy. This time under the leadership of Cardinal Gil Albornoz. Innocent ordered him to regain control of the lost papal lands. Albornoz saw some successes in the campaign; he re-conquered the Duchy of Spoleto (1355), the March of Anconna (1355) and the Romagna (1356-7). Following the truce of the Anglo-French war in 1360, however, a wave of “unemployed and unpaid mercenaries” was released upon France. With its vast wealth, Avignon was a tempting target. One mercenary settled down at “Pont St. Espirit in 1360 with his company and besieged Avignon. The town was reduced to starvation and had to pay ransom to get rid of him.” Since he was the ruler of the town, the pope took defensive measures. In 1360 Innocent ordered the construction of a “battlemented wall and fortified gates. It was another step in the relationship between the pope and Avignon. The pope was now sovereign, the town was his, he must protect it as well as his own palace. Avignon now lived on the pope and by his protection.” Innocent VI died soon after in 1362. Under Innocent’s reign, Cardinal Albornoz made headway in the Papal States and it appeared conceivable that the pope could return to Rome; at the same time, however, the papacy became even more tied to and invested in Avignon due to the construction and improvement of fortifications.
Innocent VI was succeeded by Guillaume de Grimoard in 1362, he took the name Urban V. Unlike the preceding Avignon popes, Urban had never been a bishop or cardinal and he had never served the king of France or been involved in his court. Urban did follow his predecessors in that he continued to furnish and improve the papal palace, as well as continuing the wall of Avignon. Partially due to Albornoz’s victories in Italy, and the Anglo-French peace, Urban decided in 1365 to reestablish the Holy See in Rome. The former impediments that kept previous popes from Rome seemed to be resolved. Urban arrived in Rome on June 3, 1367. Although the pope was back in Rome, a large part of the Church administration still resided at Avignon. Furthermore, his return proved to be short lived. War broke out between England and France yet again in 1369. As a result of this, Urban V decided to return to Avignon hoping to aid in bringing about peace negotiations. Soon after he arrived back in Avignon in 1370, Urban fell ill and died. The papacy was reestablished at Avignon.
In 1371, the last of the legitimate Avignon popes was elected. Pierre Roger de Beaufort was selected, taking the name Gregory XI. Early in his papacy, he resolved to return to Rome, but was prevented from doing so by more pressing matters for several years. Finally, in 1376, Gregory left Avignon for Marseilles. He finally arrived in Rome on January 13, 1377. The papacy was returned to Italy, where the legitimate popes have resided ever since.
The actions of the popes at Avignon were not merely those of puppets of the king of France. The decisions they and their cardinals made had the best interest of the Church in mind. Their main goal was to establish security and independence for the papacy and to increase their control over the Church administration. In fact, during its stay at Avignon, the papacy became more centralized and brought in more revenues than ever before.
Under their tenure, the Avignon popes raised papal power to greater heights than ever before seen. Part of the change “represented higher efficiency and a larger volume of business. Its income also increased. The receipts during the pontificate of John XXII appear to have averaged…228,000 florins a year. In the middle of the fourteenth century the annual receipts of the camera varied from 130,000 to 335,000 florins.” It was during the reign of John XXII particularly that the tax administration expanded and began to flourish. He introduced new regulations, and by 1331 published a new tax book containing 415 items. This administrative system “remained the basis of the levy of chancery taxes for the next two centuries.”
By the time of Clement VI, there were permanent collectors of papal dues in Europe. Furthermore, the popes at Avignon expanded the right of spoil to a previously unknown extent. They extended the right of spoil by “reserving the goods of individual clerks who died elsewhere than at the apostolic see.” The first instance of this occurred under Boniface VIII in 1300, but was greatly expanded by the Avignon popes.
The Avignon popes also increased papal control over the benefices of the Church. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was the first to exercise the right of deciding uncanonical elections. Moreover, “he established a general principle which formed the basis of all further extension of the appointing power of the pope: namely, that the plentitudo potestatis placed ecclesiastical benefices and dignities absolutely at his disposal.” This principle was at first applied only to the reservation of the appointment to single benefices or offices. Clement IV (1265-68) was the earliest pope to extend the right of reservation to the appointment of a whole class of benefices. Boniface VIII extended the decree to include those “dying within two days’ journey of the curia. By the close of the thirteenth century the appointment of all archbishops and many bishops and abbots belonged to the pope.” During the fourteenth century, the number increased notably under the reign of the Avignon popes.
While residing at Avignon between 1309 and 1378, the papacy became more centralized and brought in more revenues than ever before. Petrarch’s polemic of the “Babylonian Captivity” of the Church appears reductionist and simplistic upon further examination and research of the Avignon papacy. He condemned them for their greed and corruption; however, their actions were motivated by the survival and security of the papacy rather than for material gain. The popes were not merely puppets at the beck and call of the French king either. They exercised an increasing amount of autonomy and independence during their stay in Avignon. Far from being held “captive,” the papacy became economically and administratively tied to the city. These, along with the persistent unrest in Italy, were major reason for the extended stay in the city. When Gregory XI finally returned to Rome in 1377, the matter seemed to be finished. However, he died just a year after his return. In 1378, Pope Urban VI was elected in Rome. Before long, many cardinals regretted their choice and decided to move from Rome to Anagni. There, in that same year, they elected the anti-pope Clement VII and reestablished a papal court in Avignon. As one episode at Avignon ended, another was just beginning.
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