Avignon Papacy

Background

In the early fourteenth century, the papacy, the center of the Western Church, frequently clashed with secular monarchs as their power grew. The conflict between King Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII was especially sharp. In September 1303, forces aligned with France attacked the papal residence at Anagni in Italy and seized the pope, an episode known as the Outrage of Anagni. Boniface VIII died about a month later. At the time, Rome itself was unsafe, as its noble families feuded with one another.

Course of Events

• 1305: Bertrand de Got, a Frenchman, became pope as Clement V. Rather than going to Rome, he remained on French soil.
• March 1309: The Curia (the pope and the administrative body that assists him) moved from Poitiers to Avignon. Avignon at that time was not part of the Kingdom of France but belonged to the Count of Provence, a papal vassal (one who held land in exchange for an oath of fealty).
• 1310–1313: The Italian expedition of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII made the pope's return to Rome even more difficult.
• 1311–1312: The Council of Vienne was held. Clement V suppressed the Knights Templar, against whom Philip IV had been moving aggressively.
• The seven popes who resided in Avignon were Clement V, John XXII, Benedict XII, Clement VI, Innocent VI, Urban V, and Gregory XI, all of them French. Construction of the Palace of the Popes in Avignon began around 1335.
• 1367–1370: Urban V briefly returned to Rome but came back to Avignon in 1370.
• 1376–1377: As calls for a return to Rome grew, Gregory XI left Avignon in September 1376 and entered Rome in January 1377.

Consequences and Legacy

Gregory XI died in Rome in March 1378. Urban VI was elected amid rioting by Roman citizens demanding a Roman pope. In September of the same year, however, the French cardinals declared the election invalid on the grounds that it had been conducted under duress, and they elected Clement VII as a rival pope. This began the Western Schism, during which the papacy was divided between two claimants and which lasted about forty years. The Catholic Church today classifies the Avignon-line claimants as antipopes (popes whose legitimacy is not recognized). During this time the nations of Europe divided according to which pope they supported: England and the Holy Roman Empire, among others, supported Rome, while France, Scotland, Naples, and others supported Avignon.

During the Avignon period, French clergy held not only the papacy but also many of the Church's key offices. As a result, the perception spread that the papacy had become partial to a single nation, and, combined with a reputation for corruption, this is generally understood to have eroded trust in the Curia in many parts of Western Europe. The Palace of the Popes in Avignon was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 as part of the "Historic Centre of Avignon."

Assessment

The name "Avignon Captivity" derives from the Italian poet Petrarch, who compared this period to the ancient Jewish Babylonian captivity. The name reflects the view that the popes were effectively subordinated to the French king. Others, however, argue that the name oversimplifies the actual circumstances. Avignon was not French royal territory at the time, and the move was at first regarded as temporary. They also note that it was not unusual for medieval popes to reside outside Rome. For these reasons, English-language writers commonly use the less evaluative term "Avignon Papacy."

Protestant accounts of church history often regard this period as a crisis of the medieval church in which papal power began to decline, and, together with the ensuing Schism, treat it as one of the remote background causes of the Reformation. The period is generally considered to have ended in 1377, when Gregory XI returned to Rome, though some accounts extend it to his death in 1378.