Avignon Papacy Script

Avignon Papacy Script

The Avignon Papacy, What and Who were they and why are they relevant today?

Whenever you think of the papacy you always think of Rome and Vatican City. That wasn’t always the case, unbeknownst to many people the papacy moved to France in the 1300’s.

 The Avignon papacy was a period from 1309 to 1377 in which 7 successive popes resided in Avignon, France. As you can imagine that caused a huge controversy and wonder as to why and how the papacy was moved from rome to France.

How it happened:

In 1309, there was a  bitter disagreement between the current Pope, Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France which continued to grow until Philip used his growing power to secure the election of Clement V, a Frenchman, to the papacy in 1305. As you can imagine, the outcome was HUGELY unpopular in Rome and in 1309, in order to escape the extreme stress and oppressive atmosphere, Clement V moved the papal capital to Avignon, which was allowed as although it was in the middle of France it was owned by the papal vassals.

During the 68 years of the Avignon Papacy, which is also sometimes called the Babylon captivity, a large factor that allowed the papacy to remain in Avignon was the fact that 111 of the 134 cardinals appointed by the 7 popes were french! Throughout the papacy the French kings did sometimes sway influence from time to time and the presence and influence in the papacy by the French is unarguable.

What was the impact:
The Avignon Papacy had a quite significant impact, one of the biggest repercussions was after Gregory the XI moved back to Rome (which was against the advise of the cardinals in France) he died short after and Pope Urban VI was elected as the new pope. However, the new pope was so hostile to the cardinals that 13 of them elected a new pope which although didn't entirely replace him, he stood directly against and in opposition of Urban. This started the Western Schism which was a period in which 2 popes existed at the same time. This period went on for another four decades after. Another effect was that the highly negative reputation of the Avignon popes greatly damaged the reputation of  the entire papacy. This would only hurt the many Christians dying and suffering at the time from the Black Plague. Some positive lasting impacts where that the Avignon popes did a fantastic job at promoting University education and greatly and effectively reorganized the agencies of the papacies. Also, they greatly expanded missionary enterprises and reached as far as China. Lasty, the College of Cardinals made a name for themselves in their role in the governing of church related matters and affairs.

The Seven Avignon popes were Pope Clement V, Pope John XXII, Pope Benedict XII, Pope Clement VI, Pope Innocent VI, Pope Urban V, and lastly Pope Gregory XI

Pope Clement V was the first of the popes and was pope from 1305-1314. He was born in Gascony which was in southern France. He almost entirely owed his election to the french clerics. Clement V was mostly known for moving his court to Avignon instead of Rome. He also very effectively reorganized the entire internal administration of the church.

Pope John XXII was pope from 1316–1334 and was born in Cahors. He was also the previous Archbishop in Avignon. He is mostly known for his battle with Louis IV, of the Roman  Empire he denied the authority of the pope to the Emperor of Rome. This conflict caused many wars and pushed them back more into the influence of the French.

Pope Benedict XII was pope from 1334-1342 and was born in Pampers and was active against the Cathar movement. He was a very peaceful and careful pope who took long time in his proceedings. One of his main goals was to pacify southern France.

Pope Clement VI was pope from 1342-1352. He had previously been the Archbishop of Rouen as well as a trusted adviser to Philippe IV of France. Under his rule as pope the Avignon papacy bought the city of Avignon from the original owners, the Angevins in 1348. A major issue during his time as pope the French interests and requests started controlling almost every move of the Papacy as he had very close relations with the French. Also, during a French war he even financed the french with his own money. He also was pope during the Black Death, one of the deadliest plagues in history of man that existed in Europe from 1347-1350 and decimated roughly 1/3 of the population.


Pope Innocent VI was pope from 1352-1362. He is mainly known for again trying to establish peace between France and England. However, he was very old and unpredictable, and the English did not trust the popes as they knew their sway over the French.

Pope Urban V was pope from 1362-1370. Under his rule the control of the French over the papacy became much more blatant. He was described the most spiritual all the popes after Benedict XII but he was a very poor strategist and cost the French huge amounts of money, which was a very bad and crucial thing as they were in the middle of the war with England.

Pope Gregory XI was the last of the Avignon Popes and reigned from 1370-1378.  He stayed in Avignon for 7 years before being persuaded to return to Rome in 1377. His return was greatly urged by the many uprisings against the papacy and most importantly that of Florence. His resolution was to return to Rome however that did no last long as he died the following year.





How did Rome react to this:
The Italians were absolutely freaked out and infuriated by this, and they attacked the Avignon popes with fervor and anger. A big reason of this was that the Papal States in Italy now were required to listen and obey French authorities. Italian interests in the papacy in the previous centuries had led to nearly just as much and probably more corruption than in Avignon but never less they did whatever they could to tarnish the reputation of the papacy to try to get it moved back to Rome.


Move back to Rome:
On January 17th 1377 Pope Gregory XI moved the papal capital back to Rome. This happened in large part to the persuading of Pope Gregory by both Catherine of Siena and st. Bridget of Sweden. Gregory’s move to Rome was filled with hostilities and threats and he seriously considered moving the city BACK to Avignon. However, before he could move the city back he died in March 1378.


Aftermath and the Anti-Popes:
After the great western schism there were 2 popes based in Avignon, Clement VII and Benedict XIII. These were referred to as “the great controversy of the anti popes”. Although they didn't have enough power to overthrow the papacy they stood in direct defiance. Benedict XIII was succeeded by 3 more antipopes but they had very little to no following at all, and  did not live in Avignon. The reason these last 3 popes had no following was because the Council OF Constance resolved the issue in 1417 when Pope Martin V was elected and generally accepted and liked by all.


Give a Overall:
The Avignon popes had a huge impact on Europe from 1308-1377 who changed many ideas in the church. They are not very known today however they were very significant to the history of the church whether people liked them or they didn’t.