Avignon Papacy (1309-1377): When the Popes Left Rome

The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 when the popes lived at Avignon, on the Rhône in southern France, instead of in Rome. Seven popes, all French, ruled the Church from there, building the huge Palace of the Popes and a highly organised administration. Critics saw the move as a surrender to the French crown, and the return to Rome in 1377 was followed almost immediately by the Western Schism.

Background: why the popes left Rome

At the start of the 14th century Rome was a dangerous place for a pope. Powerful noble families such as the Colonna and the Orsini fought for control of the city, and the Papal States in central Italy were largely out of papal control. Popes often lived in other Italian towns such as Viterbo, Orvieto or Anagni.

The papacy was also weakened by its clash with Philip IV of France, which ended with the Outrage of Anagni in 1303, when the king’s agents seized Pope Boniface VIII. After the brief reign of Benedict XI, the cardinals were deeply divided. In June 1305 they elected Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, who took the name Clement V.

Clement was crowned at Lyon and never went to Italy. He travelled around southern France and in 1309 settled at Avignon. The city belonged to the counts of Provence, who were also kings of Naples and vassals of the papacy, and it was surrounded by the Comtat Venaissin, a territory owned by the popes since 1274. It was well placed on the Rhône, a major trade route, and close to the French kingdom.

The popes at Avignon

Clement V (1305–1314) was under heavy French pressure, most notably over the suppression of the Knights Templar. His successor, John XXII (1316–1334), was an energetic administrator who reorganised papal finances and became embroiled in controversy over Franciscan poverty and in a long conflict with the emperor Louis IV.

Benedict XII (1334–1342), a former Cistercian monk, began building the fortress-like Old Palace. Clement VI (1342–1352), a lavish patron of the arts, added the New Palace and in 1348 bought Avignon outright from Queen Joanna I of Naples for 80,000 florins. Innocent VI (1352–1362) built the city walls. Urban V (1362–1370) returned to Rome in 1367 but went back to Avignon in 1370 shortly before his death. Gregory XI (1370–1378) made the final return.

The Palace of the Popes

The Palais des Papes is one of the largest Gothic buildings in Europe. It was built mainly in two phases, under Benedict XII from 1335 and under Clement VI in the 1340s, and was largely finished within about 20 years. Its massive walls and towers made it both a palace and a fortress.

Inside were audience halls, chapels, private apartments, treasury rooms and offices for the papal administration. Clement VI employed the Italian painter Matteo Giovannetti to decorate the chapels and rooms with frescoes. One of Clement’s private rooms, the Chamber of the Stag, is painted with hunting and fishing scenes rather than religious subjects, a sign of the court’s worldly splendour.

Avignon grew from a modest town into a crowded international capital, filled with cardinals’ households, bankers, lawyers, merchants, artists and petitioners. The Black Death struck the city in 1348; Clement VI stayed, paid for burials and issued bulls condemning attacks on Jews, who were being blamed for the plague.

French influence and criticism

All seven Avignon popes were French, and so were most of the cardinals they appointed. Many people outside France, especially in England during the Hundred Years’ War and in Italy, believed that the papacy had become a tool of the French kings. Historians today stress that the popes kept considerable independence, but the perception was powerful.

The Avignon popes built an efficient central government. They expanded the system of papal reservations, by which the pope appointed to church offices across Europe, and collected fees such as annates, a portion of the first year’s income of a new office holder. This brought in money but also complaints about greed.

The papal court at Avignon was not only a centre of finance. It supported scholars, lawyers and artists, and its library became one of the largest in Europe. John XXII also founded a university at Cahors, his home town, in 1332. The administrative records kept at Avignon, including thousands of registers of papal letters, are a major source for historians of 14th-century Europe.

At the same time, the popes did not forget Italy or the crusade. They sent legates and armies to recover the Papal States, negotiated between warring rulers, and tried repeatedly to organise new expeditions against the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks. These efforts were costly and mostly unsuccessful, which added to the sense that the papacy’s resources were being poorly used.

The poet Petrarch, who lived near Avignon for many years, attacked the papal court as corrupt and compared it to Babylon. The phrase “Babylonian Captivity”, recalling the exile of the Jews in Babylon, became the standard nickname for the period.

The return to Rome

Pressure to return grew in the 1360s and 1370s. The Spanish cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz had restored papal control over much of the Papal States by military and diplomatic campaigns. Holy women such as Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena urged the popes to go back to the city of Saint Peter; Catherine travelled to Avignon in 1376 to plead with Gregory XI in person.

Gregory XI left Avignon in September 1376 and entered Rome on 17 January 1377. He died there in March 1378. Under pressure from Roman crowds demanding an Italian pope, the cardinals elected Urban VI in April 1378. Within months, many of the same cardinals declared the election invalid and chose Clement VII, who returned to Avignon. This began the Western Schism, in which two and later three rival popes claimed authority until 1417.

Key people

Clement V (pope 1305–1314), born Bertrand de Got in Gascony, began the Avignon residence.

John XXII (pope 1316–1334), elected at the age of about 72, reigned for 18 years and built up papal administration and finance.

Clement VI (pope 1342–1352) made Avignon a splendid court and bought the city for the papacy.

Gregory XI (pope 1370–1378) brought the papacy back to Rome.

Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), a lay Dominican mystic, campaigned for the return and is now a patron saint of Italy and of Europe.

Timeline

• 1305, 5 June: Bertrand de Got is elected pope as Clement V.
• 1309, March: Clement V settles at Avignon.
• 1335: Benedict XII begins the Palace of the Popes.
• 1348: The Black Death reaches Avignon; Clement VI buys the city from Joanna I of Naples.
• 1367: Urban V returns to Rome; he goes back to Avignon in 1370.
• 1376, September: Gregory XI leaves Avignon for Italy.
• 1377, 17 January: Gregory XI enters Rome.
• 1378: Gregory XI dies; disputed elections begin the Western Schism.
• 1791: Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin are annexed by France.

Why it matters

The Avignon Papacy changed the Church. It created a more centralised, bureaucratic and financially demanding papacy, while its long absence from Rome and its closeness to France weakened the popes’ moral authority. That loss of prestige, deepened by the schism that followed, fed the calls for reform that would eventually lead to the Reformation.