Clement died at Carpentras in 1314; a long conclave, dominated by French cardinals,
finally named Jacques Duèze, who reigned as John XXII (r. 1316–34). In his pontificate,
Avignon became the papal residence, a center of government, finance, trade, and
theological debate. To maintain a court so far from Rome, to which it was supposed to
return some day, John expanded and regularized papal patronage of benefices, as well as
the fees and taxes collected by the curial bureaucracy. At the same time, special
commissions began trying to resolve numerous theological issues. Among the writers
condemned were Jean de Pouilli, a Parisian master who questioned the papacy’s ability to
concede pastoral powers to the friars, and the Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart. After a
long series of inquiries, a posthumous condemnation was decreed for Peter Olivi, a
Franciscan who had espoused Joachite views, strict poverty, and his own version of papal
infallibility, which would safeguard recent papal endorsements of the belief that Christ
and the Apostles had no property rights. John, with the acquiescence of Michael of
Cesena, the Franciscan minister general, began proceed ings for heresy against the
Spiritual wing of the order, especially in southern France; but the pope soon decided that
any Franciscan doctrine of poverty was subversive. When Michael found the pope
adamant about revoking past papal pronouncements on this subject, he and William of
Ockham fled to Germany, taking refuge with the emperor Louis of Bavaria, John’s most
bitter political foe.
John was on good terms with Philip V of France, but his relations with the empire had
deteriorated rapidly. Clement V had supported Robert of Sicily, an Angevin, against
Emperor Henry VII, despite having favored that Luxembourg prince’s election as King of
the Romans. After Henry’s death, the papacy temporized among the rival claims of
Luxembourg, Habsburg, and Bavaria. In 1327, Louis of Bavaria, deciding that John was
his chief foe, marched on Rome. The Eternal City fell, and an antipope was installed
there. Louis’s vicar for the city was Marsilius of Padua, whom John had condemned for
arguing on the basis of reason and revelation that a lay monopoly on coercive jurisdiction
would bring peace to Italy. William of Ockham argued that John’s errors concerning
apostolic poverty made him a heretic. Although Louis’s campaign failed and his antipope
became John’s prisoner, the polemics of the king’s apologists would continue to haunt
the papacy. Their credibility was boosted by John’s short-lived effort to challenge
accepted ideas about the beatific vision.
John’s successor, Jacques Fournier, an experienced inquisitor, reigned as Benedict XII
from 1334 to 1342. During his pontificate, pope and cardinals began building permanent
palaces at Avignon, as if the curia never would return to Rome. Benedict, however, kept
a stricter rein on the life of the court than had Clement or John. He also attempted reform
of monastic communities, often in a peremptory manner. The pope inherited his
predecessor’s quarrel with Louis of Bavaria, but French influence foiled negotiations for
peace. This old sore would continue to fester until, during the next pontificate, Charles of
Luxembourg displaced Louis as emperor.
Benedict, like many popes of that period, cherished the hope of launching a successful
crusade. This was foiled when the Valois succession in France was disputed by both
Charles of Navarre and Edward III of England. Philip VI had the pope’s favor for a time,
but he wished to keep the funds raised for the crusade for wars nearer home. Benedict’s
best efforts to reconcile Philip with Edward failed, leaving the English convinced that the
Valois interest dominated Avignon. Edward, moreover, allied himself with Louis of
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