1. MedievWorld1_fm_4pp.qxd

80 Avignon and the Avignonese papacy

The Harrowing of Hell

In 1309, the French pope CLEMENTV, wandering and
unable to return to ITA LYbecause of disorder in Rome,
settled temporarily at Avignon, but was to live there
intermittently until his death in 1314. His successor,
Pope JOHNXXII, once bishop of the town, settled there
indefinitely, still claiming his intention to return to ROME.
His successors, Benedict XII (r. 1335–42) and CLEMENT

The papal palace built for Boniface VIII

court and fiscal administration. Pope Clement VI pur-
chased the town from Queen Joanna I (1326–82) of
NAPLESfor the sum of 80,000 florins in 1348. To protect
the town, Innocent VI (r. 1352–62) constructed a new
and more elaborate wall.
At last Pope Urban V (r. 1362–70) in 1367 and Pope
Gregory XI (r. 1371–78) in 1376 tried to return back to
Rome and ITA LY. Gregory’s death and the contested elec-
tion of URBANVI (r. 1378–89) led to a schism among the
cardinals, who elected a second pope, Cardinal Robert of
Geneva (1342–94), who took the name Clement VII.
This Clement could not remain in Italy and returned to
Avignon. His successor and resident at Avignon, Benedict
XIII (r. 1394–1417), kept the papacy despite the seces-
sion of his cardinals, who abandoned him in an attempt
to end this Great SCHISM. Benedict XIII, after a four-year
siege in the town and papal palace, finally fled from Avi-
gnon to Spain in disguise on March 11, 1403. His sup-
porters and fellow countrymen, the Catalans, with his
nephew remained in control of the town until another
siege in 1411.

INFLUENCE OF PAPAL PRESENCE

As the capital of Christendom for 70 years, Avignon com-
pletely changed in appearance. Its surface area grew three
times its initial size to accommodate the court and all its

associates. This rich population included citizens and

papal officials, residents and visiting prelates and their

households, merchants, and the artisans there to conduct

business in the lucrative market that the town had become.

There were also numerous visitors and petitioners, lay and

clerical, some of whom had to remain for years. The num-

ber of inhabitants grew to an estimated 40,000 in the first

part of the 14th century, before being reduced by a third or

even a half during the deadly Plague of 1348.

Benedict XII and Clement VI set an example for

building with a papal palace, which for 20 years was a

continuously growing construction site. The 20 or 25

cardinals, who lived in houses more-or-less requisitioned

for their behalf, often then replaced these with new luxu-

rious palaces where they lived surrounded by their rich

households.

Popes often led sumptuous lives, as Clement VI did,

but sometimes relatively austerely, as did Benedict XII

and Urban V. The papal court attracted artists and schol-

ars to Avignon. Other rulers, princes, prelates, or ambas-

sadors also visited the pope. The papal court come to

comprise from 300 to 500 persons. It had developed a

complex administrative system, including the Apostolic

Camera or treasury, the chancery, the audience of apos-

tolic causes, the Penitentiary, and the domestic house-

holds for the chapel, kitchen, pantry, butlery, smithy,

guards, and guards of honor, and almonry (the institution

dispensing charity to the poor).

Avignon’s prestige even survived the departure of the

papacy in the early fifteenth century. It continued to pros-

per economically and culturally, remaining an ecclesiasti-

cal center and regional commercial hub.

Further reading:Robert Coogan, ed., Babylon on the

Rhone: A Translation of Letters by Dante, Petrarch, and

Catherine of Siena on the Avignon Papacy(Potomac: Studia

The Papal Palace in Avignon (ca. 1900) (Courtesy Library of Congress)