Editing Avignon Papacy (section)

===War of the Eight Saints===
{{Main|War of the Eight Saints}}
[[File:Giorgio Vasar retour idéalisé de Grégoire XI à Rome.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Gregory XI]] returned to Rome in 1376 and ended the Avignon Papacy.]]
The most influential decision in the reign of [[Pope Gregory XI]] (1370–1378) was the return to Rome, beginning on 13 September 1376 and ending with his arrival on 17 January 1377.<ref>[[Joëlle Rollo-Koster]], ''Raiding Saint Peter: Empty Sees, Violence, and the Initiation of the Great Western Schism (1378)'', (Brill, 2008), 182.</ref><ref>Margaret Harvey, ''The English in Rome, 1362–1420: Portrait of an Expatriate Community'', (Cambridge University Press, 2004), 3.</ref> Although the Pope was French born and still under strong influence by the French king, the increasing conflict between factions friendly and hostile to the Pope posed a threat to the papal lands and to the allegiance of Rome itself. When the papacy established an embargo against grain exports during a food scarcity 1374 and 1375, [[Republic of Florence|Florence]] organized several cities into a league against the papacy: [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]], [[Bologna]], [[Perugia]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]], [[Republic of Lucca|Lucca]] and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]].

The papal legate, Robert of Geneva, a relative of the [[House of Savoy]], pursued a particularly ruthless policy against the league to re-establish control over these cities. He convinced Pope Gregory to hire Breton mercenaries. To quell an uprising of the inhabitants of [[Cesena]] he hired [[John Hawkwood]] and had the majority of the people massacred (between 2,500 and 3,500 people were reported dead). Following such events opposition against the papacy strengthened.

Florence came in open conflict with the pope, a conflict called [[War of the Eight Saints|"the war of the eight saints"]] in reference to the eight Florentine councilors who were chosen to orchestrate the conflict. The entire city of Florence was excommunicated and as reply the forwarding of clerical taxes was stopped. Trade was seriously hampered and both sides had to find a solution. In his decision about returning to Rome, the pope was also under the influence of [[Catherine of Siena]], later canonized, who preached for a return to Rome.