Editing Provence (section)

=== The popes in Avignon (14th century) ===
{{main|Avignon papacy}}
[[File:Main entrance of the Palais des Papes - 20050823.jpg|thumb|The façade of the [[Palais des Papes]]]]

In 1309, [[Pope Clement V]], who was originally from Bordeaux, moved the [[Papal Curia]] to Avignon, a period known as the [[Avignon Papacy]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Noble|title=Cengage Advantage Books: Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries|date=2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=9781285661537|page=304|edition=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Td4WAAAAQBAJ&q=1309%2C+Pope+Clement+V+avignon&pg=PA304|display-authors=etal}}</ref> From 1309 until 1377, seven popes reigned in Avignon before the [[Western Schism|Schism]] between the Roman and Avignon churches, which led to the creation of rival popes in both places. After that, three [[antipope]]s reigned in Avignon until 1423, when the papacy finally returned to Rome. Between 1334 and 1363 the old and new Papal Palaces of Avignon were built by Popes [[Benedict XII]] and [[Clement VI]] respectively; together the [[Palais des Papes]] was the largest Gothic palace in Europe.<ref>Bastiė, ''Histoire de la Provence'', p. 20.</ref>

The 14th century was a terrible time in Provence, and all of Europe: the population of Provence had been about 400,000 people; the [[Black Death]] (1348–1350) killed fifteen thousand people in Arles, half the population of the city, and greatly reduced the population of the whole region. The defeat of the French Army during the [[Hundred Years' War]] forced the cities of Provence to build walls and towers to defend themselves against armies of former soldiers who ravaged the countryside.

The Angevin rulers of Provence also had a difficult time. An assembly of nobles, religious leaders, and town leaders of Provence was organised to resist the authority of Queen [[Joan I of Naples]] (1343–1382). She was murdered in 1382 by her cousin and heir, [[Charles III of Naples|Charles of Durazzo]], who started a new war, leading to the separation of [[Nice]], [[Puget-Théniers]] and [[Barcelonnette]] from Provence in 1388, and their attachment to the [[County of Savoy]]. From 1388 up to 1526, the area acquired by the Savoy was known as ''Terres Neuves de Provence''; after 1526 it officially took on the name [[County of Nice]].