Editing Avignon Papacy (section)

==Background==
===Temporal role of the Roman Church===
[[File:Fazio degli Uberti, II Dittamondo, avec le commentaire d' Andrea Morena da Lodi. Ms. Ital. 81. Fol. 18r.jpg|thumb|A map of Rome, showing an allegorical figure of Rome as a widow in black mourning the Avignon Papacy]]
The papacy in the [[Late Middle Ages]] played a major [[temporal power (papal)|temporal role]] in addition to its spiritual role. The conflict between the [[pope]] and the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] was fundamentally a dispute over which of them was the leader of [[Christendom]] in secular matters. In the early 14th century, the papacy was well past the prime of its secular rule&nbsp;– its importance had peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries. The success of the early [[Crusades]] added greatly to the prestige of the Popes as secular leaders of [[Christendom]], with monarchs like those of [[List of English monarchs|England]], [[List of French monarchs|France]], and even the Holy Roman Emperor merely acting as [[marshal]]s for the popes and leading "their" armies. One exception was [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]], who was twice [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] by the Pope during a Crusade. Frederick II ignored this and was moderately successful in the [[Holy Land]].

King [[Philip IV of France]] wanted to use the finances of the Church to pay for his war with the English. [[Pope Boniface VIII]] protested, leading to a feud.<ref>A. Theiner (ed.), ''Caesaris Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici'' Tomus 23 (Bar-le-Duc 1871), under year 1296, §17, pp. 188–189; under year 1300, §26, pp. 272–273; under year 1303, §33, pp. 325–326.
</ref><ref>François Guizot and Mme. Guizot de Witt, ''History of France from the Earliest Times to 1848'' Volume I (New York 1885), p. 474.</ref>

This state of affairs culminated in the unbridled declaration of papal supremacy, ''[[Unam sanctam]]'', in November 1302. In that [[papal bull]], [[Pope Boniface VIII]] decreed that "it is necessary to salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff." This was directed primarily to King Philip IV of France who responded by saying, "Let thy foolishness know that in temporal things we are subject to no man."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foxe |first1=John |title=The Acts and Monuments |date=1576 |publisher=The Digital Humanities Institute |pages=Book 4 |edition=1576 |url=https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/index.php?realm=text&gototype=modern&edition=1570&pageid=450 |access-date=23 October 2024}}</ref>

In 1303, Pope Boniface VIII followed up with a bull that would excommunicate the king of France and put an interdict over all France. Before this was finalized, Italian allies of the king of France broke into the papal residence and beat Pope Boniface VIII. He died shortly thereafter. Nicholas Boccasini was elected as his successor and took the name [[Pope Benedict XI]]. He absolved King Philip IV and his subjects of their actions against Pope Boniface VIII, though the culprits who assaulted Boniface were excommunicated and ordered to appear before a pontifical tribunal. Benedict XI died within eight months of being elected to the papacy. After eleven months, Bertrand de Got, a Frenchman and a personal friend of King Philip IV, was elected as pope and took the name Pope Clement V.

Beginning with [[Pope Clement V|Clement V]], elected 1305, all popes during the Avignon papacy were French. However, this makes French influence seem greater than it was. Southern France ([[Occitania]]) at that time had a culture quite independent from northern France, where most of the advisers to the king of France were based. The [[Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles|Kingdom of Arles]] was not yet part of France, instead being formally a part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The literature produced by the [[troubadour]]s in [[Languedoc]] is unique and strongly distinct from that of royal circles in the north. Even in terms of religion, the south produced its own variety of Christianity, [[Catharism]], which was ultimately declared heretical. The movement was fueled in no small part by the strong sense of independence in the south even though the region had been severely weakened during the [[Albigensian Crusade]] a hundred years before. By the time of the Avignon Papacy, the power of the French king in this region was uncontested, although still not legally binding.

A stronger impact was made by the move of the [[Roman Curia]] from [[Rome]] to [[Poitiers]] in France in 1305, and then to Avignon in 1309. Following the impasse during the previous [[papal conclave|conclave]], and to escape from the infighting of the powerful Roman families that had produced earlier Popes, such as the [[Colonna family|Colonna]] and [[Orsini family|Orsini families]], the Catholic Church looked for a safer place and found it in Avignon, which was surrounded by the lands of the papal fief of [[Comtat Venaissin]]. Formally it was part of Arles, but in reality it was under the influence of the French king.

During its time in Avignon, the papacy adopted many features of the Royal court: the life-style of its [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] was more reminiscent of princes than clerics; more and more French cardinals, often relatives of the ruling pope, took key positions; and the proximity of French troops was a constant reminder of where secular power lay, with the memory of Pope Boniface VIII still fresh.

===Centralization of Church administration===
The temporal role of the Catholic Church increased the pressure upon the papal court to emulate the governmental practices and procedures of secular courts. The Catholic Church successfully reorganised and centralized its administration under [[Pope Clement V|Clement V]] and [[Pope John XXII|John XXII]]. The papacy now directly controlled the appointments of [[benefice]]s, abandoning the customary election process that traditionally allotted this considerable income.

Many other forms of payment brought riches to the [[Holy See]] and its cardinals: [[tithe]]s, a ten-percent tax on church property; [[annates]], the income of the first year after filling a position such as a [[Diocese|bishopric]]; special taxes for crusades that never took place; and many forms of dispensation, from the entering of benefices without basic qualifications like literacy for newly appointed priests to the request of a converted Jew to visit his unconverted parents. Popes such as [[Pope John XXII|John XXII]], [[Pope Benedict XII|Benedict XII]], and [[Pope Clement VI|Clement VI]] reportedly spent fortunes on expensive wardrobes, and [[silver]] and [[gold]] plates were used at [[banquet]]s.

Overall the public life of leading church members began to resemble the lives of princes rather than members of the clergy. This splendor and corruption at the head of the Church found its way to the lower ranks: when a bishop had to pay up to a year's income for gaining a benefice, he sought ways of raising this money from his new office. This was taken to extremes by the pardoners who sold [[absolution]]s for all kinds of sins. While pardoners were hated but popularly regarded as helpful to redeem one's soul, [[friar]]s were commonly regarded as failing to follow the Church's moral commandments by ignoring their vows of [[chastity]] and [[poverty]] and were despised. This sentiment strengthened movements calling for a return to absolute poverty, relinquishment of all personal and ecclesiastical belongings, and preaching as the Lord and his disciples had.

===A political Church===
For the [[Catholic Church]], an institution embedded in the secular structure and its focus on property, this was a dangerous development, and beginning in the early 14th century, most of these movements were declared [[heresy|heretical]]. These included the [[Fraticelli]] and [[Waldensians|Waldensian]] movements in Italy and the [[Hussites]] in [[Bohemia]] (inspired by [[John Wycliffe]] in England). Furthermore, the display of wealth by the upper ranks of the church, which contrasted with the common expectation of poverty and strict adherence to principles, was used by enemies of the papacy to raise charges against the popes; King Philip of France employed this strategy, as did [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor]]. In his conflict with the latter, [[Pope John XXII]] excommunicated two leading philosophers, [[Marsilius of Padua]] and [[William of Ockham]], who were outspoken critics of the papacy, and who had found refuge with Louis IV in [[Munich]]. In response, William charged the pope with seventy errors and seven heresies.

The proceedings against the [[Knights Templar]] in the [[Council of Vienne]] are representative of this time, reflecting the various powers and their relationships. In 1314, the collegium at [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne]] convened to make a ruling concerning the Templars. The council, overall unconvinced about the guilt of the order as a whole, was unlikely to condemn the entire order based on the scarce evidence brought forward. Exerting massive pressure in order to gain part of the substantial funds of the order, the King managed to get the ruling he wanted, and Pope Clement V ordered by decree the suppression of the order.

In the [[cathedral]] of [[Saint Maurice]] in Vienne, the king of France and his son, the [[List of Navarrese monarchs|king of Navarre]], were sitting next to him when he issued the decree. Under pain of [[excommunication]], no one was allowed to speak at that occasion except when asked by the Pope. The Templars who appeared in Vienne to defend their order were not allowed to present their case—the cardinals of the collegium originally ruled that they should be allowed to raise a defense, but the arrival of the king of France in Vienne put pressure on the collegium, and that decision was revoked.