#35 The Avignon Popes – Part I

* We want to go back and discuss the political situation in Italy in the 14th century. * We mentioned in an earlier episode that in 1309, Pope Clement V moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon. * He was French. * The former bishop of Bordeaux. * And King Philip IV of France, who arrested Pope Boniface VIII, and almost starved him to death, was the guy who made Clement the new Pope. * Clement knew he wasn’t safe in Rome. * And most of the “Sacred College” was now made up of French cardinals. * They also didn’t feel safe in Italy * So they all moved to Avignon. * Which wasn’t actually controlled by France at the time. * Provence was actually controlled by the King Of Naples. * So Clement tried to keep a little distance. * For centuries, the Popes had tried to subordinate the kings of Europe to the papacy. * But it had failed. * France, Florence, Venice, Lombardy, Naples had all rejected papal control. * Rome had twice tried to bring back a republic. * We talked in an earlier episode about Rienzo. * But that was later, in 1346. * In the other Papal States, a series of feudal magnates had supplanted the Church. * For centuries, the church had been able to demand homage and tribute from the kings of Europe. * On threat of excommunication. * And now, with the Papacy basically run by the French king, Germany, Italy, England and Bohemia saw it as a hostile power. * And they increasingly started to ignore it, including excommunications and prohibitions. * They could sell it to their people as a fake news papacy. * Clement V tried to keep his head up. * He bowed as little as possible to Philip IV. * Despite Philip’s threats to hold a post-mortem inquest into the private conduct and beliefs of Boniface VIII. * In 1302, Boniface issued a papal bull saying “Popes are the boss of the kings.” * that it is “absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff”. * Even more than the Popes who came before him, he claimed to have temporal as well as spiritual power over every human. * Philip decided to tax the church in France and Boniface told him to get fucked and excommunicated him. * So Philip had him arrested and tortured. * He was released but died weeks later. * His successor, Pope Benedict XI, only lasted 8 months before he also died, probably poisoned – and Philip forced a deadlocked conclave to elect the French Clement V as Pope in 1305. * Clement lead a fairly clean and frugal life. * But the Papacy was also short on funds so he sold ecclesiastical benefices to the highest bidder * And suffered from a painful disease—lupus (malfunctioning immune system, skin rashes, joint and muscle pain and fatigue) * And probably a fistula * Caused by fisting. * Almost immediately after being elected Pope, Clement withdrew the bull of Boniface VIII that asserted papal supremacy over secular rulers. * He’s also remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar and allowing the execution of many of its members. * On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France. * Apparently motivated by Philip’s desire to take ...