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Crisis in the Late Medieval Church

The Pope Moves to Avignon

The College of Cardinals had been for some time increasingly dominated by Frenchmen. Upon Boniface's death, they elected a Frenchman, the archbishop of Lyons, as the new pope. He took the name of Clement V. Clement was still in Lyons when he received the news that he was now pope. As you might imagine, he was immediately besieged with problems and crises. For one thing, there was the matter of all the charges against Boniface: Philip wanted the case prosecuted so he could be justified in his actions, but many of the cardinals wanted the matter left alone.

A second matter was the question of who was the legitimate Holy Roman Emperor. There were rival claimants in 1305. Boniface had favored one side, but Philip had favored the other and brought what pressure he could to bear on Clement. The issue was pressing and demanded immediate attention.

There were other matters, no less important. In short, Clement found that he could not even travel to Rome that year of his election. Many of the cardinals had gone to France, the political climate in Italy being inimical to Frenchmen just then, to put it mildly.

Clement was very concerned not to appear that he was merely a puppet of the French king, and he could no more remain in France than he could go to Rome. So he chose a compromise: Avignon. This was a respectable city in southern France, just across the Rhône River from French territory. Avignon was, technically, in imperial territory.

The year passed and still a trip to Rome seemed out of the question. More and more clerks and administrators came from Rome to Avignon, and there were a thousand things to do, and Clement remained. And never left. Clement spent his entire pontificate in Avignon. By the time he died, most of the curia was resident in the city, and the College of Cardinals elected another Frenchman and he too remained at Avignon.