1309 · Avignon, France
Avignon Papacy Begins
Pope Clement V moved the papal court from Rome to Avignon in southern France, beginning a seventy-year period that damaged the papacy's credibility and set the stage for the Great Western Schism.
In 1309, Pope Clement V settled the papal court in Avignon, a city in Provence that was technically not part of France but sat squarely under French influence. He never intended it to be permanent. Clement was a Frenchman elected after a bitter two-year conclave, and he faced pressure from Philip IV of France, who had recently humiliated Pope Boniface VIII and orchestrated the suppression of the Knights Templar. Avignon was supposed to be temporary. It lasted sixty-seven years and seven popes. The Avignon papacy was not as scandalous as its critics painted it. The popes built an efficient bureaucracy, reformed church administration, and sent missionaries to Asia. But the optics were devastating. The papal palace in Avignon was lavish. The court was expensive. Taxes on the faithful increased to pay for it. And the pope was widely seen as a puppet of the French king, which infuriated everyone who was not French. Petrarch called Avignon the "Babylonian captivity" of the Church. Catherine of Siena personally pressured Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome, which he finally did in 1377. But the damage was done. Within a year of the return, a disputed papal election produced two rival popes, then three, plunging the Church into the Great Western Schism.
Why it matters
Relocated the papacy to French territory for nearly seven decades, undermining papal independence and credibility, and directly contributing to the Great Western Schism.
What Happened
After a chaotic conclave, the French-born Clement V chose to establish the papal court in Avignon rather than face the dangerous political situation in Rome. Seven successive popes governed the Church from Avignon between 1309 and 1377. The papal court grew in size and expense. Resentment built across Europe, especially in Italy and England. Catherine of Siena wrote blunt letters urging Gregory XI to return to Rome. He did in January 1377, but died the following year, triggering the disputed election that began the Great Western Schism.
Why It Still Matters
The Avignon period is a case study in what happens when the Church's leadership becomes too closely identified with one nation or political interest. It eroded trust in the papacy across Europe and made the Great Schism possible. It also produced Catherine of Siena, a laywoman and mystic who told popes to their faces that they needed to do their jobs, and the Church later made her a Doctor of the Church for it. Sometimes the most important voices come from outside the institution.