Avignon
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Avignon
Avignon (France)
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)Avignon, a small city in southeastern France, found itself on the battle lines of various regional rulers through the first millennium of the Common Era. It acquired some additional importance in the thirteenth century. Opposing the entrance of French forces attempting to root the Albigensian heretics from the mountains of southeastern France, Avignon was forced to tear down its walls and fill up the moat, leaving it essentially defenseless. By the end of the century, the city had come under the hegemony of the king of Naples.
Early in the fourteenth century, a struggle arose between the king of France and claims of papal authority in temporal affairs. The popes lost. Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) was taken prisoner by King Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314). In 1305 a Frenchman was elected pope, taking the name Clement V (r. 1305–1314). He reversed a number of papal pronouncements against Philip and then, in 1309, moved the seat of the papacy to Avignon. Although Avignon was not formally French territory, the move signaled to all the new role of France in directing papal decisions. In the few years left to the pair, Philip coerced Clement’s participation in the destruction of the Order of Templars.
The papacy appeared to thrive in Avignon. In stages, successive popes built an impressive palace. The gothic, fortress-like building was dominated by a set of linked towers. Artists from Sienna were brought to decorate the palace with a number of frescos. The town prospered, and a university rose to prominence. In 1348, Clement VI (r. 1342–1352) formally purchased the city from Naples and incorporated it into the territory of the Papal States.
The struggle between church leaders in Rome and Avignon resulted at the end of the 1370s in the naming of two popes, one residing in Rome and one in Avignon. The different countries of Europe lined up behind their favorite. As each pope died and a successor was elected, the scandal of the division became unacceptable to all. A council was called to meet at Pisa in 1409. The council declared both popes deposed and elected a new, third pope. Neither of the two popes accepted their deposition, and Europe now lined up behind three popes. A new council met at Constance in 1414. It was able to heal the schism by deposing two of the papal claimants and allowing the third to resign. It then elected a new pope who took the name Martin V (r. 1417–1431). The resignation of Gregory XII, the pope residing in Rome, meant that his lineage would be remembered as the legitimate one, while the popes who resided in Avignon from 1378 onward were declared anti-popes.
The healing of the Great Schism of the papal office and its reestablishment in Rome led to the renewal of the struggle between the rulers of France and the pope. Although Avignon was formally considered papal territory, the French asserted their hegemony. Highlights of the struggle included Louis XIV’s seizure and subsequent declaration of Avignon as an integral part of the Kingdom of France in 1663. An official and final determination of Avignon’s status came in 1797, following the French Revolution, when the pope was forced to renounce all rights to the city. For a time, even the city’s status as the seat of an archbishop was lost, but it was reestablished in 1822.
Today, the Palace of the Popes survives as the largest gothic palace in Europe and a major tourist site. After many years of use as a barracks, it was turned into a museum and a monument to an important era in French and Italian history.