The Avignon Papacy and its Medieval Historical Sites
Updated: Aug 1
The medieval city of Avignon, France has a complex but fascinating story, and it yielded a few great historical sites which survive to this day. To give some background on how these historical sites came to be, I'll provide a brief rundown of how Avignon gained historical importance during a period known as the Avignon Papacy.
Avignon first started gaining importance, however, about two centuries before the Avignon Papacy started. This was due to the construction of the first major medieval bridge built across the Rhône river, known as the Saint-Bénézet Bridge, starting in Avignon. The bridge's existence led to a large increase of travelers passing through the city in order to cross it—and since the city could levy a toll on each traveler using the bridge, this was a huge boon to the city's treasury. Today only a small portion of the bridge survives, but you can still walk on it and see this engineering marvel up close!
Around the turn of the 13th century, Avignon's rise in prominence attracted the interest of the King of France, Philip the Fair (1285-1314). Although, since the actual city was under the rule of the Count of Provence (who was also the King of Naples), Philip the Fair instead looked across the Rhône river in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon for his own base of power. In this endeavor, he found a Benedictine abbey who were willing to negotiate a treaty with him, which stated that he was allowed to build a fortress on their side of the Rhône in exchange for the King's protection.
The location Philip the Fair chose for this fortress was a very advantageous one, as it sat on the mouth of the Saint-Bénézet Bridge. Here he could control access to the bridge and monitor all those who crossed in and out of Avignon. Today, the only surviving part of this fortress is a single tower, called the Tour Phillipe-le-Bel, which served as its dungeon. To this day, the top of this tower still gives a great panoramic view of Avignon and the surrounding Rhône valley.
Now that the story of how these two historical sites came to be has been explained, we can finally move onto the history of the Avignon Papacy—and it is one complicated tale indeed. To begin, we need to look at why nine popes (two of whom were contested) decided not to use Rome as their base of operations. Throughout the history of medieval Rome, to put it simply, there was essentially a tradition of political instability brought on by rivalries between local aristocratic clans. These clans fought for influence with each pope, and when things didn't go their way they were not subtle in their displeasure. There was one major event involving one of these clans, known as the Colonna, and Pope Boniface VIII that heavily impacted the papacy's desire to stay in Rome.
To give a little background on this major event, we must first talk about a smaller one. Near the end of the 13th century, the Colonna felt disrespected when the papal treasury was used to purchase land from a rival clan. Their (totally reasonable) response was to rob the treasury as it traveled back to Rome—it was eventually returned in full after the pope held two Colonna cardinals hostage. This spat led to a larger dispute between the Colonna clan and Pope Boniface VIII where the Colonna accused the pope of “heresy, simony, and illegitimacy”; in return, Boniface “called for a crusade against the clan, demoted the two Colonna cardinals, confiscated their goods, and excommunicated them".
Eventually some outcast Colonna members made their way to France and became involved in a plot against the pope orchestrated by King Philip the Fair (who had his own long-running bad blood with Pope Boniface VIII). The plot took place near Rome in Anagni during September 1303, and it involved the capture of the pope and the papal treasury by a small group of French and Colonna troops. While the plot initially succeeded, the local townspeople of Anagni eventually forced the pope's release. However, the shock Boniface experienced from this event caused him to die only a month later. This so-called "Outrage at Anagni" and the overall tensions between the Roman aristocratic clans perfectly exemplified Boniface's “successors' motivations in staying away from Italy, and the eventual move of the papacy to Avignon”.
The first pope who actually located themselves in Avignon was Clement V, who arrived there in 1309. He picked this city as his headquarters for a papal council taking place in nearby Vienne, with the contents of this council occupying many of the remaining years of his life.
After Clement's death in 1314, the initial conclave to choose the next pope did not go well, as heated rivalries between Gascon and Italian courtiers resulted in fights between them. On top of this, troops led by Clement's cousin came to the city where the conclave was taking place looking to collect the pope's body, but actually ended up ransacking the city instead; during this debacle, the troops plundered the papal treasury and chanted, “Death to the Italian cardinals, we want a pope!” This scared off the cardinals and helped delay the election of a new pope by over two years. Eventually, in 1316, the seventy-two year old John XXII was chosen to be the next pope. John had actually been Bishop of Avignon for a while during Clement's papacy, and he moved back there when elected pope.
John's reign as pope lasted eighteen years, which was a surprisingly long time given his advanced age when he was elected to the papacy. His papacy was a wild ride that started off with an assassination attempt involving poison and suspected "black magic" wax dolls inscribed with the words "May pope John die and no other". However, the biggest issue John faced during his papacy involved a decade long quarrel with the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV.
This quarrel was a very complicated affair, but the important part for our needs was its effect on the situation in Italy. Since Louis's accession to emperor was only confirmed after beating a rival claimant in battle, John used this weakness in imperial power to try to assert papal sovereignty over contested Italian territories. After some bitter back-and-forth diplomatic exchanges between the two, Louis eventually took action and marched into Italy in 1327 where he "crowned himself king of Italy in Milan"; Louis then "continued toward Rome, where he was again elected and crowned emperor by the Romans and a few rebellious bishops”. Clearly, the atmosphere in Rome and the whole of Italy hadn't
gotten anymore welcoming for a papal return.
Pope John XXII died at the ripe old age of 90. For his successor, Benedict XII, he left behind a very well-stocked treasury. The most important event Benedict dealt with during his reign was the start of the Hundred Years' War between the kingdoms of France and England—which gave the papacy another reason to stay in Avignon since he needed to be close to the two kingdoms in order to try to settle tempers between them.
Importantly, he was also the pope who commissioned the construction of what would become the Palais des Papes. During Benedict's papacy, however, it was only a simple castle "devoid of grandeur and elegance". It was his successor, Clement VI who worked to make it a truly extravagant palace which “replicated Rome’s sacred space”. He made sure to adorn the castle with lavishness fit for a pope by adding beautiful frescoes and other stunning architectural elements; one these elements included a "special minted coat of arms" consisting of the papal tiara, keys of St. Peter, and his family's crest (you can see it above the main entrance to the Palace). To this day, you can visit the Palais des Papes and see this amazing historical site for yourself!
Not only did Clement VI build up the grandeur of the papacy's appearance in Avignon, he also confirmed his commitment to the city when he purchased it from the Countess of Provence in 1348. Although, ironically, after Clement died in 1352, his papal successor Innocent VI was the first of the Avignon popes to seriously consider moving the papacy back to Rome.
He attempted to make this happen by reconquering the Italian Papal States, which over the years had become a "concatenation of petty tyrants who basically ruled for themselves, recognizing papal suzerainty only when it fit their needs”. While a full-dive into this campaign is a bit too complicated for our purposes, the important result of it was a papal 'victory'. The papacy technically regained control of the Papal States, but the "petty tyrants" who ruled them kept most of their land and were only forced to swear token allegiances and pay indemnities. This solution didn’t quell the deep rooted issues inherent in Italy enough for a papal return to Rome, so Innocent VI continued to take up residence in Avignon throughout his reign.
Even though his overall goal was a papal return to Italy, Innocent VI still committed resources to Avignon by funding two large building projects for the city and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The first of these projects was actually supported by Innocent shortly after his election to the papacy. While he was a cardinal in Avignon, he had his own palace in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Since he now could reside in the Palais des Papes, Innocent founded a Carthusian monastery and donated his former cardinal palace and the surrounding lands to them. Throughout his life, he funded several projects for the monastery such as the painting of frescoes in their private chapel (which can still partially be seen today). Up until the French Revolution, this monastery received many gifts and outside funding that allowed it to produce the beautiful complex visitors can still explore today.
The other building project funded by Innocent VI was of a much more serious affair, as it dealt with threats posed to the city by rampant “free company” mercenary bands. In the aftermath of the crushing English victory over the French defeat at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, in which the French King John the Good was captured, there was a treaty of peace agreed to between the two kingdoms. Since hostilities between the two had been quite active for about twenty years at this point, there were many mercenary bands hired by both sides who were now without opportunities to earn pay in battle. So, they decided their next best option was to pillage and plunder the rich, and mostly undefended, lands throughout France (as anyone would I’m sure).
After making their way through the lands of France, some of these bands ended up near or in papal territory in Avignon. While he was able to fend them off with threats of spiritual damnation, Innocent VI understood how real a threat these mercenary bands posed to the city. After inspecting the crumbling 13th century walls guarding Avignon, he determined that new ramparts needed to be constructed for Avignon’s protection. The end result, after about fifteen years of construction, were ramparts which both protected the city and showed off the status of the papacy with an elegant architectural design. In modern Avignon, the ramparts are still in excellent condition and there is a nice paved walkway that goes along the entirety of them; one of my favorite moments in Avignon was taking an evening stroll along these walls while enjoying some amazing gelato!
In the year 1362, the King of France, John the Good, came to personally visit Pope Innocent VI in order to talk over a few pressing matters—although, when he arrived, he was greeted by Innocent’s successor Urban V. While the specifics of these discussions don’t relate to our topic, it did result in an important historical site being constructed by John the Good. During the discussions with the pope, John the Good took up residence in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Here he decided to construct a new fortress on a hill overlooking the Rhône river in order to put the full power of the Kingdom of France on display, which just so happened to be right in front of the papacy. This fortress is known as Fort Saint-André, and it is a “significant example of 14th-century French military architecture” with its circular towers prominently sticking out. Exploring this historical site lets you walk on top of the ramparts, where you get awesome views of Avignon and the surrounding areas.
As noted above, Pope Urban V was elected in 1362 after the death of Innocent VI. He also contributed to the historical sites of Avignon, although his impact was not as large as his predecessors. His addition was the construction of the palace gardens in the Palais des Papes. While not much of the original gardens are still there today, great effort has been put into the site to try and replicate them as well as possible. During a tour of the Palais des Papes, the walk out into the gardens is a nice change of pace from the towering stone architecture seen throughout the palace.
Now that all the main historical sites in Avignon have been covered, we can quickly wrap up the remaining history of the Avignon Papacy. Like his predecessor, Urban V was partial to a papal return to Italy, although he actually acted on these desires. During the early years of his reign in Avignon, the region was hit hard by a combination of: “free company” mercenary bands still wreaking havoc, a shortage of crops caused by a random locust invasion, and another wave of bubonic plague spreading around. These factors—mixed with improved relations with Rome and a period of peace between England and France—convinced Urban to take his papacy back to Rome in 1367.
It was not meant to be though. After only three years in Italy, the instability of Italian politics was as evident as ever due to the persistent fickleness of the “petty tyrants” ruling over portions of the Papal States; the papal court’s inexperience with these types of political affairs did not make solving the issues any easier either. The final nail in the coffin which spurred Urban’s move back to Avignon was the rapid deterioration of relations between France and England. In the end, Urban had no choice but to relent and move back to the Palais des Papes in 1370, where he died shortly after. His papal successor, Gregory XI, would be the last officially recognized pope to call Avignon his home. Although, right from the start of his reign, he harbored ambitions to return to Rome even after witnessing his predecessor’s folly in Italy.
Gregory spent several years of his reign dealing with a complicated papal war targeted against the Republic of Florence. However by late 1376, after raising the necessary funds, he was finally ready for the papacy to make its final triumphant return back to the Eternal City. Yet, even though Gregory was eager to make it happen, this move back to Rome was not at all supported by his cardinals and papal court due to the pope’s poor health. Even the French King’s court warned of the potential consequences of Gregory’s actions, with the Duke of Anjou stating: “It will be your fault if the church falls in great tribulations. If you die over there, which is highly probable according to your physicians, the Romans who are bizarre and treacherous will become master of the [cardinal] college and will force a pope of their liking”.
Upon the pope’s arrival in the Eternal City, the reception given to him was lukewarm as the Roman people weren’t exactly pleased with the ramifications it brought. For one, they were deeply distrustful of foreign (aka French) influences evident in the papal court; they were also not pleased with the idea of handing over local authority of Rome back into papal hands after ruling it themselves for over half a century. This caused an uneasy tension to hang over the city, which only became worse after the declining health of Gregory was clear to all.
In late 1377, rumors swirled throughout Rome of a coup planned by the papal court to ensure a French pope succeeded Gregory. Unsurprisingly, the people of Rome would not allow this to happen. They took action upon themselves by revolting against the papacy, which “forced the pope and his court to seek refuge at Castel Sant’Angelo”. While order was soon restored, the topic of papal succession was clearly not headed for a peaceful conclusion. In March 1378, Gregory passed away.
Shortly before he died, Gregory tried to mitigate the potential chaos his death would cause by issuing two papal bulls aimed at a fast election of his successor. His efforts were futile, however, as his death resulted in a Roman mob proclaiming Urban VI as pope. In opposition to this, several rebellious cardinals set off what would become the Western Schism by electing Clement VII as a rival pope based in Avignon. Ultimately, the remark uttered by the Duke of Anjou was almost prophetic in spelling out the fate which befell the papacy due to Gregory’s stubborn return to Rome.
I hope you enjoyed this little overview of the great city of Avignon. If it got you interested in visiting Avignon to explore these wonderful historical sites (as well as the great day trips possible nearby), don't hesitate to contact me and let me plan your trip as your travel advisor!
Sources
(I really wish I could include footnotes in these blog posts)
Rollo-Koster, Joëlle. Avignon and Its Papacy, 1309–1417: Popes, Institutions, and Society. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
https://avignon-tourisme.com/en/offres/philippe-le-bel-tower-villeneuve-les-avignon-en-4143804/
"La Tour de Philippe le Bel à Villeneuve-les-Avignon", Bulletin Historique et Archéologique de Vaucluse, pp. 84-7. Seguin Frères, Imprimeurs-éditeurs, 1879. https://archive.org/details/bulletinhistori01unkngoog/page/84/mode/2up
https://chartreuse.org/site/en/la-chartreuse-de-villeneuve-lez-avignon
https://avignon-tourisme.com/en/offres/fort-saint-andre-villeneuve-les-avignon-en-4143785/
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