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History of the Popes'
Palace
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SEVEN POPES AND TWO SCHISMATIC POPES
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Clément V |
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Clément V : (1305 - 1314)
The violent quarrel opposing King Philippe IV the Fair to Pope Boniface
VIII at the beginning of the century led to the election of a French
prelate to Saint Peter's throne in 1305 - Bertrand de Got, archbishop
of Bordeaux who took the name of Clement V. For various reasons (among
which the crisis of the Order of the Temple) in 1309 he decided to settle
in Avignon, a vassal city of the Holy See, located next to the Comtat
Venaissin which had been Church property since 1274. He lived there
occasionally, staying in the Dominican convent.
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Jean XXII
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Benoît
XII |
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Jean XXII : (1316 - 1334)
The effective supremacy of French cardinals was soon established
in the Sacred College, and ensured the election of a former bishop of
Avignon to the Papal throne, Jacques Duèse, who reigned from
1316 to 1334 under the name of John XXII. The political unrest in Italy,
the unruliness of the great families and the common people in Rome,
persuaded the new Pope to settle temporarily in Avignon. He made arrangements
to adapt the Episcopal Palace, next to the Cathedral, to the needs of
the Pontifical court, and endeavoured to make it larger, more powerful
and more beautiful.
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Clément
VI |
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Innocent VI |
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Benoît XII : (1334 - 1342)
Nevertheless, this Palace did not seem worthy of interest to
Benedict XII (Jacques Fournier) who bought it, pulled it down and had
another built on the same site by his own master builder Pierre Poisson.
It was a large fortress, austere and overpowering, reflecting his taste
for sobriety born of his time as a Cistercian monk.
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Urbain V
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Grégoire
XI |
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Clément VI : (1342 - 1352)
His successor Clement VI (Pierre Roger de Beaufort), an aristocrat living
a life of great luxury, found this Palace inadequate and unworthy of
his Pontifical grandeur, so he had a second one erected nearby known
as the "New Palace", built in a more flowery style by his
architect Jean de Louvres. He entrusted the whole building to a group
of painters under the leadership of Matteo Giovannetti of Viterbo. In
1348, he bought the city of Avignon from Queen Joan of Naples.
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Benoît XIII
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Clément VII
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Innocent VI : (1352 - 1362)
Innocent VI (Etienne Aubert), whose preoccupation was to bring peace
to the Italian territories belonging to the Holy See, brought his predecessor's
monumental work to a close.
Urbain V : (1362 - 1370)
Urbain V (Guillaume Grimoard) endeavoured to extend the gardens where
he had some improvements made (the Roma), of which no trace remains
today.
Grégoire XI : (1370 - 1378)
Gregory XI's (Pierre Roger de Beaufort) sole concern was to reestablish
the Holy See in Rome - which he did in 1376.
Clément VII (1378 - 1394)
Benoît XIII (1394 - 1423)
During the great schism of the Occident (1378 - 1417), two popes lived
in the Palace, Clement VII (Robert de GenËve 1378 - 1394) and Benedict
XIII (Pedro de Luna 1394 - 1423) who left Avignon for good in 1403,
after an exhausting siege that had lasted five years.
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Pictures of the Avignon Popes
by Henri Serrur (1839 - 1840)
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| AVIGNON TOURISME 2009 | TOUS DROITS DE REPRODUCTION RESERVES |
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