356

limited ability. Clement V's successors John XXII and Benedict XII were no man's puppets, as even a cursory
review of their character, public statements and policy makes very clear. Of all the Avignon Popes, only
Clement VI comes close to fitting the scenario (mostly drawn by angry Italians) of the Avignon Popes as
lackeys of Paris. But their official residence exposed even the best of the Avignon Popes to the constant
suspicion of such subservience, accentuated by the splendor in which they lived and what Ludwig von Pastor
calls the "deplorable worldliness" of a backwater provincial town suddenly become a new Rome, the
destination of a steady flow of rich ambassadors and rich gifts from all over Christendom.'
The problem was accentuated by the fact that, throughout the years the Popes were in Avignon, return to
Rome was not an easy option even when it might be sincerely desired. The bitter hostility of most Italians to
the French Popes would indubitably place them in serious physical danger if they came to live in Rome, or
indeed anywhere in Italy; and Italy, still the prey of the endless strife of Ghibelline and Guelf superimposed on
its division into many quarrelling city-states, was in serious disorder with several substantial wars usually
going on at any given time, both among cities and within them. A longrange undertaking was required to pacify
Rome and its immediate surroundings, begin the restoration of the city, and create good will toward the Pope.
Return to Rome had to become a fixed papal policy with a high priority. For the first fifty years of the Avignon
papacy there was no such policy.
Partly due to this displacement of the papacy, but also for other reasons, Christendom in the first half of
the fourteenth century was in a condition of malaise. There were no great saints, and no temporal leaders with
broad vision. The ablest was Edward III of England, a splendid knight and remarkable strategist, but he rarely
if ever looked beyond the interests of his own crown and kingdom. The four kings of France who succeeded
Philip the Fair lacked both ability and vision. The dream of a great crusade, long a sustaining and uniting
enthusiasm of Christendom, was dying. The Holy Roman Emperor was again at war with the Pope. Only in
Spain did crusading sparks still fly up into flame; after two long royal minorities during which Castile was
preserved from anarchy or disintegration only by the moral prestige of the widow of Sancho the Fierce, the
strong and serene Maria de Molina, her grandson Alfonso XI the Avenger resumed the Reconquest and made
notable advances in it.s The summer of the year 1315 was marked by exceptionally heavy rainfall; almost
constant rains saturated the ground and the absence of sun greatly inhibited the growth of crops, leading to
severe famine whose effects, particularly in northern Europe,
°
Ibid, I, 59-67.

There is no biography, or adequate coverage of this remarkable woman in English. Even in Spanish it is
S

thin. See Mercedes Gaibrois de Ballesteros, Maria de Molina, tres veces reina (Madrid, 1936, 1967).
THE GLORY OF CHRISTENDOM

POPESAWAYFROMROME 357

lasted for several years 6

Under these circumstances, the history of the first half of the fourteenth century has a rather formless
character. Despite the handicap of their Avignon residence, the Popes were able to maintain and even increase
the centralization of the government of the Church; but Pope John XXII, approaching his ninetieth year, took
one of the most imprudent actions in the history of the papacy by bringing a heresy up for discussion with the
statement that he thought it true, but was not sure. Later he recanted it on his deathbed. The only great causes
were the Reconquest in southern Spain led by Alfonso XI and the attempts to achieve and to resist Edward III's
personal and national ambitions in Scotland and in France, which while dramatic had at this time no great
significance for Christendom as a whole. In the east Catholic Poland was growing in unity and strength, but the
Byzantine empire was steadily weakening and that strange and dangerous people, the Ottoman Turks, soon to
build an empire, made their first appearance on the historical stage. Through these disparate developments we
shall make our way.
Pope Clement V died two weeks after Easter in 1314. The conclave to elect his successor assembled at
Carpentras in the Venaissin just a few miles from Avignon early in May. From the beginning it was apparent
that the cardinals were so badly split that no candidate could gain a majority, let alone two-thirds. First there
was a party of ten cardinals from Gascony, which had been Pope Clement V's home territory and was ruled by
the English King Edward II but under feudal homage to the King of France; these cardinals had been appointed
by Clement V and wished to elect one of his two nephews Pope. A second party consisting of all the seven
remaining Italian cardinals and three French cardinals supported Cardinal Guillaume de Mandagout of
Languedoc in southern France; a third consisting of six French cardinals unconnected with Gascony remained
uncommitted. When the deadlock had continued into July, Gascon gangs appeared in Carpentras and attacked
the houses where the Italian cardinals were staying, killing some Italians, setting fire to parts of the little town
and looting others. The Italian cardinals consequently fled from Carpentras, refused to return, and declared
they would not recognize any Pope chosen in an election in which they did not take part.?
The Gascon and Italian cardinals continued to defy one another throughout the remainder of 1314 and the
whole of 1315, unable even to agree on a place to reconvene the conclave. Finally in March 1316, under a
solemn promise that there would be no more violence and that they would not be forcibly confined, the
cardinals agreed to meet again at Lyons under the protection of Prince Philip of Poitiers, the brother of King
Louis X of France.
May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307-1399 (Oxford History of England) (Oxford, 1959), pp. 49-50.
'Mollat, Popes at Avignon, pp. xviii, 9-11.