Boniface VIII
Benedetto Caetani of Anagni, canon lawyer and cardinal, pope from 1294. He issued Clericis laicos and Unam sanctam in his conflict with Philip IV of France, was seized at Anagni in September 1303 and died a month later.
The Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani, who lived through his pontificate, says that Cardinal Benedetto Caetani of Anagni was elected in 1294 after Celestine V laid down the papacy, a resignation Villani says the cardinal had himself advised (Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 8.5–6). Villani calls him learned in Scripture and in canon law, great-hearted, proud and cruel to his enemies, and credits him with the Sixth Book of the Decretals (Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 8.64).
His bull Boniface VIII Issues Unam Sanctam of 1302 states that it is necessary for salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff (Boniface VIII, Unam sanctam pp. 435–437). In September 1303 men in the pay of Philip IV of France seized him in his palace at Anagni. He was freed by the townspeople after three days, returned to Rome and died there on 12 October 1303 (Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 8.63).
In the timeline
- 18 November 1302, firm dateBoniface VIII Issues Unam Sanctam
In his conflict with Philip IV of France, Pope Boniface VIII declares that the church has one head, that the temporal sword is subject to the spiritual, and that it is necessary for salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.
Primary sources
New Chronicle (Nuova Cronica)
- Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 8.5–6gutenberg.org
- Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 8.64gutenberg.org
- Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 8.63gutenberg.org