Avignon
City on the Rhône where the papal court resided for most of the fourteenth century, from the time of Clement V until Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377.
Avignon stands on the Rhône in the south of France. The Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani writes of “Avignon, where was the Pope’s court” in 1310 and says that John XXII, elected pope in 1316, had been bishop of Avignon (Giovanni Villani, Chronicle 9.8, 9.81). Petrarch, who lived there, set it “on the shores of the wild Rhone” and called it the Babylon of the West (Petrarch, Letters without a Name letter 5). See the Popes at Avignon.
What happened here
- 1309 to 1377, estimated dateThe Popes at Avignon
After the election of a Gascon pope in 1305 the papal court settles at Avignon on the Rhône and stays for some seventy years. Petrarch calls it Babylon; Catherine of Siena urges Gregory XI to come home, and he returns to Rome in 1377.
- 1347 to 1351, estimated dateThe Black Death
Plague spreads through Europe, reaching Florence, Avignon and Paris in 1348. Priests and friars die with the rest or flee. Jews are accused of poisoning the wells and burned, though Pope Clement VI calls the charge false. In 1349 he bans the flagellants.
- 1378 to 1417, firm dateThe Great Western Schism
The cardinals who elect Urban VI at Rome in 1378 declare the election forced and set up Clement VII. For nearly forty years two and then three lines of popes divide Latin Christendom, until at Constance two are deposed, one resigns and Martin V is elected.