Papacy of Avignon

The papacy of Avignon is divided into two great consecutive periods.

the first, that of the papacy of Avignon itself, corresponds to one time when the Pape, always recognized single chief of the Roman Catholic church, and its court are installed in the town of Avignon instead of Rome.
the second coincides with the Great Schism of Occident where two rival popes (and soon three) claim to reign on Christendom, one installed in Rome, and the other in Avignon.

Papacy in Avignon

The popes all of Avignon are French according to the current territory. Actually, they are popes of Langues of oc of which the area of origin depended, either directly of king de France, or of king d' Angleterre (for its grounds concerned with king de France), or of the county of Provence (who raised of the Saint Germanic Roman Empire). They are Clément V - largely quoted but wrongly, Jean {{XXII}}, Benoît {{XII}}, Clément {{VI}}, Innocent {{VI}}, Urbain {{V}} and Gregoire {{XI}}.

Urbain will make the decision to go back to Rome but the chaotic situation that it finds prevents it there from being maintained there. It must turn over in France to arbitrate a conflict between the French and the English and, in fact, it are reinstalled in Avignon. He dies very little of time afterwards. Its Gregoire successor decides in his turn to return to Rome, which puts an end to the first period papacy of Avignon.

The papacy of Avignon in competition with that of Rome

The second period begins in 1378 when the cardinal , in conflict with Urbain {{VI}}, that they had just elected in Rome after the death of Gregoire, revolt against him, meet in Fondi, deposits it, and elects in the place the French cardinal Robert of Geneva which takes the name of Clément {{VII}}. Supported by many States, whose France, it is naturally in Avignon that it is reinstalled with its court, while Urbain {{VI}} and his remain in Rome (the details of this period are given to the article Great Schism of Occident).

Clément will succeed in Avignon the Aragonese Benoît {{XIII}} (both are regarded today as Antipape S by the Catholic church).

The Concile of Pisa fails in 1409 to solve the schism. It elects third pope (known as pope of Pisa although he does not reside at Pisa), in the person of Alexandre {{V}}, very quickly replaced by Jean {{XXIII}}. However, the pope of Pisa receives many supports of States up to now faithful to one or the other pope.

The Benoît pope of Avignon loses the French support thus and must exile himself in Aragon, last country to support it. He will remain there until his death, will have even successors who will sink little by little in the lapse of memory, but the departure of Benoit marks the final end of the papacy of Avignon.

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