AVIGNON, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A city in southern France, on the Rhône, at the intersection of important natural routes and in an easily defensible position.
Summary: I. History –
II. Councils of A
III. The sanctuary of Notre-Dame-des-Doms –IV. The University of A
V. The Palace of the Popes.I. HISTORY
A. is the seat of an archbishopric and the capital of the department of Vaucluse (3,578 sq. km.). The diocese has 200,000 Catholics out of a population of 245,508; 176 parishes; 161 diocesan priests and 60 regular clergy (1948).Its Christian origins are shrouded in legend. It is unknown who Saint Rufus was, around whom the first Avignonese Christians likely gathered. The first bishop whose name history has preserved is Nectarius, who took part in the Councils of Riez in 439, of Orange in 441, and of Vaison in 442. He signed the letter that the bishops of the Gauls, gathered in Arles in 451, addressed to Pope Leo I concerning the controversy over the Incarnation. After him, the series of bishops is almost continuous until the 6th century; it then lapses, and only the name of Saint Agricol remains, who must have been the city’s patron saint.
Contested in turn by the Burgundians, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, and the Franks, A. was occupied in the 8th century by the Muslims; Charles Martel was able to drive them out in 737.
Legally belonging to the old kingdom of Arles, it nonetheless fell under the control of the counts of Provence. As a center of a rich area on the navigable part of the Rhône, under the protection of those counts it had been able to develop considerable economic activity, and a commune almost entirely autonomous had formed there.
The 11th century saw the restoration of Notre-Dame-des-Doms and the rise of the abbey of Saint Rufus. Urban II was in A. in 1095 and 1096, Gelasius II in 1118, and Innocent II in 1132.
The struggles for A. began at the start of the 13th century, under the pretext of the crusade against the Albigensians and against the counts of Toulouse and Provence, their protectors. In 1226, a crusader army led by King Louis VIII of France besieged A. In 1229, Count Raymond VII of Toulouse ceded to the Pope the Comtat Venaissin, extending on the left bank of the Rhône around Carpentras. Gregory IX entrusted the new papal possession to the custody of the royal seneschal of Languedoc, and the kings of France repeatedly sought to take possession of II. The popes resisted, and in 1274 Gregory X definitively occupied II. It was organized into 60 castles grouped into 9 bailiwicks and was placed under the rule of an official called *rector et comes Venaissin*. The new count of Provence, of the French royal house, Charles of Anjou, in 1251 completely suppressed the communal liberties of the city and subjected it to the rule of comital officials.
Avignon – Façade of the church of Saint Peter, designed by Philippe Garcin (1312).
But A. enters the great history of Europe at the beginning of the 14th century, when it became the seat of the papacy.
When in 1309 Clement V, after residing in various cities of southern France, came there, he was hosted by Count Robert of Anjou, king of Naples; and he took up residence in the Dominican convent. His successor Jacques d’Euse, who had been bishop of A. since 1310, when elected pope under the name John XXII (1316) decided without delay to keep the papal see in the beloved city, residing in his episcopal palace. On 2 October 1316 he made his solemn entry into A. and set about organizing the curia. Benedict XII (1334–42) then began the construction of the towering palace on the Rocher des Doms, while the cardinals also began to build palaces outside A., in Villeneuve, on the right bank of the Rhône, which had already come under the control of the kings of France. In 1348 Pope Clement VI decided to purchase the city from the countess of Provence and queen of Naples, Joanna I, taking advantage of her need for money to fight the king of Hungary, who contested her kingdom. He paid 80,000 florins (9 June 1348) and obtained the emperor Charles IV’s approval of the transfer.
The two pontificates of Benedict XII and Clement VI (1334–52) represent a period of great importance for A. The papal court, including all those who had business with the curia, numbered as many as 4,000 people: pilgrims, ecclesiastics, prelates, businessmen, politicians, and merchants flocked there from every direction. The small Provençal city became a great cosmopolitan center. Beyond the old city walls, new suburbs arose; popes and cardinals built and embellished churches and monasteries there, summoning artists from everywhere. During the Avignon papacy and the subsequent Western Schism, the pontiffs reserved the bishopric of A., governed by an administrator of their trust. A moment of grave crisis for A. was the outbreak of the plague in 1348: the city was devastated for seven months and lost half its population. Soon, however, life resumed cheerfully.
The archbishops of A. were often elevated to the cardinalate: in 1412, the future Martin V; in 1517, the future Leo X; in 1585, the future Sixtus V. In 1634–37, Mazarin held the office of vice-legate. The French monarchy, since the second half of the 15th century, as heir of the Angevins, absorbed the county of Provence, and, tolerating poorly the existence of the papal possession of A., repeatedly sought by various pretexts to take possession of it; for this purpose, the rights of purchase were discussed, indeed the rights of the king of Naples over Provence. A first French occupation occurred under Louis XI, from 1476–83, then again in 1536 under Francis I. More important occupations occurred in the 17th century through the efforts of Louis XIV, the first time in 1662 as retaliation against the Pope over the affair of the Duke of Créqui, the second time in 1668 over the conflict with the Pope regarding the extraterritorial rights of the French embassy. Both times the king provoked decrees of annexation by the parliament of Provence. Again in 1768, when the Pope protested against the anti-clerical legislation of Philip of Bourbon, Duke of Parma, the government of Louis XV decided on the occupation and annexation; but in 1774, when the Pope granted the requested suppression of the Jesuits, the French government consented to the restitution of A. to the Holy See. However, as soon as the French Revolution broke out, disturbances and protests against the papal government began in A.; in the Estates General and then in the National Constituent Assembly, the annexation of A. was discussed and decreed by the Assembly itself. Pope Pius VI protested against the violation of the rights of the Holy See, but in the Treaty of Tolentino he had to recognize the fait accompli (19 February 1796). The Holy See attempted to revive the question after the fall of Napoleon, at the Congress of Vienna, but without success.
The department of Vaucluse constitutes the diocese of A., which became a simple bishopric again under the Concordat of 1801, restored once more as a metropolitan see in 1822, with the suffragan dioceses of Montpellier, Nîmes, Valence, and Viviers. It also holds the titles of Apt, Cavaillon, Carpentras, and Vaison.
The city preserves the memories of its University, of the wonderful flourishing of religious institutions that, through the initiative of the archbishops, opposed in the 16th and 17th centuries a dam to the Protestant heresy; and also of no fewer than twelve councils.
In 1806, under the presidency of Ugo di Die, Ghibelline of A. was elected bishop in place of the intruder Acardo, Lantelmo of Embrun, Ugo, bishop of Grenoble, and Desiderio, bishop of Cavaillon; the legates took the newly elected with them to Rome to have them consecrated by the Pope himself.
In 1809, in the presence of the archbishops of Vienne, Arles, Embrun, and Aix, as well as many others, together with a large number of abbots, under the presidency of the two papal legates Milone and Ugo, 21 canons on discipline were promulgated at A. The second of these obliged bishops to exact oaths of fidelity from counts, castellans, and burghers, and to remove Jews from every office. On this occasion, on account of his weakness toward heretics, the count of Toulouse was censured.
The third Synod of 1279 concerned itself with safeguarding the rights, privileges, and immunities of the clergy, imposing censures against those who usurped ecclesiastical goods. The other canons contain ancient ordinances published at Bourges, Valence, and Arles.
In 1282, Bertrando Amaury, archbishop of A., presided over a provincial synod and renewed in ten canons the ancient laws against usurers and the alienation of church goods.
On 18 June 1326, a general synod was celebrated in the abbey of Saint-Ruf for the three ecclesiastical provinces of southern France: A., Aix, and Embrun. A regulation of 59 articles was published, almost all concerning the temporal goods of the Church and its jurisdiction.
A general synod in the same monastery of Saint-Ruf was held in 1337, where 70 canons were promulgated, almost all taken from the preceding synod.
The Synod of 1403 voted pecuniary subsidies for the king of France. In 1457 a provincial synod was held, presided over by Cardinal Pietro di Foix. Its principal aim was to renew the decree of the Council of Basel regarding the Immaculate Conception.
11. SANCTUARY OF NOTRE-DAME-DES-DOMS
The date of origin of this sanctuary is certainly earlier than the residence of the Popes in A. It was called Our Lady “des Doms,” or better “des Dons,” on account of the multitude of heavenly gifts granted in that place. Others suggest a different etymology: of the “Domini” or Lords, that is, the bishop and clergy who lived near the church, “de domo episcopali.”John XXII was buried near II. Benedict XII was raised to the supreme dignity here and wished to remain after his death. The kings of France, from Louis VIII to Louis XIV, came to venerate this image of the Virgin. The Revolution stripped the ancient statue and reduced the building to miserable conditions. Restored by Monsignor Dupont, the Sanctuary was raised again to the status of a basilica by Pius IX in 1854.
The University of A.
A. had a celebrated university, among the oldest in France. Its origins can be traced to the beginning of the 13th century, when the papal legate Cardinal Romano, by ordinance of 4 January 1227, organized theological teaching (“in theologica facultate”) there to combat heresy. Charles II, king of Naples and count of Provence, by letter of 5 May 1303 granted the school of A. various privileges, while Boniface VIII, by the bull *Conditoris omnium* of 19 July 1303, raised it to the dignity of a *Studium generale*, with faculties of civil and canon law, medicine, and the arts. The faculty of theology was added by John XXIII by the bull *Dum attente* of 6 September 1413.The statutes, drawn up “doctorum consilio et assensu” by the city’s bishop, Bertrando Aymin, in 1303, were somewhat modified in 1376. The chancellor of the university was the archbishop of A.; the rector, called *primicerius*, was normally chosen from among the professors of law (*Decretals of Gregory IX*, book I, title 25). Subsequent reforms of the statutes took place in 1497 at the initiative of Bishop Gilles de Bellemère, in 1441 through the efforts of Bishop Alano de Coetivi with the cooperation of the doctors of the university, and in 1503 by order of Cardinal Archbishop Giuliano della Rovere, who entrusted the task to his nephew Galeotto della Rovere; these last statutes are valuable for understanding the state of the University of A. at the end of the Middle Ages.
By a bull of 6 September 1413, John XXIII granted the University of A. the privileges enjoyed by those of Toulouse and Orléans, which were similar to those of the University of Paris; thus, in practice, the Pope granted A. all the university privileges of the time.
A characteristic of this university is its numerous colleges, each with its own history: 1) the college of Saint Martial, erected by Clement VII by the bull *Pia devotorum* of 21 April 1379, for the monks of Cluny; by agreement of 7 September 1427, this college housed the university library; 2) the college of Saint Nicholas of Amec, founded by a document of 23 July 1424 by Cardinal Giovanni de Brogny, bishop of Ostia, for the Savoyards (*Magnum Collegium Sabaudiae*); 3) the college of Saint Michael, founded by the jurist Giovanni Isnard by testament of 8 April 1453 for students of civil law; 4) the college “de fujon” (or Dijon), founded on 9 September 1471; 5) the college “du Roure” (*Collegium de Ruvere*), founded on 22 August 1476 by Cardinal Archbishop Giuliano della Rovere for 36 poor students; the cardinal, nephew of Sixtus IV, obtained from the Pope for this college the library of the papal palace (*bulla Ad Apostolicae Sedis apicem*, 6 May 1481); 6) the college of “Notre-Dame de la Piété,” founded by the Dominican Bartolomeo de Riquetis, professor of theology (1491–1494); 7) the college of Sénanque (or Saint Bernard of Sénanque), founded in 1496 for the Cistercians; 8) the college “de la Croix,” by Guglielmo Ricci (1500). In the 18th century, only the college of Amec was functioning regularly; in 1709 it was united with the college du Roure.
To foster the piety of the young, on 21 March 1441 a corporation or confraternity of Saint Sebastian was established for the students of law, while between 1450 and 1480 another was founded for the doctors of the university.
As the university had declined from its original splendor, Sixtus IV sought to restore its prestige with the bull *Cum rationis* of 5 June 1475, while his nephew Giuliano della Rovere, as cardinal, became its great patron and restorer. Among its most illustrious alumni and masters was the Blessed Urban V (Guillaume de Grimoard). The university distinguished itself, particularly in the 17th century, for its teaching of law. It disappeared during the French Revolution (1792).
Its documents have been fairly well preserved; the *Archives de Vaucluse* hold the richest collection. M. Fournier has published the principal ones in *Les Statuts et Privileges des Universités Françaises depuis leur fondation jusqu’en 1789* (II, Paris 1891, pp. 301–535, and III, ibid. 1892, pp. 647–66).
V. IL PALAZZO DEI PAPI
It is one of the principal monuments of French medieval architecture.With a bull of June 1326, Benedict XII (1334-1342) solemnly expressed his intention to build in Avignon, where the papal court then had its provisional seat, a palace that would fully meet the requirements of papal dignity. His predecessor, John XXII (1316-1334), who had taken up residence in the city’s episcopal palace, adjacent to the cathedral, had already been compelled to undertake considerable adaptation work on that ancient building and to purchase some adjoining properties to house the necessary offices and services.
The Avignonese papal palace consists of two clearly differentiated groups of buildings within the unified appearance of the complex. These are known as the Old Palace and the New Palace, respectively the work of Benedict XII and Clement VI (1342-52); Innocent VI and Urban V completed those works and made some additions that, while notable, did not substantially alter the overall structure. The Old Palace, or Palace of Benedict XII, stands to the right of the cathedral and occupies much of the space previously occupied by the episcopal palace. It is arranged around a trapezoidal courtyard whose sides are formed by the flank of four large structures: the papal chapel, at whose extremities stand the Bell Tower and the Trouillas Tower; the consistory wing; the conclave wing; and the wing for the papal household. At the corner formed by the consistory wing and the conclave wing, the buildings that constitute the papal apartments are supported, dominated and protected by the massive Angel Tower.
This complex group of constructions, executed by the architect Pierre Poisson, may at first glance appear disjointed, as if each building had been conceived independently. Yet closer observation reveals not only that its layout is dictated by a logical distribution of spaces but also that, architecturally—especially externally—it is unified by the motif of the massive buttresses or pillars, set very close together, which rise with remarkable vertical thrust along the smooth walls and are joined at the top by elegant arches. Moreover, this part of the construction is characterized by a taste for picturesque architecture, for the dynamic arrangement of plastic masses, and for striking scenographic effects—qualities that medieval architects held in the highest esteem and that we too often mistakenly attribute to chance. On the other hand, the building of Benedict XII faithfully reflects the taste and temperament of that pontiff; more than a palace, it resembles a monastery or a fortress.
The character of the New Palace, built during the pontificate of Clement VI (1342-52), is quite different. It is a true palace, its spaces grand and every refined architectural and decorative element executed with the utmost care. The palace of Clement VI consists of two large structures: the wing known as the Grand Dignitaries’ Wing, adjacent to the Small Audience Hall, and the wing containing the Great Audience Hall, which also abuts the tower of St Lawrence. These two structures, together with the conclave wing and the complex of papal apartments from the time of Benedict XII, enclose the area of the palace’s main courtyard. The architect responsible for the buildings erected during Clement VI’s pontificate was Jean de Loubiers. He maintained the external motif of the great pillars joined at the top by pointed arches, thereby preserving a unified character for the vast edifice.
As noted, this second part of the construction—especially the wing containing the Great Audience Hall and the chapel above it—is the most architecturally and decoratively ambitious. In the Great Audience Hall, as in other rooms of the palace such as the oratory of St John and the Wardrobe Tower, there are interesting fourteenth-century frescoes, unfortunately much deteriorated. These are almost entirely the work of a team of Italian painters Viterbo (v.), who, as general director of the palace’s paintings, had established himself there during Clement VI’s pontificate. Matteo Giovanetti worked in the style of the Sienese painters of his time, the greatest of whom, MARTINO V, PAPA (v.), had already been at Avignon in the papal court in 1339, engaged in works that exerted a profound influence on the development of French painting in the region. At Avignon, Simone met Petrarch (v.) and died there in 1344.
When the papal court definitively returned to Rome, the Avignonese papal palace entered a period of decline that even the works carried out over the centuries by the cardinal legates and vice-legates could not arrest. The French Revolution was disastrous; the palace was abandoned and plundered.
Napoleon, by decree of 23 April 1810, included the palace among the public buildings owned by the commune. In 1818, the Ministry of War took possession of it, converting it into a barracks, while part of it was used as a prison.
From 1876, the palace—whose historical and artistic value had finally been recognized—came under the care of the fine arts authorities, and systematic restoration began, repairing, as far as possible, the regrettable damage it had sustained.
For the archives and library of Avignon: V. ARCHIVIO; VATICANA BIBLIOTECA.