EXILE OF AVIGNON. — The sojourn in Avignon (1305–76) of the popes Clement V, Giovanni XXII, Benedetto XII, Clement VI, Innocenzo VI, Urbano V, and Gregorio XI is unjustly compared with the exile of the Jews in Babylon. Far from being prisoners on the banks of the Rhône, the papacy enjoyed complete freedom in a city that depended upon its vassal, the king of Sicily, and that became its property in 1348.
To what should such a long absence from Rome, its natural see, be attributed?
On 9 June 1305, the cardinals assembled at Perugia wrote to Clement V, immediately after electing him pope: “The boat of Peter threatens to sink and the fisherman’s net risks breaking. Instead of a secure peace, storm clouds were gathering; calamitous wars were ravaging the lands of the Roman Church; the sower of weeds was hurling his sharp arrows against it” (Mansi, XXV, 127). This pathetic language portrayed, in a realistic summary, the sad situation that confronted Italy at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
While the struggle between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines was raging, the Guelf party in Tuscany had split into two factions: the Whites and the Blacks. Benedetto XI had tried in vain to reconcile the hostile brothers. He himself had not felt safe in Rome, where the Colonna and the Orsini were waging war against one another, and had sought temporary refuge in Perugia. The cardinals advised him to hasten immediately to the scene. Clement V often announced this decision, but circumstances beyond his control kept him away from Rome: at first, the need for a reconciliation between France and England for the organization of a crusade; then, the pressure exerted by Filippo II Bello, who demanded the resumption of the trial brought against the memory of Bonifacio VIII and the condemnation of the Templars. After decreeing the convocation of a general council at Vienne, in the Dauphiné, Clement V could no longer think of returning to Italy; in March 1309 he entered Avignon. After the close of the council (6 May 1312), he fell ill and died on 14 April 1314. Besides, even if he had not fallen ill, he could not have returned to Rome: bloody battles were raging there between the troops of Arrigo VII and those of King Roberto of Naples.
Giovanni XXII (and all his successors followed the same policy) thought that, before venturing across the mountains, it would be better to reconcile the Italians and firmly establish the authority of the Church in its own
dominions. The implementation of this program encountered innumerable obstacles: first of all, it clashed too sharply with the ambitions in Italy of the King of the Romans, the Angevins of Naples, and the rulers of Hungary; moreover, it impeded the plans of the Republics of Venice and Florence, of the Visconti of Milan, and the calculations of the fortunate adventurers who hoped to create lordships for themselves to the detriment of the Communes and the papacy. After trying every means of reconciliation in vain, the Holy See began the war against its rivals, great and small, thereby risking the serious compromise of the future of temporal power. From 1320 to 1334, the legate Bertrando del Poggetto rigorously directed military operations against the Ghibellines of Upper Italy. The successes achieved induced Giovanni XXII to choose Bologna as a temporary residence, where a citadel was erected for him near the Galliera gate. But the defeats suffered beneath the walls of Ferrara (14 April 1333), at Argenta (8 March 1334), and the uprising in Bologna (17 March) caused his plans to fail.
The political situation did not improve under the pontificate of Benedetto XII: Bologna was reconciled with the Church only belatedly, while in Romagna certain local tyrants made themselves independent. Clement VI was forced to resort to the war that had repelled his predecessor and that turned to his disadvantage. To crown these misfortunes, Giovanni Visconti purchased Bologna (16 October 1350) from the Pepoli. Unable to obtain the city’s restitution, the pope resigned himself to granting him the title of vicar in exchange for the payment of a census. In Rome, the revolution lasted from 1347 to 1354: Cola di Rienzo, Giovanni Cerroni, and Francesco Baroncelli successively rose to power.
A vigorous action was needed in Italy. Innocenzo VI entrusted the reconquest of the Papal States to a cardinal of genius, Egidio Albornoz. After alternating successes and failures, the papal army reduced its opponents to impotence. Albornoz did not abuse his victory and demanded from the vanquished only recognition of papal supremacy; moreover, he promulgated several constitutions in conformity with local customs which, for the most part, remained in force until the end of the eighteenth century.
Urbano V understood the necessity of consolidating, through his presence, the order established in Italy by Albornoz. Unconcerned by the complaints of the French cardinals and the intrigues of the King of France, he entered Rome on 16 October 1367. Whatever A. Alessandrini may have said (Il ritorno dei papi da Avignone e s. Caterina da Siena, in Archivio della Società romana di storia patria, 56–57 [1933–34], p. 15), the conduct of the Romans soon disturbed him: in the spring of 1370 they favored the machinations of the Perugians, who had revolted against the Church; on the other hand, the prefect of Vico fomented disturbances in the Patrimony of St. Peter, and the mercenary troops of Hawkwood, hired by Perugia, marched on Viterbo, the residence of the Pontiff. The papal court reached Avignon once again on 16 September 1370. Some time earlier, on 26 June, Urbano V had written the Romans a letter that began with praise, ended with veiled reproaches, and intimated that he would return if peace continued in the city (O. Raynaldi, Annales ecclesiastici ad annum 1370, VII, Lucca 1752, p. 190 ff.).
Gregorio did not consider it prudent to leave Avignon before 1374, until a truce with Bernabò Visconti had been concluded. As soon as he had obtained this truce, he announced his departure. But the diplomatic negotiations that preceded and followed the Truce of Bruges between England and France (27 June 1375) obstructed his plans. The Italians imagined that the pope was abandoning them; the Papal States, having joined with Florence, which was jealous of Albornoz’s conquests, revolted. The Eight Saints declared war, invoking false pretexts: in reality, they coveted Tuscany and feared the proximity of the Holy See. Gregorio XI decided to hasten to Rome, where he arrived on 17 January 1377.
Thus ended the so-called e. di A., occasioned by the insecurity that Italian soil offered for approximately seventy years.