Long ago, conflicts were common between the secular rulers and papacy of Medieval Europe. In fact one dispute, that of King Philip the Fair of France and Pope Boniface VIII, became so bad during the early fourteenth century that Philip later pressured Boniface’s successor, Clement V, to settle permanently in Avignon in southeastern France. This period of “banishment” is commonly known as the Babylonian Captivity and lasted from 1309 to 1376, with seven popes in total ruling out of the new Papal Palace of Avignon.
However, something unexpected happened during this relocation to France. Now living in a lavish and ornately decorated palace, many of the popes soon said, “hey, we like nice things!” and proceeded to spend tons of church money frivolously on the many pleasures the 1300s had to offer (which in hindsight were not all that many). Not only did this period mark a transition in terms of where the church was located, but it also began a period of decline for church prestige. The seven popes at Avignon concentrated on the bureaucratic and financial matters of the papacy far more than spiritual objectives, creating an atmosphere of luxury and extravagance instead of the humble life the church had previously preached. Because the popes were far away from their roots in Rome, they seemed to feel more comfortable morphing the church into way more of a corporation than it had been in the past. These damages would later lead to the Great Schism and other church issues, but that’s another story.
The Papal Palace of Avignon still remains excellently preserved today, and has a superb guided audio tour. Walking at one’s own pace with a personal “histopad” (don’t ask me, I didn’t name them), one can scan “time portals” and see what each room of the palace looked like when the popes lived in the castle – an amazing experience if you happen to be as much of a history nerd as I am! Anyways, I’m sure we’re all busy running our church corporations, until next time – cheers!
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