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The Popes in Avignon (1309-1377) and the bishoprics they sowed: from the Rocher des Doms to the cathedrals of the South-West
Matteo Giovannetti · domaine public · Wikimedia Commons

The Popes in Avignon (1309-1377) and the bishoprics they sowed: from the Rocher des Doms to the cathedrals of the South-West

17 min read

From the arrival of Clement V in Avignon (March 1309) to the palace’s UNESCO listing (1995): John XXII (1316), sixteen bishoprics created (1317-1318), Old Palace (1335-1342) and New Palace (1342-1352), purchase of Avignon (1348), return to Rome (1377), Great Schism and escape of Benedict XIII (1403), union with France (1791)

When Clement V arrives in Avignon in 1309, no one thinks of a capital. Yet seven popes reign there until 1377, then two more during the Great Schism, and their palace still towers over the Rhône. But there is a second story, seldom told: in 1317, John XXII cuts up the vast diocese of Toulouse and creates sixteen bishoprics in all in the South-West and in Poitou. Village abbeys become cathedrals, and several can still be visited. The route links the Palace of the Popes, the Charterhouse of Villeneuve and Carpentras to these sees, from Lombez to Tulle, and untangles what the sources say.

A pope who stops on the banks of the Rhône

In March 1309, Pope Clement V arrives in Avignon with his court. He lodges outside the walls, with the Dominicans. No one yet thinks that the town will become a capital.

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