Exam 11: Reversals and Disasters

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Slave soldiers in Muslim Egypt who first served the sultan ruler but later assumed power themselves

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Answers will vary. The residence of the pope in Avignon, France, came about after a declaration by Pope Boniface VIII, who had had several confrontations with King Philip IV (Valois) of France. Boniface came to power in 1294 after the abdication (for the first time in history) of the previous pope, Celestine V, an elderly monk who was elected despite lacking talent for administration. He was a good administrator but was not popular, particularly after putting Celestine in jail, where he subsequently died. Boniface worked at a number of reforms within the church, but he focused most specifically on raising money for the papacy, which could not meet expenses at the time. At the end of the thirteenth century, the kings of England and France attempted to tax the clergy for the first time, and Boniface threatened excommunication of any clergy who paid; the kings threatened banishment of clergy who refused. Philip also initiated an embargo of gold and silver to the papacy from France, and subsequently tried to abridge canon law by trying a member of the clergy in secular court. Boniface responded by issuing the Unum Sanctum, asserting his supreme authority over all ecclesiastic and temporal agencies. Philip responded by sending agents to kidnap and threaten Boniface, who died in captivity. Another pope, Benedict XI, was elected, but he also died shortly thereafter, and left a succession crisis in Rome. In 1305, Philip pressured the cardinals to elect a new French pope, Clement V, but Clement was reluctant to move to Rome and so settled in the French city of Avignon. Clement's court and that of his successors resembled a secular palace more than a bishopric, and was often seen as corrupt and materialistic, looking for means to secure income in the absence of the traditional papal revenues. They began to sell more and more indulgences, or absolution from sin for payment of a fee. In 1377, another pope was elected to serve in Rome, Gregory XI. This new pope was also unpopular, and the papacy bounced back and forth between Rome and Avignon until each respective pope excommunicated the other. This period of two popes was referred to as the Great Schism. The ultimate effect was that the taint of corruption and displacement of the pope to Avignon weakened the authority and tenure of the papacy at a time of increasing secularism and dissatisfaction with the church.