Boniface VIII

Timeline

1. c. 1235–1291Anagni · LazioBorn in Anagni to the noble Caetani family, trained in law and theology in Bologna and elsewhere, he served as papal notary, cardinal and other posts, rising in the Curia through legal learning and political skill, laying the foundation for his later accession to the papacy.
2. 1294Naples · CampaniaElected after the abdication of his predecessor Pope Celestine V, taking the name Boniface VIII. He swiftly moved the Curia back to Rome, tidied up the disorder left by his predecessor's brief reign, and began rebuilding the papacy's secular power base on the Italian peninsula.
3. 1296–1302Rome · LazioDuring his reign a long conflict erupted with King Philip IV of France over taxation rights and the trial of clergy, with bulls such as Clericis Laicos issued in succession; in 1302 he published Unam Sanctam, declaring secular power subordinate to the papacy, pushing medieval theories of papal supremacy to their extreme and sharpening conflicts with monarchs everywhere.
4. 1303Rome · LazioIn September 1303 he was violently humiliated in his hometown of Anagni by envoys of Philip IV (the "Humiliation of Anagni") and died in Rome weeks later. Relations between the Curia and France continued to deteriorate after his death, and the "Babylonian Captivity" of Avignon soon followed, marking the decline of papal power.