Avignon Papacy System

Timeline

1. 1309–1316Avignon · ProvenceAmid the reign of Philip IV of France and riots in Rome, Pope Clement V moved the papal court to Avignon, where it became a transnational religious administrative center under French political influence, beginning construction of the Palais des Papes and a centralized bureaucracy.
2. 1342–1352Palais des Papes, Avignon · AvignonFrom 1342 to 1352 Clement VI expanded the Palais des Papes and perfected the papal tax (tithes), diocesan contributions, and benefice appointment networks; in 1348 he established a quarantine station at Marseille against the Black Death, bringing papal finance and diplomacy to their Avignon-era peak, while drawing criticism for luxury and French cardinalial monopoly.
3. 1348–1350Provence and northern Italy · ProvenceFrom 1348 to 1350 the Black Death swept Europe, pressuring papal income as parish populations and donations plummeted; the pope issued indulgence bulls and adjusted tax collection, while the Hundred Years' War deepened the Anglo-French split in loyalty to the papacy, and the Avignon system's French color provoked greater controversy.
4. 1370–1377Rome · LazioPushed by Saint Catherine and others, Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377, formally ending the Avignon papacy system; the papacy's central bureaucracy and financial model partly continued, but the Great Schism broke out in 1378.