Avignon Papacy - Avignon Popes

Avignon Popes

Among the Popes who resided in Avignon, subsequent Catholic historiography grants legitimacy to these:

• Pope Clement V: 1305–1314 (moved to Avignon March 9, 1309)
• Pope John XXII: 1316–1334
• Pope Benedict XII: 1334–1342
• Pope Clement VI: 1342–1352
• Pope Innocent VI: 1352–1362
• Pope Urban V: 1362–1370
• Pope Gregory XI: 1370–1378 (left Avignon September 13, 1376)

The two Avignon-based antipopes were:

• Clement VII: 1378–1394
• Benedict XIII: 1394–1423 (expelled from Avignon in 1403)

Benedict XIII was succeeded by three antipopes, who had little or no public following, and were not resident at Avignon:

• Clement VIII: 1423–1429 (recognized in the Kingdom of Aragon; abdicated)
• Benedict XIV (Bernard Garnier): 1424–1429 or 1430
• Benedict XIV (Jean Carrier): 1430?–1437

The period from 1377 to 1417 when there were rival claimants to the title of pope is referred to as the "Western Schism" or "the great controversy of the antipopes" by some Roman Catholic scholars and "the second great schism" by many secular and Protestant historians. Parties within the Roman Church were divided in their allegiances among the various claimants to the office of pope. The Council of Constance finally resolved the controversy in 1417.

The Pontifical States included land in Avignon and a small enclave to the east (Comtat Venaissin). They remained part of the Pontifical States up to the French Revolution, during which they became part of France in 1791.