Background
According to Barbara Tuchman, beginning in about 1470 a succession of Popes focused on the acquisition of money, their role in Italian politics as rulers of the papal states and power politics within the college of cardinals. The papacy had been largely controlled by France and was relocated to Avignon in the 14th century to escape violent instability between the factions of the Roman nobility. The Avignon papacy, followed by the Western Schism, when there were two popes between 1378 to 1417, weakened the authority of the papacy. It had been hoped that the restoration of the papacy to Rome in the 1430s would result in a church that concentrated on religious affairs, where there were many pressing issues. However, most of the popes during the following period were accused of focusing on making their young relatives cardinals, appointing relatives and supporters to more than one clerical office, simony (the selling of clerical offices for profit), and general acquisitiveness.
Read more about this topic: Medieval Restorationism
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