Prompt Cast
Corruption, Conflict, and the Great Western Schism: The Late Medieval Church in Avignon
TLDR The late medieval church in Avignon was marked by corruption, conflict, and the Great Western Schism, with two rival popes claiming authority and excommunicating each other for almost 40 years. Despite facing challenges to its authority and financial demands from secular rulers, the Avignon papacy implemented effective fiscal policies and bureaucratic governance, leading to a decline in universal power and prestige but also creative solutions to problems.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The late medieval church in Avignon was characterized by corruption, greed, and nepotism, but also experienced a golden age of faith and devotion.
04:56
The late medieval church in Avignon experienced the Great Western Schism, which led to two popes claiming authority and excommunicating each other for almost 40 years, and this period serves as both a prologue to the Reformation and an epilogue to the glories of the high medieval church.
09:14
The late medieval church in Western Europe was a complex and sprawling institution, consisting of various groups and stakeholders, including the pope, bishops, monastic orders, military orders, university theology faculties, devotional organizations, and the laity, all of whom owned vast amounts of property and held multiple offices, leading to corruption and conflict with secular powers.
13:26
The late medieval church faced challenges to its authority and financial demands from secular rulers, particularly Philip the Fair of France, leading to conflict and excommunication, as well as ongoing political turmoil in Rome, culminating in the capture and near-execution of Pope Boniface VIII, resulting in the relocation of the papacy to Avignon, where it faced criticism for corruption but also implemented effective fiscal policies and bureaucratic governance.
19:25
The Avignon popes ended up living in Avignon because it was papal territory and not subject to the King of France, and they pursued policies aligned with the King of France because it aligned with their self-interest and the network of tax collections that sustained the papacy was densest in France.
23:37
The Avignon popes pursued policies aligned with the King of France because it aligned with their self-interest and the network of tax collections that sustained the papacy was densest in France, and they needed money from various sources such as taxes on benefits, fees from office seekers, fees from petitioners, petty fees, seniorial dues from vassal territories, and special taxes and tithes.
27:56
The Avignon Popes drastically increased the size of their administration and appointed specialized collectors to manage the vast amount of income they were receiving, resulting in a corrupt and widely hated financial machine known as the Chamber, as well as a growing bureaucracy within the church called the Chancery, which produced a massive amount of documents and employed hundreds of officials.
32:09
The Avignon papacy hoped to return to Rome but faced challenges in doing so, resulting in the Great Western Schism, a 40-year rift between two rival popes, with Europe divided in their allegiances.
37:11
The Great Western Schism led to increased financial exactions from both popes and highlighted the corruption and hypocrisy of church leadership, leading to the rise of conciliarism as an alternative to papal supremacy.
41:25
The Council of Constance successfully resolved the papal schism by electing a new pope, Martin V, but failed to fully subordinate the papacy to the authority of the council, leading to ongoing conflict and another schism.
45:52
The Renaissance papacy, after the great schism and the conciliar movement, had to make concessions to secular rulers and became more rooted in Rome and the papal states of central Italy, leading to a decline in universal power and prestige but also a mixture of corruption, greed, administrative efficiency, and creative solutions to problems.
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