Clement VI (Pope)

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Pope Clement VI (Latin: Clemens VI; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was Pope from 7 May 1342 to his death in 1352. He was the fourth Avignon Pope. Clement is most notable as the Pope who reigned during the time of the Black Death (1348–1350), during which he granted remission of sins to all who died of the plague.

He was devoted to France, and he demonstrated his French sympathies by refusing a solemn invitation to return to Rome from the city's people. He threw a sop to the Romans, however, by reducing the Jubilee term from one hundred years to fifty. He also purchased the sovereignty of Avignon from Queen Joan I of Naples for 80,000 crowns.

Clement VI issued the Bull Unigenitus Dei filius on 27 January 1343 to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. This document would later be used in the defence of indulgences after Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses to a church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517.

Clement VI reigned during the period of the Black Death. This pandemic swept through Europe (as well as Asia and the Middle East) between 1347 and 1350 and is believed to have killed between a third and two-thirds of Europe's population. During the plague, Clement sought the insight of Astronomers for explanation. Johannes de Muris was among the team "of three who drew up a treatise explaining the plague of 1348 by the Great Conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in 1345" Clement VI's physicians advised him that surrounding himself with torches would block the plague. However, he soon became skeptical of this recommendation and stayed in Avignon supervising sick care, burials, and the pastoral care of the dying. He never contracted the disease, even though there was so much death around him that the cities ran out of ground for cemeteries, and he had to consecrate the entire Rhone River so bodies could be thrown into it and considered to be buried in holy ground. One of his physicians, Gui de Chauliac, later wrote the Chirurgia magna.

Popular opinion blamed the Jews for the plague, and pogroms erupted throughout Europe. Clement issued two papal bulls in 1348 (6 July and 26 September) which condemned the violence and said those who blamed the plague on the Jews had been "seduced by that liar, the Devil." He urged Clergy to take action to protect Jews as he had done.

Clement continued the struggle of his predecessors with Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV. He excommunicated him after protracted negotiations on 13 April 1346 and directed the election of Charles IV, who received general recognition after the death of Louis in October 1347, ending the schism which had long divided Germany.

Clement proclaimed a crusade in 1343, but nothing was accomplished beyond a naval attack on Smyrna on 29 October 1344. He also had a role in the Hungarian Invasion of the Kingdom of Naples, namely a papal fief; the contest between Louis I of Hungary and Joan I of Naples, accused to have ordered the assassination of the former's brother, was ended in 1352 by a trial held in Avignon, by which she was acquitted from any charge. Among the other benefits, Clement took advantage of the situation to obtain by her the rights over the city of Avignon.

(Clearly the secret society sought to gain ownership of Avignon and backed Joan I of Naples in order to obtain that)

Clement VI died in December 1352, leaving the reputation of "a fine gentleman, a prince munificent to profusion, a patron of the arts and learning, but no saint" (Gregorovius; see also Gibbon, chap. 66).

Unlike the Cistercian Benedict XII, Clement VI was devoted to lavish living and the treasury which he inherited made that lifestyle possible. Upon election as Pope he exclaimed as he looked forward to a reign of regal self-indulgence, "My predecessors did not know how to be pope". He claimed to have "lived as a sinner among sinners", in his own words. During his pontificate, he added a new chapel to the Papal Palace and dedicated it to St. Peter. He commissioned the artist Matteo Giovanetti de Viterbo to paint common hunting and fishing scenes on the walls of the existing papal chapels, and purchased enormous tapestries to decorate the stone walls. To bring good music to the celebrations, he recruited musicians from northern France, especially from Liège, who cultivated the Ars Nova style. He liked music so much that he kept composers and theorists close to him throughout his entire pontificate, Philippe de Vitry being among the more famous. The first two payments he made after his coronation were to musicians".

Pope Clement VI also blessed the rivers where corpses were dumped and established cemeteries and hospitals. He was also responsible for allowing young men into priesthood due to shortage.

Early 1348, Pope Clement VI in Avignon purchased and consecrated a large field near Notre-Dame des Miracles. By March 14th, 11k bodies deposited there.

Pope Clement VI almost cancelled the Jubilee Year in 1350, which drew in tens of thousands

Notes[edit | edit source]

Guy de Chauliac was serving Pope Clment VI as physician and surgeon