Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/673

CLEMENT 661 Paolo or Paolino Seolaro, of Roman birth, died in March, 1191. He was cardinal-priest and bishop of Palestrina, when he was elected pope at Pisa, Dec. 19, 1187. He made his solemn entry into Rome March 13, 1188, after having proclaimed a crusade against the Saracens, who had just recaptured Jerusalem. IV. Gnido Ful- eodi (Gui FOULQUOIS, FOULQUES, or FOUQUET), of a knightly family of St. Gilles in Languedoc, died at Viterbo, Nov. 29, 1268. Successively a soldier, jurisconsult, secretary of the king of France, bishop of Puy, archbishop of Nar- bonne, cardinal-bishop of Sabina, papal legate to England, and pope, he maintained through- out his whole career a uniform character of sim- plicity, uprightness, and unselfishness. Elect- ed at Perugia, Feb. 5, 1265, he besought the cardinals to reconsider their vote, but was compelled to assume the duties of the pontifi- cate. He signed the pragmatic sanction which ended the differences between the Roman and French courts, and rejected the reformation of the calendar proposed by Roger Bacon. Hav- ing ratified the cession of the kingdom of Na- ples to Charles of Anjou, made by his predeces- sor, Urban IV., he has been accused by some historians as accessory to the tragic end of Manfred and Conrad in, the heirs of the Swa- bian dynasty. He was a decided enemy of everything that savored of nepotism ; and among the letters preserved of him is one to his nephew Pierre Gros, which is a monument of the pontiff's austere disinterestedness. V. Bertrand Gartias de Goth, or de Gantb, born at Uzeste or Villandreau, near Bordeaux, about 1264, died at Roquemaure, in Languedoc, April 20, 1314. The fact of his having been the first pope who resided at Avignon, the part which he took in the suppression of the templars, and the political game which he played with the sovereigns of Christendom, have caused the most contradictory and doubtful accounts to be written about his birth, education, election to the papal office, and the acts of his pontifi- cate. Ordained priest at Bordeaux, he was promoted by Boniface VIII. to the bishopric of Comminges in 1295, and to the metropolitan see of Bordeaux in 1299. The Roman see be- came vacant July 6, 1304, and after a stormy conclave the influence of the French king caused the archbishop of Bordeaux to be elect- ed at Perugia, June 5, 1305. Whether on account of the distracted state of Italy and the rebellious disposition of the Roman people, or because his protector Philip the Fair prevailed on him to remain within or near his dominions, Clement V. determined to fix his abode at Avignon. His first act after his enthroniza- tion was to absolve the king from the excom- munication fulminated against him by Boniface VIII., and to create ten French cardinals. On the other hand, he pronounced in 1311, in a council assembled at Vienne, the charges of heresy brought against Boniface to be without foundation. In May of the following year the order of templars, after an existence of 194 years, was suppressed by a solemn bull. The bull of suppression was enforced with great cruelty by Philip the Fair, who caused the grand master and other dignitaries of the order to be burned at the stake, and seized upon all their property situated within his dominions. Clement received at Avignon the homage of Robert of Naples, and henceforth protected this prince against the imperial power. Charles, a nephew of Robert, was at the same time acknowledged as king of Hungary. He ex- communicated the Venetians for having oc- cupied Ferrara, which his troops reoccupied before the end of the year. He favored, as far as he dared, Henry of Luxemburg in op- position to Charles of Valois, the brother of the French king ; had Henry crowned em- peror at Rome by a commission of cardinals, and tried in vain to compel him to make peace with the king of Naples. He published in 1313 the constitutions called Clementines, which form part of the Corpus Juris Canonici. VI. Pierre Roger, born of a noble family of Limou- sin, died at Villeneuve d' Avignon, Dec. 6, 1352. A Benedictine monk at first, he was made bishop of Arras and chancellor to Philip of Valois, then archbishop of Rouen and cardinal, and finally elected pope May 7, 1342. He had a controversy with Edward III. of England concerning benefices, ruled that the jubilee should be celebrated every 50 instead of every 100 years, and persisted in residing at Avignon. Petrarch and Rienzi were in vain sent to him by the Romans to urge him to return to his see. Rienzi, whom the pope made his pro- thonotary, went back to Rome, of which he became ruler under the title of tribune. The excommunication pronounced in the preceding reign against the emperor Louis the Bavarian was renewed by Clement, who also confirmed the election of Charles IV. as king of the Romans. He purchased the city and territory of Avignon from Joanna of Naples, whose hus- band Andrew he had crowned. Villani accuses him of cupidity and gross immorality, while Petrarch praises his culture, eloquence, and generosity. His charity was fully exhibited toward the victims of the great plague of 1348. (VII.) Robert de Geneye, antipope, born about 1342, died in September, 1394. He was the fifth son of Amadeus of Geneva and of Maud of Auvergne and Boulogne, allied by blood to nearly all the reigning families of Europe, and successively canon of Paris, pro- thonotary of the holy see, bishop of T6rouanne and Cambrai, and in 1371 cardinal. Gregory XI. in 1376 appointed him legate or governor of the Romagna and the march of Ancona, placing under his command an army destined to reestablish the temporal authority of the Roman see in the states of the church and the north of Italy, then in open revolt against the pope. The cardinal-legate called to his assist- ance the famous Jehan de Malestroit, with his band of Breton freebooters composed of 6,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry. After reducing