Benedict XII.

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Pope Benedict XII, St. Peter's Lower Church, in Rome

Benedict XII. (originally Jacobus Novelli , Occitan Jaume Nouvel , French Jacques de Novelles , called Jacques Fournier ; * around 1285 in Saverdun , France , † April 25, 1342 in Avignon , France) resided as Pope of the Catholics from December 20, 1334 until his death Church in Avignon .

Origin and career

The son of a baker - according to other sources a miller - was born around 1285 in Saverdun in the county of Foix in the Languedoc region. As a child, he entered the Boulbonne monastery of the Cistercian Order, and at the instigation of his uncle, the later papal vice-chancellor (from 1310) and cardinal Arnaud Nouvel († 1317), he studied theology in Paris, which he completed with a doctorate, and was his successor in 1311 his uncle was elected abbot of the Fontfroide monastery near Narbonne . In 1317 Pope John XXII appointed the highly learned monk with the mandate to force the fight against heretics, in the course of a reform of the diocese organization in the south of France, to become the bishop of Pamiers , from whose diocese he was born. In 1326 he became bishop of Mirepoix ; on December 18, 1327 the Pope elevated him to cardinal priest of the titular church Santa Prisca .

Acting as bishop and inquisitor

As Bishop of Pamiers, he built the episcopal inquisition in competition with the papal inquisition of the Dominicans of Carcassonne, which was then characterized by corruption and arbitrariness, into a model operation according to the specifications of the Council of Vienne (1311-1312) and worked as an inquisitor himself to the in traces of the Cathar faith, persecuted by the Catholic Church and the French crown, which still existed in his diocese and were particularly widespread in the highlands of the Pyrenees , who still had followers in Languedoc and, after the previous persecutions, have been under the leadership of individual hiking ascetics since 1296 ( Perfecti ) reorganized in the underground. After most of the itinerant preachers and their hiding places in Languedoc had already been found within the framework of a broad-based manhunt in the years 1309-1312, which had coordinated Bernard Gui as Inquisitor of Toulouse , among others , Bishop Fournier was able to do so in the spring of 1321 with the help of a spy bring about the capture of the last surviving Cathar ascetic Wilhelm Belibaste , who was tried in Carcassonne that same year and burned in Villerouge-Termenès in the presence of the Archbishop of Narbonne . This was preceded by investigations in the vicinity of the farmers of Sabartès , a remote landscape in the south of the county of Foix on the upper reaches of the Ariège , in which Fournier had uncovered a Cathar network that existed between 1301 and 1320 around the house of the Clerici family (French: Clergue) in the village of Montaillou who had been led and protected for years by a secretly heretical pastor, a son of the family. Only by eliminating corruption within the inquisition was the Bishop of Pamiers, already characterized by contemporaries as "incorruptible", "fair" and "very astute", with his meticulous record management, criminalistic instinct and skillful and sensitive interrogation methods, largely renounced the torture of effectively smashing the last remaining heretic groups in the County of Foix and in exile in Catalonia and successfully ending the persecution in the interests of the Church. He wanted not only to punish the accused, but to make them repent so that they could save their souls. Many of the exemplary records of his investigations have been preserved by chance and are kept in the Vatican Library ; they represent an important source of inquisition and heretic research. These files have been scientifically intensively processed and have been made accessible to the broader, historically interested public through popular publications.

From September 1319, Bishop Fournier was appointed as judge (together with the Benedictine Raymond de Mostuéjouls, 1317-1329 Bishop of Saint-Papoul ) with the conduct of the proceedings against the then already arrested inquisition critic Bernard Délicieux (Bernardus Deliciosus), a Franciscan who since at the turn of the century as a spokesman for the urban opposition to the Dominican acquisition in Carcassonne and Toulouse. The procedure was under strong pressure from the royal authorities and the papal inquisition, who at that time in the context of the poverty dispute in the fight of Pope John XXII. was involved against Franciscan spirituals , which Bernard is said to have also joined. She was involved in the trial through the Dominican prior Jean de Beaune (Johannes von Belna), - as the Inquisitor of Carcassonne, a personal enemy of the accused - who was at the same time in competition with Fournier in the heretic trials of Pamiers. Délicieux was tortured twice and convicted of obstruction of the Inquisition to lifelong tougher prison (obviously unrealistic charges as that Bernard had the inquisition friendly pope . Benedict XI by magic put to death, but were dropped); he died as early as 1320 in prison in Carcassonne.

Even after leaving Pamiers, Fournier is likely to have dealt with questions of the inquisition and also conducted investigations in Mirepoix. As a cardinal at the Curia in Avignon, he wrote several theological treatises in which he dealt with the then common heresy and theological misconceptions (among others, directed against Fratizellen , Meister Eckhart , Petrus Johannes Olivi , Durandus von St. Pourçain and those of the then Pope - his predecessor John XXII. - last taught doctrine of the imperfect vision of God by the blessed). Even as Pope he occasionally dealt with grievances and corruption cases in this area, which he was considered to be an excellent expert.

Act as Pope

Tomb of Benedict XII, in the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame-des-Doms, Avignon

Pope John XXII. had used 64 percent of his expenses for war purposes. With Pope Benedict it was only six percent. In contrast to his two predecessors, he rejected any nepotism .

As Pope he reformed the ecclesiastical appointments, the administration of the church and above all monasticism: In addition to individual measures (Pastor bonus 1335: against vagrancy, Regularem vitam 1335: binding the conversion of beggar monks to papal approval) major reform bulls for the Cistercians (Fulgens sicut stella 1335), Benedictines (Summi magistri 1336), Franciscans (Redemptor noster) and Augustinians (Ad decorem Ecclesiae 1339). The attempt to reform the Dominicans also failed because of their resistance. Direct successes of the reforms can only be grasped sporadically, later reforms, such as the Benedictines (Council of Constance, Petershausen) and the Kastler and Melker monastery reforms and the Bursfelds, related to Summi magistri.

Contrary to what is often claimed in German literature, Benedict's adherence to the excommunication against Ludwig the Bavarian cannot with his partisanship for France and its King Philip VI. be explained. Only after Ludwig's envoy had provoked the break at the curia and he appeared as an ally of England in its conflict with France (Hundred Years War), did Benedict support France, after he had long forbidden the rededication of the crusade tithe for armament against England. On July 16, 1338, the Kurverein was founded in Rense am Rhein (today Rhens) by the German electors . This refused the confirmation of the king's election by the Pope.

Benedict had initially tried to prevent the outbreak of the Hundred Years War through negotiations and tried to end it after the outbreak. However, these efforts were unsuccessful. After a brief alliance with England, Emperor Ludwig switched to France in hopes of solving the ban with the help of King Philip, but Benedict did not deviate from his conditions. The further policy of Ludwig d. B. made a reconciliation with the curia not possible and intensified the resistance in the empire, which ultimately led, under Benedict's successor, to the election of Charles IV as king.

With the bull Benedictus Deus of 1336, Benedict affirmed the church doctrine of the direct vision of God in the souls of the deceased against the temporary views of his predecessor John XXII, which critics called heretical . This definition is essentially binding for Catholicism to this day . He tried in vain to achieve union with the Eastern Church and to initiate a crusade . Giovanni de Marignolli negotiated in 1339 as a papal legate in Byzantium about the intended church union.

Under his pontificate the construction of the papal palace began in Avignon, where he died in 1342.

literature

  • Jan Ballweg: Councilors or papal reform of the order. Benedict XII. and the reform discussion in the early 14th century . Late Middle Ages and Reformation NR 17. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 3-16-147413-9 .
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Benedikt XII .. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 486-487.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Hans Kühner: Benedict XII. In: Hans Kühner: Lexicon of the Popes. Church history, world history, contemporary history. From Peter to today. Updated license edition. Fourier, Wiesbaden 1991, ISBN 3-925037-59-4 .
  • Bernhard Schimmelpfennig : Cistercian ideal and church reform. Benedict XII. (1334–1342) as reform pope. In: Cistercian Studies 3 (= Studies on European History, 13). Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1976, ISBN 3-7678-0421-2 , pp. 11-43.
  • Bernhard Schimmelpfennig: Benedict XII . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1861 f.
  • Various authors: La papauté d'Avignon et le Languedoc 1316–1342 (= Cahiers du Fanjeaux - Collection d'Histoire religieuse du Languedoc aux XIII e et XIV e siècles, 26). Editions Privat, Toulouse 1991, ISBN 2-7089-3424-4 (anthology with 17 specialist articles as well as introduction and closing words in French, of which 8 articles with a direct reference in the title to Jacques Fournier / Benedict XII., Also on the reform of the Dominicans content ) .
  • Franz J. Felten : Munich, Paris and Avignon in the spring of 1337. Notes on the effectiveness of historical images. In: Bavaria and Europe. Festschrift for Peter Claus Hartmann on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Ed. V. Konrad Amann [and a.]. Frankfurt / a. M. [u. a.] 2005, pp. 1-16
  • Franz J. Felten: The reforms of the order of Benedict XII. under the aspect of institutional history. In: Institutions and History. Theoretical aspects and medieval findings. Ed. V. Gert Melville. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 1992 (= norm and structure. Studies on social change in the Middle Ages and early modern times 1), pp. 369–435.
  • Franz J. Felten: Disputes about the financing of a crusade in the pontificate of Johannes' XXII. (1316-1334). In: L'Hostie et le denier. Les finances ecclésiastiques du haut Moyen Age à l'époque modern. Actes du colloque de la Commission internationale d'histoire ecclésiastique comparée, Genève, août 1989. Edited by Marcel Pacaut and Olivier Fatio with the collaboration of Michel Grandjean. Geneva 1991 (= Publications de la Fac. Théologie de l'Université de Genève 14), pp. 79-99.

Web links

Commons : Benedictus XII  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Matthias Benad: Domus and Religion in Montaillou. Tübingen 1990, p. 56.
  2. ↑ See Benad, p. 163.
  3. ↑ Cf. Gauthier Langlois: Note sur quelques documents inédits concernant le parfait Guilhem Bélibaste et sa famille . In: Heresis. 25: 130-134 (1995).
  4. ↑ See Benad, p. 73; 192.
  5. ↑ On the examination and interrogation methods cf. Danielle Laurendeau's dissertation, defended in Paris in 2008: "Cet évêque fait sortir la vérité, même si cela ne plaît pas à ceux qui la disent": faire parler et savoir taire au tribunal d'Inquisition de Pamiers (1318-1325). Atelier national de Reproduction des Thèses, Lille 2009; English: "This bishop makes the truth come out, even if it does not please those who speak it": to make one talk and knowing how to keep to oneself at the Pamier's Inquisition tribunal (1318-1325) .
  6. ↑ Fournier's apparently critical stance on torture as an instrument of “finding the truth” and the personal motives that guided him in his work as inquisitor are discussed in a differentiated manner in Benad, pp. 9-14.
  7. ↑ Emmanuel cf. LeRoy Ladurie: "Montaillou" - A village before the Inquisitor, Ulstein non-fiction book 1983, ISBN 3 548 34114 4
  8. ^ Edited by Jean Duvernoy: Le registre d'inquisition de Jacques Fournier évêque de Pamiers (1318-1325). 3 volumes, Toulouse 1965. French translation with
    commentary : ders .:     Le registre d'inquisition de Jacques Fournier (évêque de Pamiers) 1318–1325. Traduit et annoté by Jean Duvernoy. 3 volumes, Paris 1978.
  9. ^ Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie : Montaillou, village occitan de 1294 à 1324. Paris 1975 (translated into German and edited by Peter Hahlbrock: Ein Dorf vor dem Inquisitor. Berlin 1980).
  10. ↑ See Henry Charles Lea : History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. Vol. 2, Bonn 1909, pp. 108-110.
  11. ↑ See Benad, p. 57.
  12. ^ Bernhard Schimmelpfennig: Cistercian ideal and church reform. Benedict XII. (1334–1342) as reform pope. In: Cistercian Studies 3, Berlin 1976, p. 15 u. Note 22.
predecessor Office successor
John XXII. Pope
1334-1342 		Clement VI.
personal data
SURNAME Benedict XII.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fournier, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pope (1334-1342)
DATE OF BIRTH 1285
PLACE OF BIRTH Saverdun
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 1342
Place of death Avignon