Gregory XI.

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Pope Gregory XI - coronation by Cardinal Guy de Boulogne (detail; Chroniques de Froissart, 15th century)

Gregory XI. , originally Pierre Roger de Beaufort , (* 1329 in Rosiers-d'Égletons , Corrèze , France , † March 27, 1378 in Rome ) was elected Pope on December 30, 1370 . He resided in Avignon until September 13, 1376 , before moving the papal seat back to Rome.

Life

His uncle Clemens VI. appointed him cardinal deacon of Santa Maria Nuova in 1348 at the age of 19 . As a result he attended the University of Perugia , where he developed into a respected theologian. After the death of Urban V , he was unanimously elected as the new Pope in Avignon and after only brief deliberations.

Like almost all of his predecessors in Avignon, he paid homage to nepotism . He also favored the limousine . During his pontificate , Gregory appointed 21 cardinals: with the consistory of May 30, 1371, along with Robert of Geneva, later antipope Clement VII , nine other French, including his nephew Jean du Cros and Pierre de Vergne , and with the second consistory of December 20, 1375 six French, including a cousin and a nephew and Petro Marinez de Luna y Gotor, later the antipope Benedict XIII.

The concentration of the papacy on Avignon and the increasing anchoring of French interests led to problems in Italy. There were also conflicts: The Milanese Prince Bernabò Visconti , a declared opponent of the papacy, had already appropriated fiefdoms of the Holy See in 1371 . After negotiations failed, the ban was imposed on him, but Bernabo forced the bearers to eat the bull that declared his excommunication . Now that Gregor declared war on him, the Italian side was initially successful, but when Gregory had received the support of the Emperor, the Queen of Naples and the King of Hungary and had taken the English mercenary leader John Hawkwood into his service, Bernabo gave in, was able to negotiate an advantageous armistice for him on June 6, 1374 by bribing papal advisers.

Pope Gregory XI. is from St. Catherine accompanied back to Rome in 1377 (fresco by Giorgio Vasari , c. 1571–1574)

In the Papal States, Cardinal Albornoz's work of renewal was endangered and partly destroyed by the work of French legates and governors who ruled the districts of the Papal State . Their arbitrariness resembled the Anjou's reign of terror in Naples in their early days. Revolts against this tyranny were unleashed. In the meantime, French soldiers and papal marauders ravaged the country. Florence and Bologna openly revolted. Saint Catherine of Siena , an illiterate woman, tried to bring peace to Italy. But neither the Pope nor Florence listened to them. Instead, the Pope responded with an interdict against Florence. The Pope also sent new French soldiers to the Papal States. Catherine of Siena appeared in person in Avignon. After she had already hurled many bitter truths at the Pope's head in writing, she brought him to Rome for his final return. He left the Papal Palace in Avignon on September 13, 1376 , to arrive by ship via Marseille and, after stays in Genoa and Pisa , in Piombino on November 25, and to travel on to Rome by land. On January 17, 1377 he reached Ostia and continued his journey across the Tiber to Rome, only to be solemnly introduced to Rome shortly afterwards . Nonetheless, the inevitable disaster struck Italy. It was not only the hardship of the Pope against Florence that damaged the Pope's reputation. The cruel slaughter that the merciless Cardinal Robert of Geneva, later the first antipope of the Western Schism , caused in Cesena, who was otherwise loyal to the Pope, undermined the reputation of the papacy to the utmost. On a single day in February 1377, the cardinal is said to have killed 4,000 citizens of the city. After this “first greeting” from the Pope to Italy, the poet Franco Sacchetti called the Pope papa guastamondo , the world spoiler . In Italy the cardinal was only called the "executioner of Cesena". A chronicle from that time said that the events were "things to make one lose one's faith". Because Gregor had gambled away the sympathies of the people, he was unable to assert himself in Rome. Therefore, after his escape from Rome in May 1377, the Pope made Anagni his residence and was only able to return to Rome on November 7th of that year.

His attempts to mediate in the Hundred Years War between England and France , which began in 1337 , failed. However , he was successful in resolving the conflict between the kingdoms of Castile , Aragon , Navarre , Sicily and Naples .

On May 22, 1377, Gregory issued five bulls against 18 sentences from the writings of John Wyclif and condemned 13 articles of the " Sachsenspiegel ".

He died on March 26, 1378. Only his death probably prevented him from going back to Avignon.

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Commons : Gregory XI.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Urban V. Pope
1370-1378 		Urban VI.
personal data
SURNAME Gregory XI.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pierre Roger de Beaufort
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pope, December 30, 1370 to March 1378
DATE OF BIRTH 1329
PLACE OF BIRTH Rosiers-d'Égletons , Corrèze department , France
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1378
Place of death Rome