The Black Death

Pope Clement VI (1291–1352)

Pope Clement VI, born Pierre Roger, was the pontiff who guided the Catholic Church through the initial catastrophe of the Black Death. Reigning from 1342 to 1352, Clement governed from the papal palace in Avignon, where he remained throughout the epidemic despite the urging of his advisers to flee. His response to the plague — combining pastoral leadership, institutional action, and moral courage — was one of the most significant papal interventions of the medieval period.

Life and Election

Pierre Roger was born in 1291 in the Limousin region of France. He entered the Benedictine order as a child and rose through the ecclesiastical hierarchy, serving as abbot, bishop, and archbishop before being created a cardinal in 1338. He was elected pope in 1342, taking the name Clement VI.

Clement was a capable administrator, a generous patron of the arts, and a man of considerable personal courage. His pontificate was marked by the continuation of the Avignon papacy, the prosecution of the Hundred Years’ War, and the crisis of the Black Death.

The Plague in Avignon

The plague struck Avignon in January 1348, and Clement witnessed the catastrophe from within the papal city. The mortality at the papal court was significant: Cardinal Giovanni Colonna died, as did numerous lesser clerics and officials. The papal physician Guy de Chauliac, who remained in the city and treated plague patients, survived and left a detailed medical account.

Clement took several significant actions. He consecrated the Rhône River as a burial ground when the city’s cemeteries overflowed, providing a theological solution to the burial crisis. He granted plenary absolution to all who died of plague. He commissioned the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris to investigate the causes of the plague.

Condemnation of the Persecution of Jews

Clement’s most courageous act was his condemnation of the persecution of Jewish communities. He issued two papal bulls in 1348 — one on 5 July and Quamvis perfidiam on 26 September — declaring that the accusation of well-poisoning was false and threatening excommunication for those who persecuted Jews. His intervention saved some communities, particularly in the papal territories, though it could not prevent the massacres in the Rhineland.

Legacy

Clement VI died in 1352 and was succeeded by Innocent VI. His pontificate is remembered for his courageous response to the plague, his condemnation of antisemitic violence, and his patronage of the arts and learning. The impact on the papacy of the Black Death was significant, and Clement’s leadership during the crisis was one of the more positive aspects of the Avignon papacy.