The Black Death

The Impact on the Papacy

The Black Death struck the papacy at a time when it was already under significant strain. The Avignon papacy (1309–1377), in which the popes resided in southern France rather than in Rome, was controversial and widely criticised. The pandemic compounded these difficulties by devastating the papal court, weakening the institutional capacity of the Church, and undermining the moral authority of the papacy at a time when strong leadership was most needed.

The Avignon Papacy

The papacy had been based in Avignon since 1309, when Pope Clement V moved the papal court to southern France to escape the political turmoil of Rome. The Avignon popes — Clement V, John XXII, Benedict XII, Clement VI, Innocent VI, and Urban V — built a magnificent palace and established a court that rivalled the secular monarchies of Europe in its splendour and sophistication.

However, the Avignon papacy was widely resented. Critics argued that the popes had abandoned their rightful seat in Rome, that the Avignon court was corrupt and worldly, and that the papacy had become a tool of the French monarchy. These criticisms would eventually contribute to the return of the papacy to Rome in 1377 and to the Great Schism (1378–1417) that followed.

Pope Clement VI and the Plague

Pope Clement VI (r. 1342–1352) was the pontiff who guided the Church through the initial catastrophe of the Black Death. Clement was a capable administrator, a generous patron of the arts, and a man of considerable personal courage. When the plague struck Avignon in 1348, he remained in the city despite the urging of his advisers to flee.

Clement took several significant actions during the crisis. 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, ensuring that the dead would not suffer in Purgatory for unconfessed sins. He issued two papal bulls condemning the persecution of Jews, declaring the accusations of well-poisoning false and threatening excommunication for those who persecuted Jewish communities.

Clement also commissioned the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris to investigate the causes of the plague, demonstrating a willingness to engage with medical knowledge alongside religious explanation. The faculty’s report, which attributed the plague to a conjunction of planets, was widely circulated and became the standard explanation for the disease’s cause.

The Mortality at the Papal Court

The plague struck the papal court with significant force. Cardinal Giovanni Colonna died of plague, as did numerous lesser clerics and officials. The English Augustinian friar Henry Knighton claimed that 1,400 clerics died in Avignon — a figure that may be exaggerated but reflects the severity of the losses. The papal physician Guy de Chauliac, who remained in the city and treated plague patients, survived and left a detailed medical account of the epidemic.

The loss of experienced administrators disrupted the governance of the Church. The papal bureaucracy — the Curia — was responsible for the administration of the Church’s vast territories, the adjudication of ecclesiastical disputes, and the management of the Church’s finances. The death of senior officials and the disruption of administrative processes weakened the Curia’s capacity to govern effectively.

The Weakening of Papal Authority

The Black Death weakened papal authority in several ways. The perceived inadequacy of the Church’s response to the pandemic undermined the moral credibility of the papacy. The mortality at the papal court demonstrated that the pope and his officials were as vulnerable to the plague as anyone else, undermining the notion of special divine protection for the Church’s leaders.

The financial impact of the plague on the papacy was also significant. The loss of population reduced the Church’s tax base, and the disruption of trade and agriculture reduced the revenues from papal territories. The papacy, which had been one of the wealthiest institutions in Europe, found its finances strained by the combined effects of the plague and the costs of maintaining the Avignon court.

The Road to the Great Schism

The weakening of papal authority that followed the Black Death contributed to the conditions that produced the Great Schism (1378–1417). When Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome in 1377 and died shortly thereafter, the election of his successor was contested. The Roman mob demanded an Italian pope, and the cardinals elected Urban VI. However, a faction of cardinals subsequently declared the election invalid and elected a rival pope, Clement VII, who returned to Avignon.

The resulting schism — in which two (and later three) rival popes claimed authority over the Church — was not directly caused by the plague, but the weakening of papal authority, the fragmentation of ecclesiastical governance, and the crisis of faith that followed the pandemic all created conditions in which the schism could occur and persist.