<P> The papacy in the Late Middle Ages played a major temporal role in addition to its spiritual role . The conflict between the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor was fundamentally a dispute over which of them was the leader of Christendom in secular matters . In the early 14th century, the papacy was well past the prime of its secular rule--its importance had peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries . The success of the early Crusades added greatly to the prestige of the Popes as secular leaders of Christendom, with monarchs like those of England, France, and even the Holy Roman Emperor merely acting as marshals for the popes and leading "their" armies . One exception was Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was twice excommunicated by the Pope during a Crusade . Frederick II ignored this and was moderately successful in the Holy Land . </P> <P> This state of affairs culminated in the unbridled declaration of papal supremacy, Unam sanctam, in November 1302 . In that papal bull, Pope Boniface VIII decreed that "it is necessary to salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff ." This was directed primarily to King Phillip IV of France who responded by saying, "Your venerable conceitedness may know that we are nobody's vassal in temporal matters ." In 1303 AD, Pope Boniface VIII followed up with a bull that would excommunicate the king of France and put the interdict over France, and depose the entire clergy of France . Before this was finalized, Italian allies of the King of France broke into the papal residence and beat Pope Boniface VIII . He died shortly thereafter . Nicholas Boccasini was elected as his successor and took the name Pope Benedict XI . He absolved King Phillip IV and his subjects of their actions against Pope Boniface VIII; though the culprits who assaulted Boniface were excommunicated and ordered to appear before a pontifical tribunal . However, Benedict XI died within eight months of being elected to the papacy . After eleven months, Bertrand de Got, a French man and a personal friend of King Phillip IV, was elected as pope and took the name Pope Clement V . </P> <P> Beginning with Clement V, elected 1305, all popes during the Avignon papacy were French . However, this makes French influence seem greater than it was . Southern France at that time had a culture quite independent from Northern France, where most of the advisers to the King of France were based . The Kingdom of Arles was still independent at that time, formally a part of the Holy Roman Empire . The literature produced by the troubadours in the Languedoc is unique and strongly distinct from that of Royal circles in the north . Even in terms of religion, the South produced its own variety of Christianity, Catharism, which was ultimately declared heretical . The movement was fueled in no small part by the strong sense of independence in the South even though the region had been severely weakened during the Albigensian Crusade a hundred years before . By the time of the Avignon Papacy, the power of the French King in this region was uncontested, although still not legally binding . </P> <P> A stronger impact was made by the move of the Roman Curia from Rome to Poitiers in France in 1305, and then to Avignon in 1309 . Following the impasse during the previous conclave, and to escape from the infighting of the powerful Roman families that had produced earlier Popes, such as the Colonna and Orsini families, the Roman Church looked for a safer place and found it in Avignon, which was surrounded by the lands of the papal fief of Comtat Venaissin . Formally it was part of Arles, but in reality it was under the influence of the French king . During its time in Avignon, the papacy adopted many features of the Royal court: the life - style of its cardinals was more reminiscent of princes than clerics; more and more French cardinals, often relatives of the ruling pope, took key positions; and the proximity of French troops was a constant reminder of where secular power lay, with the memory of Pope Boniface VIII still fresh . </P>

From 1309 to 1377 the headquarters of the papacy was located in a town in southern