Clement V settles at Avignon

March 1309

The papal court pitched its tents in a Provencal town belonging to the counts of Provence, initially a temporary arrangement for a sickly pope who dreaded the Roman summer. Clement meant it to be temporary. Seventy years of popes and eight conclaves later, Avignon had become the most lavish court in Europe, with fresco-painted palaces and a reputation for venality.