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‘Ibi Papa, ubi Roma’: Urban V and his Household between Avignon and Rome, 1367

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2011

IVAN POLANCEC
IVAN POLANCEC
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Flat 9, 38 Haslemere Road, London N8 9RB; e-mail: ipolancec@hotmail.com
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Abstract

This article investigates the financial arrangements put in place by Pope Urban V to pay for his household on his journey from Avignon to Rome in 1367. It shows that the curia's move had a disruptive effect, since its normal routine of paying expenses at the end of each month could not be continued while the court was in transit. In order to deal with these exceptional circumstances, household officials were given a special advance payment in anticipation of the costs that would be incurred on the journey, which in effect set a budget for the pope's domestic expenditure.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , July 2011 , pp. 457 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 ‘Prima vita Urbani papa v’, in Vitae paparum Avenionensium, ed. Étienne Baluze and Guy Mollat, i, Paris 1914, 359.

2 ‘Habet consuetudo longior viscum tenax et perplexos laqueos quos abrumpere dubium, absolvere operosum sit. His illa nunc sacra mens curis exercita, nondum executione incipit quod iam intentione perfecit. Cito exegui cogitatus prodeunt in actum, at magnarum rerum apparatus magni etiam sint oportet: inter deliberationem enim et rem ipsam magnus quidam mons, ut dici solet, est medius, cui exuperando et intentione animi et labore est opus et tempore’: Petrarch, Lettres de la viellesse tome II, livres IV–VII, ed. Elvira Nota, trans. Frédérique Castelli, François Fabre, Antoine de Rosny and Laure Schebat, Paris 2004, 315, lines 262–9. This translation, and others from the Rerum senilium, is taken from Petrarch, Letters of old age/Rerum senilium libri, trans. Aldo S. Bernardo, Saul Levin and Reta A. Bernardo, Baltimore 1992, i. 234.

3 Alessandrini, Ada, ‘Il ritorno de papi da Avignone e S. Caterina da Siena’, Archivio Storico Romano di Storia Patria lvi–lvii (1933–4), 127Google Scholar

4 Davidsohn, Robert, ‘Tre orazioni di Lapo di Castiglionchio, ambasciatore fiorentino a papa Urbano v e alla curia in Avignone’, Archivo Storico Italiano xx (1897), 225–46Google Scholar.

5 The papal fleet was furnished by several Italian city states, among them Venice, Florence and Pisa, and by his allies Joanna of Naples, the king of Aragon and Charles v of France: Alessandrini Il ritorno, 118.

6 ‘Eodem tempore [May 1364] nuncii romanorum venerunt Avinionem ad predictum Urbanum papam, petieruntque inter alia ut Romam cum sua curia se transferret’ ‘Prima vita Urbani papa v’, Vitae paparum, i. 355Google Scholar; ‘De mense maii [1364] intraverunt ambaxiatores Romanorum, supplicantes pape ut ad Urbem se transferret’: ‘Secunda vita Urbani v’, ibid. i. 385.

7 See, in particular, Arne Jönsson (ed.), St Bridget's Revelations to the popes: an edition of the so-called Tractatus de summis pontificibus, Lund 1997, nos iii, iv, v at pp. 41–4.

8 See in particular the Florentine chronicler Villani. For a perspective on him and the outrage caused by the supposed French domination of the papal court see Eugène Dupré-Theseider, I papi di Avignone e la questione romana, Florence 1939. Of course it was Petrarch who first coined the term ‘Babylonian Captivity’: Brizolara, Giuseppe, ‘I sonetti contro “l'avara Babilonia” del Petrarca’, Studi storici vii (1898), 213Google Scholar.

9 ‘Sunt enim horum aliqui quibus … iudicii libertas desit, quam sepe divitie suffocant atque incurbant … et carnales affectus qui, interdum, fortes etiam animos vinctos tenent’: Petrarch, Rerum senilium libri, 337, lines 639–44 at i. 243 for the translation.

10 Two are named: Gui de Boulogne (Rerum senilium libri, 333ff., lines 570–92), and Talleyrand of Périgord (335ff., lines 599–637).

11 Of course, Clement v is commonly treated as the first ‘Avignon pope’, and certainly resided by the Rhône for extended periods. However, in this context John xxii's pontificate (1316–34) will be treated as the first of the Avignon series, because it was he who made the city his permanent home.

12 Borchardt, Karl, ‘Reg. vat. 62: ein päpstliches Dossier zur Politik gegenüber Ungläubigen und Schismatikern aus dem Jahre 1369’, Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken lxxvi (1996), 147–218Google Scholar.

13 Hayez, Michel, ‘Avignon sans les papes (1367–1370, 1376–1379)’, in Genèse et débuts du Grande Schisme d'occident: colloque tenu à Avignon, 25–28 septembre 1978, Paris 1980, 143–57Google Scholar.

14 Johann Peter Kirsch, Die Rückkehr der Päpste Urban V. und Gregor XI. von Avignon nach Rom: Auszüge aus den Kameralregistern des Vatikanischen Archivs, Paderborn 1898, viii and passim. All quotations hereinafter cited from this edition have been amended in accordance with modern conventions for abbreviations and punctuation.

15 Daniel Williman, Calendar of the letters of Arnaud Aubert, camerarius apostolicus, 1361–1371, Toronto 1992.

16 Bernard Guillemain, La Cour pontificale d‘Avignon, 1309–1376: étude d‘une société, Paris 1962, 357.

17 Bauer, See Clemens, ‘Die Epochen der Papstfinanz’, Historische Zeitschrift cxxxviii (1928), 457–503Google Scholar, and Dehio, Ludwig, ‘Die Übergang von Natural zu Geldbesoldung an der Kurie’, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte viii (1910), 56–78Google Scholar.

18 Tilmann Schmidt, Libri rationum camerae Bonifatii papae VIII. Archivum Secretum Vaticanum, Collect. 446 necnon Intr et Ex. 5, Vatican City 1984.

19 Bernard Guillemain, Les Recettes et les dépenses de la Chambre Apostolique pour la quatrième année du pontificat de Clement V, Rome 1978.

20 Hayez, Anne-Marie, ‘A la Cour pontificale d'Urbain v: réceptions et déplacements’, Annuaire de la Société des Amis du Palais des Papes, Avignon 1986–7, 15–24Google Scholar.

21 Kirsch, Rückkehr, p. xxxiv; Steffan Weiss, Rechnungswesen und Buchhaltung des Avignoneser Papsttums (1316–1378): eine Quellenkunde, Hanover 2003, 159–66.

22 Kirsch, Rückkehr, 14, no. 9.

23 Weiss, Rechnungswesen, 161–2. See also pp. 234–5. Kirsch's edition is based on the two copies that were drawn up by the Apostolic Chamber in Rome: Archivio Storico Vaticano (hereinafter cited as ASV), I.E. 323, 324.

24 Kirsch, Rückkehr, 15–6, no. 18.

25 Ibid; cf. n. 49 below.

26 ‘Thome Monis de Florentia, factori et procuratori societatis Albertorum Antiquorum de Florentia, Rom. Curiam sequenti, (etc.)’: Vatikanische Quellen zur Geschichte de päpstlichen Hof- und Finanzverwaltung, 1316–1378: in Verbindung mit ihrem Historischen Institut in Rom herausgabeben von der Görresgesellschaft, Paderborn 1910–55, vi. 124, entry for 24 Sept. 1365.

27 Yves Renouard, Les Relations des papes d'Avignon et les companies commerciales et bancaires, Paris 1941, 352ff.

28 Ibid. 402ff. (‘Les compagnies ou des membres de leur personnel, fonctionnaires apostoliques’), especially pp. 415 ff. (‘Troisième période: 1362–1378’).

29 Monis appears to have drawn up the accounts on behalf of the Chamber in Rome (ASV, I.E. 323, 324): Weiss, Rechnungswesen, 163 nn. 655, 657.

30 A note about the currencies used here is in order. The chamber naturally received revenues in a variety of currencies, but payments made by members and associates of the curia on an official basis – household expenses, above all – were by and large made in four currencies: libri of Avignon, the cameral florin issued by the papacy, the florin ad grayletum and the Florentine florin. For the final totals drawn up in the account books, the chamber reckoned in cameral florins, which had a more or less stable exchange rate with the florin ad grayletum and of Florence, and the silver coin of Avignon: Kirsch, Rückkehr, pp. xlv–xlvii, esp. pp. xlv–xlvi, and at pp. 272–3 for the florin de Grayleto. Hereinafter all sums cited are in cameral florins.

31 ‘Die eadem, videlicet 11a dicti mensis Maii, fuerunt assignati in Massilia Thome Monis de Albertis antiquis, … pro expensis tam factis quam faciendis, videlicet: 1113 flor. de grayleto 829 libr. 4 sol. monete Avinionensis, quos et quas idem dnus. Thesaurarius in Massilia receperat die eadem 11a eiusdem mensis Maii, prout habetur in capitulo de receptis a d'no Iacobo de Sala, rectore parrochialis ecclesie de Bobalius Mimaten. diocesis, in provinciis Aquen. et Ebredunen., in provincia Provincie nuncio et collectore apostolico’: ibid. 15–16, no. 18.

32 ‘de mand. pape cum cedula missa de Massilia apud Auin. Thome Monis et Girardo Neri, factoribus et procuratoribus d. Nicolai Iacobi militis et Benedicti Nerocii de Albertis antiquis de Flor., pro expensis iam factis et administratis d. pape ac etiam faciendis, pro ipsis recipientibus Nicolao de Perussio et Bernardo Philippi de Flor., factoribus et procuratoribus dictorum Nicolai et Benedicti, 4143 fl. cam’: Vatikanische Quellen, 178, entry for 14 May 1367.

33 Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, La Cour des papes du XIIIe siècle, Paris 1995, 86.

34 ‘de mand. pape Iohanni Vezati de Ruthena, domicello de Ruthena, quos tradere et assignare debet ad voluntatem et mandatum d. thesaurarii pape alicui persone facienti expensas pape et eius certas gentes [sic.] eundo, stando apud Massiliam et deinde redeundo 5000 fl. c.’: Vatikanische Quellen, 102, entry for 29 Sept. 1365.

35 ‘Girardino Neri de societate Albertorum Antiquorum pro ministrandis expensis pape in itinere eundo versus Massiliam et alibi, quo ibit, Georgio Iohannis, socio Girardini, recipiente: 2000 fl. cam.’: ibid. 178, entry for 30 Apr.1367.

36 Kirsch, Rückkehr, 20–1.

37 Ibid. 21ff.

38 Daniel le Blévec ‘L'Aumône secrète de la papauté sous Urbain v’, in Histoire et société: mélanges offertes à Georges Duby, I: Le Couple, l'ami et le prochain, Aix-en-Provence 1992, 209–19. For the pontificate of Urban v the Secret Almoner was Durandus Andree: ASV, I.E. 198, fo. 417v; c.f. ‘Durando Andree, pape elemosinario, pro elemosina singulis mensibus fieri consueta 100 fl.’: Vatikanische Quellen, 321, Nov. 10 [1363] (and so on at the beginning of each subsequent month).

39 ‘traditi fuerunt d'no Durando Andree, emptori coquine d'ni nostri pape, pro expensis per ipsum factis et faciendis et per ipsum solvendis, de quibus debet reddere rationem 400 fl. cam’. An additional payment made not long after. ‘soluti fuerunt … d'no Durando Andree, emptori coquine d'ni nostri pape, pro expensis factis et faciendis in dicta coquina per eum solutis et solvendis, de quibus computabit, ipso manualiter recipiente 160 fl.’: Kirsch, Rückkehr, 17, no. 26, entry for 15 May 1367.

40 ‘soluti fuerunt … Raymundo Andree emptori coquine d'ni nostri pape, pro expensis factis et faciendis in dicta coquina per ipsum solutis et solvendis, de quibus computabit, ipso manualiter recipiente 200 flor. cam’: ibid. 18, no. 30, entry for 17 May 1367.

41 ‘soluti et traditi fuerunt d'no Petro Vayssa, buticulario d'ni nostri pape pro expensis factis et faciendis in suo officio buticularie in presente mense Maii, de quibus debet reddere rationem, ipso manualiter recipiente 100 flor.’: ibid. 14, no. 10, entry for 6 May 1367.

42 ‘soluti et traditi fuerunt d'nis Guillermo de Texoneriis et Petro Vayssa, buticulariis d'ni nostri pape, pro expensis per ipsos factis et faciendis in presenti mense pro certis vinis emendis et Viterbium portandis et pro aliis certis expensis de quibus computabunt, ipso d'no Petro recipiente pro omnibus 400 flor.’: ibid. 17, no. 25, entry for 16 May 1367.

43 ‘soluti et traditi fuerunt d'no Guillermo Duranelli et Cresentio Pilosi panetariis d'ni nostri pape pro expensis per ipsos factis et faciendis in suo officio in presente mense Maii de quibus particulariter conputabunt, dicto d'no Guillermo et socio suo manualiter recipientibus …. 100 flor’: ibid. 14, no. 12, entry for 7 May 1367; ‘soluti et traditi fuerunt d'no Guillermo Duranelli et Cresentio Pilosi panetariis d'ni nostri pape pro expensis per ipsos pro presenti mense Maii in eorum officio et officio cere quod faciunt [pro alio] factis et faciendis, de quibus particulariter computabunt ipsis manualiter recipientibus 300 flor.’: ibid. 15, no. 15, entry for 11 May 1367.

44 There is no record of the administrator of the Pignotte receiving an allocation before the start of the pope's journey, but it can be inferred that one was made from references to payments made in Viterbo some months after: see n. 52 below.

45 ‘soluti fuerunt Guillermo Berardi, magistro marescelle equorum d'ni nostri pape, pro expensis per ipsum factis et faciendis in suo officio in presente mense Maii, de quibus computare tenetur, ipso manualiter recipiente 200 flor.’: Kirsch, Rückkehr, 15, no.14, entry for 10 May 1367.

46 See n. 42 above.

47 See n. 43 above.

48 See n. 45 above.

49 ‘Hoc est manuale receptorum et expensorum (sic) camere apostolice per d'num. Geraldum Maurelli canonicum Mimatensem, pecuniarum d'ni nostri pape receptorem et administratorem de mandato ipsius d'ni nostri pape et iuxta ordinationem d'ni Arnaldi, archiepiscopi Auxitani, eiusdem d'ni nostri pape camerarii, inceptum in Ianua die 25a mensis Maii anno a nativitate Domini 1367 indictione quinta’: ASV, I.E. 323, fo. 1.

50 ‘Die eadem, computo facto in Viterbio, domino nostro papa tunc ibidem residente, cum d'no Raimundo Andree, emptore coquine d'ni nostri pape, de expensis factis pro dicta coquina in mensibus Maii proxime preteriti, de quo non fuit computatum, et isto presenti Iunio, … repertum est sibi deberi, prout in magno libro particulariter est expressum, videlicet: de mense Maii 815 flor. camere et de mense isto Iunio 239 flor. camere, 50 sol. monete Viterbien. qui valent 22 sol. et 6 den monete Avinionen. Et sic est summa totalis expensarum factarum in dictis duobus mensibus Maii et Iunii solutarum pro dicta coquina, 1054 flor. de camera. 22 sol. 6 den. monete Avinionen.’: Kirsch, Rückkehr, 32, no. 40, entry for 30 June 1367.

51 ‘facto computo cum d'nis Guillermo Egidii et Cresentio Pilosi panetariis d'ni nostri pape de expensis factis et solutis pro dicta panetaria per eos, tam Avinione in mense Aprilis, d'no nostro papa ibidem existente, de quo mense non conputaverunt, quam ipso d'no papa veniente et existente in itinere … repertum est eos expendisse, prout in magno libro particulariter continetur, in dictis tribus mensibus pro dicta panetaria 577 fl. 5 sol. 6 den. monete Avinionen., quorum flor. sunt 142 camere, 435 ad grailetum. De qua summa habuerunt dicti panetarii in Massilia … in summa 400 flor. eiusdem ponderis de grayleto... Quibus 400 flor. deductis de supradicta summa, restabant dictis panetariis ultra frumentum provisionis deberi … predicto domino Guillermo per manus Thome Monis predicti ut supra, recipiente 177 flor. 5 sol. 6 den. monete Avinionen’: ibid. 33–4, no. 44, entry for 30 June 1367.

52 ‘facto in Viterbio computo, d'no nostro papa tunc ibidem residente, cum d'no Rigaldo Rogeti, administratori domus panhote, pro expensis factis et solutis per eum in dicta domo mense Maii proxime preterito, de quibus non computaverat, repertum est sibi deberi, prout in predicto magno libro particulariter continetur, 263 flor. camere 22 sol. 5 den. monete Avinionen. De qua summa habuit dicto mense in Avinione [100 flor. de camera]. Quibus deductis de summa maiori predicta, restabant eidem administratori deberi … ipso manualiter recipiente per manus predicti Thome ut supra satisfactum 163 flor. camere 22 sol. 5 den. monete Avinionen’: ibid. 35, no. 46, entry for 30 June 1367.

53 ‘facto computo cum prenominatis duobus panetariis, officium custodis cere domini pape in absencia eiusdem custodes facientibus, pro expensis factis in mensibus Aprilis, Maii, Iunii et Iulii proxime preteritis, de quibus non computaverant, solutis per eos ratione officii dicti cere in eisdem mensibus, repertum est ipsos expendisse, prout in magno libro predicto lacius est expressum, reductis omnibus monete ad flor. camere: 203 flor. … de quibus habuit predictus dominus Guillermus Egidii pro predictis expensis faciendis … 200 florini camere … restabant eisdem deberi, quos habuerunt in Viterbio) 3 flor. camere’: ibid. 32, no. 40, entry for 30 June 1367.

54 ‘computo facto in Viterbio … cum dicto Guillermo Berardi, magistro dicte marescelle equorum d'ni nostri pape, de expensis factis in dicta domo mense Maii proxime preterito, exclusis certis aliis expensis factis et solutis eodem mense per illos, qui dictos equos conduxerunt per terram, repertum est sibi deberi, prout in dicto magno libro latius continetur … 233 flor. ad grayletum, 10 sol. monete Avinionen. De quibus habuit in Massilia … 200 flor. ad grayletum … restabant sibi deberi et fuerunt eidem soluti in Viterbio predicto, ipso manualiter recipiente, de mandato, ordinatione et vice quibus supra per manus Thome Monis suprascripti 33 flor. ad grailetum 10 sol. monete Avinionen.’: ibid. 33, no. 42, entry for 30 June 1367.

55 Guillemain, La Cour pontificale, 395.

56 Kirsch, Rückkehr, 33, nos 41, 43.

57 Ibid. 16, no. 21; 24, no. 13.

58 Ibid. 52–3.

59 Ibid. 53.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid. 54.

63 ‘Constat tamen quod excedit expensa plus quam recepta in aliis monetis sequentibus, que plus in dicto tempore expense fuerunt quam recepte in specie eorundem: 370 flor. ad grailetum 134 libr. 1 sol. 3 den. monete Avenionen’: ASV, I.E. 324, fo. 118r (Kirsch, Rückkehr, 55).

64 For example ‘soluti fuerunt … fratribus Guillermo Amici et Raymundo Gueyraldi elemosinariis domus elemosine panhote pro vadiis ipsorum et duorum servitorum suorum sibi debitis pro mense Maii proxime preterito, prout est fieri … 15fl. cam’: Kirsch, Rückkehr, 26, no. 20, entry for 15 June 1367; cf. 30, no. 36. There had been an earlier payment ‘pro vadiis ordinariis certorum familiarum et officialium d'ni nostri pape pro octo septimanis proxime preteritis et ista die exclusive per manus Thome’ made on 5 June in Viterbo: ibid. 23–4, no. 11.

65 ‘et ultra hoc dixerunt se [the pantlers] expendisse … in summa 46 saumatas’: ibid. 34; ‘et ultra hoc dixit se [the administrator of the Pignotte] expendisse de frumento provisionis dicto mense Maii pro dicta domo et pauperibus, prout est consueta 102 saumatas grossas’: ibid. 35

66 See Amato Pietro Frutaz, ‘La famiglia pontificia in uno documento dell'inizio del sec. xiv’, in Paleographica diplomatica et archivistica: studi in onore di Giulio Batelli, ii, Rome 1979.

67 ‘Die 14a dicti mensis iunii fuerunt in Viterbio de mandato d'ni nostri pape ad relationem d'ni camerarii ….Geraldo Boneti usserio ipsius d'ni nostri pape, quos idem Geraldum de suis propriis pecuniis [my emphasis] de precepto dicti d'ni camerarii tradidit in loco de Toscanella in patrimonio pro speciali elemosina facta per ipsum dominum nostrum papam dum ibidem erat veniendo ad Viterbium conventui fratrum ordinis Minorum dicti loci de Toscanella 25 flor.: et sororibis Minoretis conventus eiusdem loci pro simili elemosina per ipsum d'num nostrum papam eis facta per manus Tome Monis predicti nomine et vice quibus supra, dicto Geraldo tradente, 10 flor. Quorum omnium summa predictorum est soluta pro dicta elemosina 35 flor. camere’: Kirsch, Rückkehr, 25, no. 16; cf. 16, no. 21; 13, nos 2, 4; 27, nos 23, 25.