The Popes of Avignon: A Century in Exile

This is an excellent book for anyone with an interest in High Medieval Europe or the history of the Roman Catholic Church.I purchased the book in the hope of learning the basics about the Avignon Papacy but Mullins provides so much more. He not only covers the history of this uncertain time through smooth reading but he captures details of what it was like to live during this era - decadence of the papal court, political environment of 14th Century Europe, architecture of a new capital city, and struggles during the Black Death. Mullins also does an exceptional job of outlining the important players of this time - French Kings, important Archbishops, Holy Roman Emperors - without confusing or overwhelming the reader. He really strikes a great balance between readability and detail.My only critique is that Mullins does spend significantly more time of Avignon's time under the rule of Pope Clement VI. While this is seen as sort of the golden age of the Avignon Papacy, it does seem as though some popes after Clement are slighted a bit. Other than that this is truly a splendid read and provides great insight to a tumultuous time.

Routine non-academic history of the hundred years during which Avignon was home of the popes and the antipopes (14th century). Mullins writing is a little purple and his analysis not very deep but the book served my purposes in giving me some background before visiting Avignon later this year.

Mullins successfully peels away the layers of myth and legend, much of it created in more recent years by blind repetition of Petrach's often scathing rebukes of the excesses of the Avignon papacy. What Mullins reveals is that Petrarch was right - for many of the popes - but that the longer story is more complex. The Avignon papacy was embroiled in all the nastiness of the fourteenth century - the Hundred Years' War, the expansion of the Holy Roman Empire, and the warring in Italy that led to the rise of city-states. It also provides a bridge that extends from Jon M. Sweeney's "The Pope Who Quit" and the resignation of a pope, through the destruction of the Knights Templar, to the Great Schism, and ultimately to the Council of Constance and the resignation of two more popes. Well done, sir.

This is a period about which I knew very little.For over seven decades in the Fourteenth Century seven different men led the papacy from Avignon. They were all different in temperament and objective, but they turned Avignon from a backwater into a major European city. During that time there were two bouts of the Black Plague, and a number of European grandees paid their respects.I'm glad I chose this book.

Edwin Mullins has produced another fine portrait of a remarkable period in both Christian and French history. Following on from his equally well researched book on the Benedictine monastery of Cluny, Edwin has described in great detail the 70 year exile of the papacy from Rome. As other reviewers have alluded, this book could more accurately have been titled "Avignon of the Popes" as it traces the effects the papal period had on this city. Clearly there is enough material to write a similar study on each of the seven popes individually. Edwin brings together those important events shaping both 14th century Europe and the Christian world into an engrossing tale.

A must if you are traveling to Avignon - it will add a layer of history and perspective to your visit of the Rocher des Doms and the surrounding area. The author is a great writer, an expert on the region (having read another of his books), and a good story teller, capturing interesting factual details about this period of time when the papacy was in Avignon.

It wasn't bad but rather superficial.

Read this while on a trip to southern France. My visit to Avignon was brought to life by this book. An excellent read for a look at the transitory period to the high middle ages. Very well written and kept my interest throughout. Fiction (GOT for instance) has nothing on what really transpired during this time period.