To understand Pope Clement V it is crucial to understand where he came from, because too often his actions have been altered over time to make him appear pro-French, which can’t be farther from the truth. Yes, Clement was born is Aquitaine which is now located in France, but before and during Clement’s papacy Aquitaine remained property of the English crown. This knowledge is of the utmost importance in understanding Clement and where his loyalties lied.
Clement’s Life Before the Papacy
Clement V was born Bertrand de Got in Villandraut, Aquitaine (Gascony) in the realm of the Duke of Aquitaine, King Edward I of England. The political situation in Aquitaine during the lifetime of Clement was quite convoluted as a king was forced to pay homage to another king because as the Duke of Aquitaine, Edward had to pay respect to King Philip IV (the Fair), the King of France.
Clement was trained in canon and Roman law at the Universities of Orléans and Bologna making him a very intelligent and sought-after official. As a native Gascon and an intelligent expert in law, Bertrand was a much-desired subject of Edward I. As early as 1273 Clement was working in the “direct service” of King Edward I of England as canon of Agen. Edward even bestowed upon Clement a sizeable annual payment until a benefice could be worked out. This relationship would only flourish as Clement made his way to the papal throne.
Continued English Loyalties
Edward’s annual payment to Clement before he became pope can be seen as a political move to gain a friendly ally in hostile environment of Aquitaine, which was always in a state of flux between Edward and Philip. It must be noted that Edward was not known for his generous patronage, but those lucky enough to find themselves in Edward’s service, such as Robert Burnell, bishop of Bath, and Walter Langton, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, prospered greatly. Clement was also willing to grant Edward such assistance once he became pope in recognition of their positive relationship.
C.H. Lawrence goes as far as to suggest that the relationship between Edward and Clement was one of “compliance towards Edward I” when referring to the suspension of the archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Winchelsey during a potential money grab from the English church. This suspension helped Edward circumvent the archbishop’s objections towards giving the king a tenth of the English Church’s income for seven years to finance Edward’s war with the Scots.
This exchange between Clement and Edward is less like Lawrence’s claim of “compliance” and more like a skilled symbiotic, political relationship. Edward and his successor, Edward II, gained a strong ally who held the keys to unimaginable wealth and Clement gained a political ally to counter French power. This alliance, however, would not have happened had Clement not been a Gascon by birth and been in direct service of the enemy of France.
With a strong connection to England through his birthright as a subject of the King Edward I, Pope Clement V was his own man with powerful allies long before taking the papal throne. Taking this and the Boniface-Knights Templar Trade—that unjustly scars his papal memory—into consideration, shows that Clement was a strong and clever man insistent on keeping a balance of power between England, France, and the Catholic Church. But most of all his loyalties were to his fellow countrymen, and the King of England just happened to benefit from it.
References
Denton, J. H. "Pope Clement V's Early Career as a Royal Clerk." The English Historical Review 83, no. 327 (Apr., 1968)
Lawrence, C. H. English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages (New York: Fordham University Press, 1965)
Menache, Sophia. Clement V (London: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
Prestwich, Michael. The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272-1377 (New York: Routledge, 2003)
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