Free to follow every thread. No paywall, no dead ends.
Pope Boniface VIII
Benedetto Caetani was born in Anagni, a town southeast of Rome, into a baronial family with deep connections to the papacy. His father, Roffredo Caetani, served as Podestà of Todi, and his mother, Emilia Patrasso di Guarcino, was a niece of Pope Alexander IV, placing him within the orbit of ecclesiastical power from birth. He was not the eldest son; his elder brother, Roffredo or Goffredo, held titles such as Conte di Caserta and Senator of Rome, while Benedetto himself began his religious life in the monastery of the Friars Minor in Velletri under the care of his maternal uncle, Fra Leonardo Patrasso. By 1252, he followed his paternal uncle Pietro Caetani, Bishop of Todi, to that city, where he began legal studies under a Doctor of Laws named Rouchetus. He never forgot his roots in Todi, later describing it as the place that nourished him in his tender years and where he held lasting memories. In 1264, he entered the Roman Curia, possibly as Advocatus, and served as secretary to Cardinal Simon de Brion on a mission to France to negotiate with Charles of Anjou over the Crown of Naples and Sicily. He accompanied Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi, later Pope Adrian V, on a legation to England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, arriving in England in July 1265 to suppress the remnants of Simon de Montfort's barons. During this time, he became rector of St. Lawrence's church in Towcester, Northamptonshire. After his return from England, an eight-year gap in the historical record exists, covering the papal vacancy from 1268 to 1272 and the Council of Lyon. In 1276, he was appointed a papal Notary and accumulated seventeen benefices, which he was permitted to keep when promoted. On the 12th of April 1281, Pope Martin IV created him cardinal deacon of Saint Nicholas in Carcere. He served as papal legate in diplomatic negotiations to France, Naples, Sicily, and Aragon, and in 1288, he was sent to Umbria to calm the strife between Guelphs and Ghibellines. In 1294, he was one of the cardinals who pressured Pope Celestine V to abdicate, and on the 24th of December 1294, he was elected pope, taking the name Boniface VIII.
The Legal Architect of the Church
Boniface VIII systematized canon law by collecting it in a new volume, the Liber Sextus, published in 1298. Earlier collections of canon law had been codified in the Decretales Gregorii IX, published under the authority of Pope Gregory IX in 1234, but in the succeeding sixty years, numerous legal decisions were made by one pope after another. By Boniface's time, a new and expanded edition was needed. In 1298, Boniface ordered the publication of these various papal decisions, including some 88 of his own legal decisions, as well as a collection of legal principles known as the Regulæ Juris. His contribution came to be known as the Liber Sextus, and this material is still of importance to canon lawyers or canonists today to interpret and analyze the canons and other forms of ecclesiastical law. The Regulæ Juris appear at the end of the Liber Sextus and now published as part of the five Decretales in the Corpus Juris Canonici. They appear as simple aphorisms, such as Regula VI: Nemo potest ad impossibile obligari, meaning No one can be obliged to do the impossible. Other systems of law also have their own Regulæ Juris, whether by the same name or something serving a similar function. Boniface's work in canon law was not merely administrative; it was a profound reorganization of the Church's legal framework, ensuring that the papacy's authority was clearly defined and enforceable across Christendom. This legal systematization laid the groundwork for the Church's ability to assert its jurisdiction over temporal matters, a theme that would become central to his pontificate.
Common questions
Who was Pope Boniface VIII and what was his birth name?
Pope Boniface VIII was born Benedetto Caetani in Anagni, a town southeast of Rome, into a baronial family with deep connections to the papacy. He was the younger son of Roffredo Caetani and Emilia Patrasso di Guarcino, and he began his religious life in the monastery of the Friars Minor in Velletri.
When was Pope Boniface VIII elected and what legal work did he publish?
Pope Boniface VIII was elected pope on the 24th of December 1294 after pressuring Pope Celestine V to abdicate. He systematized canon law by publishing the Liber Sextus in 1298, which included 88 of his own legal decisions and the collection of legal principles known as the Regulæ Juris.
Why did Pope Boniface VIII conflict with King Philip IV of France?
Pope Boniface VIII conflicted with King Philip IV of France because Philip taxed the clergy to finance wars, which Boniface viewed as an assault on traditional clerical rights. The conflict escalated when Boniface issued the bull Clericis Laicos in February 1296 to forbid lay taxation of the clergy without prior papal approval.
What happened to Pope Boniface VIII at Anagni in 1303?
On the 7th of September 1303, an army led by King Philip IV's minister Guillaume de Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna attacked Pope Boniface VIII at his palace in Anagni. The Pope was held prisoner for three days, suffered physical abuse known as the schiaffo di Anagni, and was released when the people of Anagni rose in arms to free him.
When did Pope Boniface VIII die and what was the cause of his death?
Pope Boniface VIII died on the 11th of October 1303 after suffering from a violent fever that resulted from the grief and injury he received at Anagni. He died in full possession of his senses in the Church of St. Peter near the entrance of the doors, where he was honorably buried.
How was Pope Boniface VIII posthumously tried and what was the outcome?
Pope Clement V held a posthumous trial against the memory of Pope Boniface VIII starting in 1309 under pressure from King Philip IV of France. The Council of Vienne opened on the 16th of October 1311 and ultimately rejected the trial, effectively exonerating Boniface VIII from the charges of heresy and sodomy leveled against him.
In 1297, Cardinal Jacopo Colonna disinherited his brothers Ottone, Matteo, and Landolfo of their lands. The latter three appealed to Pope Boniface VIII, who ordered Jacopo to return the land and furthermore to hand over the family's strongholds of Colonna, Palestrina, and other towns to the Papacy. Jacopo refused. Jacopo Colonna and his nephew, Pietro Colonna, had also seriously compromised themselves by maintaining highly questionable relations with the political enemies of the pope, James II of Aragon and Frederick III of Sicily. In May, Boniface removed them from the College of Cardinals and excommunicated them and their followers. The Colonna family declared that Boniface had been elected illegally following the unprecedented abdication of Pope Celestine V. The dispute led to open warfare, and in September Boniface appointed Landolfo to the command of his army to put down the revolt of Landolfo's relatives. By the end of 1298, Landolfo had captured Colonna, Palestrina, and other towns and razed them to the ground after they had surrendered peacefully under Boniface's assurances that they would have been spared. Dante says it was got by treachery by long promises and short performances as Guido of Montefeltro counselled, but this account by the implacable Ghibelline has long since been discredited. Palestrina was razed to the ground, the plough driven through and salt strewn over its ruins. A new city, the Città Papale, later replaced it. Only the city's cathedral was spared. To deal with the problem of the cardinals left to him by his predecessors, Boniface created new cardinals on five occasions during his reign. In the first creation, in 1295, only one cardinal was appointed, the Pope's nephew Benedetto Caetano. Nor was the second creation, on the 17th of December 1295, surprising, as two more relatives were appointed, Francesco Caetano, the son of Boniface VIII's brother Peter, and Jacopo Tomassi Caetani, a son of the Pope's sister, who was made Cardinal Priest of S. Clemente. Three years later, on the 4th of December 1298, four new cardinals were named, including Gonzalo Gudiel, Archbishop of Toledo, and Niccolò Boccasini, Master General of the Dominicans. A pattern begins to emerge, though one sees the pattern only in terms of negatives: of the ten new cardinals, only two are monks, and neither of them Benedictine, and there are no Frenchmen. Pope Boniface was distinctly changing the complexion of the membership of the Sacred College. Without the Colonnas, the influence of the King of France was greatly diminished.
The Jubilee of 1300
Boniface proclaimed 1300 a jubilee year, the first of many such jubilees to take place in Rome. He probably wanted to gather money from pilgrims to Rome as a substitute for the missing money from France, or it may be that he was seeking moral and political support against the hostile behavior of the French king. The event was a success; Rome had never received such crowds before. It is said that on one particular day some 30,000 people were counted, according to Jacopo Stefaneschi, an eyewitness. Giovanni Villani estimated that some 200,000 pilgrims came to Rome. Boniface and his aides managed the affair well, food was plentiful, and it was sold at moderate prices. The First Jubilee Year was a monumental event that transformed Rome into a center of pilgrimage and spiritual renewal. Boniface had the churches of Rome restored for the Great Jubilee of 1300, particularly St. Peter's Basilica, the Lateran Basilica, and the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. This event not only bolstered the Church's finances but also reinforced the papacy's role as the spiritual heart of Christendom. The jubilee was a testament to Boniface's ability to organize and execute large-scale religious and political initiatives, even as he faced increasing opposition from secular rulers. The success of the jubilee also served as a counterweight to the growing tensions with King Philip IV of France, providing a platform for the Church to assert its influence and gather support from across Europe.
The War of Words with France
The conflict between Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France came at a time of expanding nation states and the desire for the consolidation of power by the increasingly powerful monarchs. The increase in monarchical power and its conflicts with the Church of Rome were only exacerbated by the rise to power of Philip IV in 1285. In France, the process of centralizing royal power and developing a genuine national state began with the Capetian kings. During his reign, Philip surrounded himself with the best civil lawyers and decidedly expelled the clergy from all participation in the administration of the law. With the clergy beginning to be taxed in France and England to finance their ongoing wars against each other, Boniface took a hard stand against it. He saw the taxation as an assault on traditional clerical rights and ordered the bull Clericis Laicos in February 1296, forbidding lay taxation of the clergy without prior papal approval. In the bull, Boniface states they exact and demand from the same the half, tithe, or twentieth, or any other portion or proportion of their revenues or goods; and in many ways they try to bring them into slavery, and subject them to their authority. It was during the issuing of Clericis Laicos that hostilities between Boniface and Philip began. At war with both his English and his Flemish vassals, Philip was convinced that the wealth of the Catholic Church in France should be used in part to support the state. He countered the papal bull by decreeing laws prohibiting the export of gold, silver, precious stones, horses, arms, or food from France to the Papal States. These measures had the effect of blocking a main source of papal revenue. Philip also banished from France the papal agents who were raising funds for a new crusade in the Middle East. In the bull Ineffabilis amor of September 1296, Boniface pledged approval of reasonable taxation for genuine emergencies but contested Philip's demands, asking him rhetorically: What would happen to you, God forbid, if you gravely offended the Apostolic See, and caused an alliance between Her and your enemies? In the face of the support of French clergy such as Pierre de Mornay for Philip's general position and the need for French revenue to combat unrest in Rome from the Colonna family, Boniface retreated still further. In February 1297, the bull Ausculta Fili permitted voluntary clerical donations without papal approval in times of emergency as determined by the king. On the 3rd of April 1297, seven French archbishops and forty bishops, provided this authorization, agreed to concede to the King the fifth part of their ecclesiastical revenues under the form of two tithes. This subsidy could be collected just in case the war with England should go on, with Church authority and not by means of the secular arm. By July 1297, Boniface yielded completely in the bull, conceding that kings could raise taxes on church property and incomes during emergencies without prior papal approval. Philip rescinded his embargoes and even accepted Boniface's nuncios as arbitrators to delay and conclude his war with the English, with the 1303 Treaty of Paris restoring the but obliging Edward to come to France in person to do homage for the return of Aquitaine.
The Anagni Slap
On Maundy Thursday, the 4th of April 1303, the Pope again excommunicated all persons who were impeding French clerics from coming to the Holy See, even if they shone with imperial or royal dignity. This included King Philip IV, though not by name. In response, Guillaume de Nogaret, Philip's chief minister, denounced Boniface as a heretical criminal to the French clergy. On the 15th of August 1303, the Pope suspended the right of all persons in the Kingdom of France to name anyone as Regent or Doctor, including the King. And in another document of the same day, he reserved to the Holy See the provision of all present and future vacancies in cathedral churches and monasteries, until King Philip should come to the Papal Court and make explanations of his behavior. On the 7th of September 1303, an army led by King Philip's minister Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna attacked Boniface at his palace in Anagni next to the cathedral. The building still exists. The Pope responded with a bull dated the 8th of September 1303, in which Philip and Nogaret were excommunicated. The date of the 8th of September has caused much scholarly controversy. The French Chancellor and the Colonnas demanded the Pope's abdication; Boniface VIII responded that he would sooner die. In response, Colonna allegedly slapped Boniface, a slap historically remembered as the schiaffo di Anagni, or Anagni slap. According to a modern interpreter, the 73-year-old Boniface was probably beaten and nearly executed, but was released from captivity after three days. He died a month later. The famous Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani wrote: And when Sciarra and the others, his enemies, came to him, they mocked at him with vile words and arrested him and his household which had remained with him. Among others, William of Nogaret, who had conducted the negotiations for the king of France, scorned him and threatened him, saying that he would take him bound to Lyons on the Rhone, and there in a general council would cause him to be deposed and condemned. no man dared to touch Boniface, nor were they pleased to lay hands on him, but they left him robed under light arrest and were minded to rob the treasure of the Pope and the Church. In this pain, shame and torment, the great Pope Boniface abode prisoner among his enemies for three days. The People of Anagni beholding their error and issuing from their blind ingratitude, suddenly rose in arms and drove out Sciarra della Colonna and his followers, with loss to them of prisoners and slain, and freed the Pope and his household. Pope Boniface departed immediately from Anagni with his court and came to Rome and St. Peter's to hold a council. But the grief which had hardened in the heart of Pope Boniface, by reason of the injury which he had received, produced in him, once he had come to Rome, a strange malady so that he gnawed at himself as if he were mad, and in this state he passed from this life on the twelfth day of October in the year of Christ 1303, and in the Church of St. Peter near the entrance of the doors, in a rich chapel which was built in his lifetime, he was honorably buried. He died of a violent fever on the 11th of October, in full possession of his senses and in the presence of eight cardinals and the chief members of the papal household, after receiving the sacraments and making the usual profession of faith.
The Posthumous Trial
After the papacy had been removed to Avignon in 1309, Pope Clement V, under extreme pressure from King Philip IV, consented to a posthumous trial. He said, It was permissible for any persons who wanted to proceed against the memory of Boniface VIII to proceed. He gave a mandate to the Bishop of Paris, Guillaume de Baufet d'Aurillac, and to Guillaume Pierre Godin, OP, that the complainants should choose prosecutors and determine a day on which the Inquiry would begin in the presence of the Pope. The Pope signed his mandate at his current place of residence, the Priory of Grauselle near Malusan in the diocese of Vasio, on the 18th of October 1309. Both the King of Aragon and the King of Castile immediately sent ambassadors to Pope Clement, complaining that scandal was being poured into the ears of the Faithful, when they heard that a Roman pontiff was being charged with a crime of heresy. Complaints also came from Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. On the 27th of April 1310, in what was certainly a peace gesture toward the French, Clement V pardoned Guillaume Nogaret for his offences committed at Anagni against Boniface VIII and the Church, for which he had been excommunicated, with the condition that Nogaret personally go to the Holy Land in the next wave of soldiers and serve there in the military. By the end of Spring 1310, Clement was feeling the embarrassment and the pressure over the material being produced by Boniface's accusers. His patience was wearing thin. He issued a mandate on the 28th of June 1310, in which he complained about the quality of the testimony and the corruption of the various accusers and witnesses. Then he ordered the Quaesitores that future examinations should proceed under threat of excommunication for perjury. A process against the memory of Boniface was held by an ecclesiastical consistory at Priory Groseau, near Malaucène, which held preliminary examinations in August and September 1310. Its records were republished in a critical edition by Jean Coste, Boniface VIII en procès: articles d'accusation et dépositions des témoins. The collected testimonies alleged many heretical opinions of Boniface VIII. This included the offence of sodomy, although there is no substantive evidence for this, and it is likely that this was the standard accusation Philip made against enemies. The same charge was brought against the Templars. Before the actual trial could be held, Clement persuaded Philip to leave the question of Boniface's guilt to the Council of Vienne, which met in 1311. On the 27th of April 1311, in a public Consistory, with King Philip's agents present, the Pope formally excused the King for everything that he had said against the memory of Pope Boniface, on the grounds that he was speaking with good intentions. This statement was written down and published as a bull, and the bull contained the statement that the matter would be referred by the Pope to the forthcoming Council. The Pope then announced that he was reserving the whole matter to his own judgment. The XV Ecumenical Council, the Council of Vienne, opened on the 16th of October 1311, with more than 300 bishops in attendance. When the Council met, three cardinals appeared before it and testified to the orthodoxy and morality of the dead pope. Two Catalan knights, as challengers, threw down their gauntlets to maintain his innocence by trial by combat. No one accepted the challenge, and the Council declared the matter closed. The Council's decision to reject the trial was a significant moment in Church history, as it effectively exonerated Boniface VIII from the charges of heresy and sodomy that had been leveled against him. The Council's rejection of the trial also marked the end of the posthumous proceedings, leaving Boniface's legacy intact despite the political machinations of King Philip IV and his allies.