Pope Urban V (; born Guillaume de Grimoard, 131019December 1370) was head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death on 19 December 1370. He was a member of the Order of Saint Benedict and the only Avignon pope to be beatified.
Even after his election as pontiff, he continued to follow the Benedictine Rule, living simply and modestly. This frequently brought him into conflict with his ecclesial peers, who were often accustomed to affluent lifestyles.
Urban V pressed for reform throughout his pontificate and also oversaw the restoration and construction of churches and monasteries. One of the goals he set himself upon his election to the Papacy was the reunion of the Eastern and Western Churches. He came as close as some of his predecessors and successors, but did not succeed.
Early life Guillaume de Grimoard was born in 1310 at the castle of Grizac, near Mende, in what is now the department of Lozère. He was the oldest son of Guillaume de Grimoard, lord of Grizac, and Amphélise de Montferrand. He had six siblings, including his younger brother Angel de Grimoard, whom Guillaume, as Pope Urban V, created cardinal in 1366.
Grimoard was tonsured at the age of twelve and left home to study at the University of Montpellier, later continuing his education in civil law at the University of Toulouse. In 1327, he joined the small to become a Benedictine monk. Grimoard was then sent to the Abbey of St. Victor in Marseille for his novitiate. After his profession of monastic vows, he was ordained a priest at Chirac in 1334. He studied literature and law at Montpellier, and then he moved to the University of Toulouse, where he studied law for four years. He earned a doctorate in Canon Law on 31 October 1342.Chaillan, p. 9. He became a noted canonist, teaching at Montpellier, Paris and Avignon.
He was appointed Prior of Nôtre-Dame du Pré (de Priorato) in the diocese of Auxerre by Pope Clement VI, which he held until his promotion to Saint-Germain en Auxerre in 1352. He began both disciplinary and financial reforms. His new bishop, Jean d'Auxois (1353–1359), however, in concert with the Archbishop of Sens, Guillaume de Melun, made heavy demands on the hospitality of the monks of Saint-Germain in Auxerre, and when the bishops attempted to impose new exactions, which were resisted by Grimoard, the Archbishop physically abused the Prior. Grimoard nonetheless would not submit.Chaillan, p. 12, 15–16. Prior Grimoard became Procurator-General for the Order of St. Benedict at the Papal Curia.Chaillan, p. 12, as recalled by Cardinal Guy de Boulogne in his funeral oration for Urban V.
The Bishop of Clermont, Pierre de Aigrefeuille (1349–1357), appointed Grimoard to be his vicar general, which meant in effect that he ruled the diocese on behalf of the bishop. When Bishop Pierre was transferred to Uzès (1357–1366), Guillaume Grimond became Vicar General of Uzès.Chaillan, p. 11.
Guillaume was named abbot of the monastery of Saint-Germain en Auxerre on 13 February 1352 by Pope Clement VI.Lecacheux, pp. 409–410. In 1359 the town and abbey were captured by the English and subjected to heavy imposts.
Italian missions First mission In the summer of 1352 Pope Clement VI summoned Abbot Guillaume for an assignment. Northern Italy had been in a chaotic state for some time, due to the ambitions of the Visconti of Milan, led by Archbishop Giovanni Visconti. He had conquered much of Lombardy, seized the Papal city of Bologna, and was invading the borders of Florentine territory. In order to keep a hold on the territory for the Catholic Church, the Pope had hit on the scheme of making Archbishop Visconti his vicar of Bologna for the present. He drew up an agreement on 27 April 1352, which absolved the Visconti of all their transgressions and signed away much of northern Italy. The Pope even made the first payment on the subsidy which he was going to provide them. The Visconti, on their part, had no intention of observing the terms of the pact, one of which was the return of the Legation of Bologna to the Papacy, despite the fine words and promises they made in Avignon. On 26 July, Abbot Grimoard and Msgr. Azzo Manzi da Reggio, the Dean of the Cathedral of Aquileia, were presented with written instructions by Pope Clement to go to northern Italy as apostolic nuncios to deal with the situation. Guillaume was to receive the city of Bologna from the Visconti, who were illegal occupiers, and hand it over to Giovanni Visconti as the papal vicar, and to threaten with ecclesiastical censures any parties who did not adhere to the treaty.Gibbs, p. 170. Gibbs is wrong in suggesting that, for a few minutes, Grimoard was lord of Bologna. He was only a procurator, never a principal. This he did on 2 October 1352. Guillaume was allotted 8 gold florins a day for his expenses, his associate Anzo only 4 florins. While he was in Milan he was also able to get the Archbishop to renew the treaty that was expiring with the King and Queen of Sicily.Lecacheux, p. 419 and n. 1; pp. 421–422.
Second mission In 1354 Abbot Grimoard was sent to Italy again, this time to Rome, where there was business that needed to be transacted for the Apostolic Camera. There were also serious disorders in the Basilica of St. Peter which needed to be sorted out.Chaillan, p. 16. See the letter of Innocent VI of 1 August 1352, giving an extensive catalogue of troubles: Abbot Grimoard's commission, dated 10 April 1354, is quoted in full by
In August 1361, he was elected the abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Marseille. Despite the appointment, he continued to teach as a professor, at least for the next academic year.
Third mission Cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz had been sent to Italy in 1353, to bring under control the notorious Giovanni di Vico of Viterbo, as well as the Malatesta of Rimini and the Ordelaffi family of Forlì. In 1360 Abbot Guillaume was sent to assist him by dealing with Archbishop Visconti's nephew and successor, Bernabò Visconti. Their confrontation was so hostile and threatening that the Abbot left immediately and reported back to Pope Innocent the treachery of his vassal. The Pope sent him back to Italy immediately, but happily the utter defeat of Visconti's army which was besieging Bologna by Cardinal Albornoz eased the situation considerably.Chaillan, pp. 18–19. Nonetheless, immediately after he was elected pope, Grimoard excommunicated Bernabò Visconti.Gibbs, p. 170. Gibbs retails the story that Bernabò Visconti had forced Abbot Grimoard to eat the Pope's letter to him. On the excommunication: He returned to France, and retired to his castle of Auriol, where he was found on 10 June 1362.Chaillan, p. 20.
The reason for his retirement to Auriol is not far to seek. The plague was raging in southern France again in 1361 and 1362. Cardinal Pierre des Près died on 16 May 1361; Cardinal Petrus de Foresta, died on 7 June 1361; Cardinal Guillaume Farinier, died on 17 June 1361; Cardinal Guillaume Court, O.Cist., died on 12 June 1361; Cardinal Petrus Bertrandi, died on 13 July 1361; Cardinal Jean de Caraman, died on 1 August 1361; Cardinal Bernard de la Tour, died on 7 August 1361; Cardinal Francesco degli Atti, died on 25 August 1361; and Cardinal Pierre de Cros died in September 1361.Matteo Villani, Cronica Liber X. capitolo LXXI, pp. 366–367 Dragomanni. Dates of death are given by In addition it was estimated that some 6000 persons and more than 100 bishops died in 1361.Baluze (1693) I, 341 and 355, the "Secunda Vita Innocentis VI". Cardinal Nicolas Roselli (1357–1362) of Tarragona died at Majorca on 28 March 1362, though not of the plague.
Naples
King Louis I of Naples died on 25 May 1362. This set off a power struggle, with Queen Joanna I attempting to get back the power she had lost to her husband, as well as a contest to see who her next husband would be. Abbot Guillaume was summoned to Avignon, where he was on 27 June, and sent to Naples to provide the advice and guidance as to the desires of the feudal overlord of Naples, Pope Innocent VI.Chaillan, pp. 20–21.
During his trip to the south, he visited the great Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, where he was saddened to see the state into which it had fallen, both physically and organizationally, both from earthquakes and episcopal neglect. As soon as he became Pope he undertook to repair the situation, and on 31 March 1367 he abolished the diocese of Cassino and restored the monastery to the complete control of its Abbot.
Papacy
In September 1362, Grimoard was apostolic nuncio in Italy when Pope Innocent VI died. Exactly where he was when the news reached him summoning him to Avignon is unknown. Naples is just a guess; other possibilities are Florence and Lombardy.Others indicate he was actually in Florence when the Pope died: The 'Third Life' of Urban V, by Petrus de Herentals, says: apud Lombardiam existente in legationem ('while serving on his Legation in Lombardy'). Baluze (1693), I, p. 413.
Pope Innocent VI died on 12 September 1362. The Conclave to elect his successor opened on 22 September, the Feast of Saint Maurice, in the Apostolic Palace in Avignon. Twenty of the twenty-one cardinals were in attendance. Only Cardinal Albornoz remained at his post in Italy. Of the twenty cardinals eighteen were French in origin, six of them Limousin. Ten of the twenty-one cardinals were papal relatives. The influence of the Limousin cardinals was somewhat diminished since their homeland had recently become subject to English occupation, which frightened the thirteen cardinals who were subjects of the King of France.J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1362. Retrieved: 12 June 2016. Both Cardinals Hélie de Talleyrand and Guy de Boulogne considered themselves to be electable.