| Description | Pope Clement V (Latin: Clemens Quintus; c. 1264 – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled de Guoth and de Goth), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his death, in April 1314. He is remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar and allowing the execution of many of its members. Clement moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, ushering in the period known as the Avignon Papacy. As Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Got was a subject of the King of England, but from early youth he had been a personal friend of Philip the Fair. Early in 1306, Clement V explained away those features of the Papal bull Clericis Laicos that might seem to apply to the king of France and essentially withdrew Unam Sanctam, the bull of Boniface VIII that asserted papal supremacy over secular rulers and threatened Philip's political plans, a radical change in papal policy. Clement sent John of Montecorvino to Beijing to preach in China. Hayton of Corycus remitting his report on the Mongols La Flor des Estoires d'Orient, to Pope Clement V in 1307. Clement engaged intermittently in communications with the Mongol Empire towards the possibility of creating a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Muslims. In April 1305, the Mongol Ilkhan ruler Öljaitü sent an embassy to Clement, Philip IV of France, and Edward I of England. In 1307, another Mongol embassy reached European monarchs. However, no coordinated military action was forthcoming. In 1308 and again in 1312 Clement ordered the preaching of a crusade to be launched against the Mamluk Sultanate in the Holy Land. Clement V's pontificate was a disastrous time for Italy. The Papal States were entrusted to a team of three cardinals, but Rome, the battleground of the Colonna and Orsini factions, was ungovernable. Other remarkable incidents of Clement V's reign include his violent repression of the Dulcinians in Lombardy, which he considered a heresy, and his promulgation of the Clementine Constitutions in 1313. Wikipedia |
