The population having spread outside the walls, INNOCENT VI began, in 1355, the construction of a new defensive wall which would enclose the new settlements. These are the present day walls.
The Pope judged it necessary in this period of the Hundred Years War, when the Rhone Valley swarmed with highway bands, formed mostly by mercenaries discharged by the English following the truce of Bordeaux on March 23, 1357.
Among the troops that remain, sadly, famous, we remeber "La Compagnie Blanche" (The White Company), "Les Tards Venus" (The Latecomers), led by a Gascon knight, Seguin de Badefols, who took Pont-Saint-Esprit on the night of December 28 to 29, 1360, "the army of Arnaud de Cervolle", who had served the duke of Alençon at the battle of Poitiers, pillaging prince and preacher from Velines in the Périgord, who forced the Pope to pay 1000 florins on September 29, 1358, in exchange for ending the siege he had laid to Avignon. Once satisfied, he pocketed the ransom and discharged his troops on the spot. Without a leader, these troops became even more dangerous.
In 1359, the bulwarks are still not completed, so by further measures of security, Innocent VI had the old entanceways repaired in order to ensure a second line of defense. However, within the city the Alperugues or Dampierres raged.
In the month of July, 1359, this band of rogues sowed terror, rendering the streets dangerous.
The pope acted swiftly and inflexibly, ordering prompt justice. Drownings and hangings after cursory trials reestablished order in the city.
On March 8, 1369, hostilities between France and England ceased with the signing of the treaty of Bretigny. Once again the region was invaded by debauched mercenaries, mainly English brigands and pillagers, who, on their own, regrouped.
The Pope envisions a sort of crusade to liberate the land.
He placed at its head, as general captain of the County, the monastic superior of Emposte in Aragon, Juan Fernandez de Heredia, knight of the Order of Saint-Jean de Jerusalem. After the siege of Pont-Saint-Esprit he had these bands sent to fight in Italy, under the command of the marquis of Montferrat, for the sum of 14,000 golden florins. The Pope and the people of Avignon and the Comtat contributed.
Four years later, on November 5, 1365, Bertrand du Guesclin, leading the "Pélerins de Dieu" (God's Pilgrims) made up of 30,000 crusaders, arrived within sight of the ramparts. He was charged by the king of France Charles V le Sage (the Wise) to purge the Rhone Valley of the bands that still existed, by accompanying them to Spain to fight for Enrique de Trestamare, then at war with Pedro de Castillo, ally of the English king Edouard III, he who instituted the Order of the Garter. Pillaging by this army had also been avoided by the absolution of their sins by the Pope, and above all, the payment of a ransom. (From 30,000 to 200,000 golden florins, according to the source).
The terrorists and hostage-takers of the present day have not invented anything new. |
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