Former bishop of Sens and Rouen and Chancellor of France, he was unanimously elected. He liked splendor (he decided for example, that the Holy Year would no longer take place every I00 years but every 50 years and announced the following for 1350). Profiteers removed by Benoit XII came back by the thousands. A man of taste and arts, he attracted artists, scientists and men of letters. He constructed the most beautiful part of the Popes' Palace.
The luxury and his actions bankrupted the pontifical treasury, but nevertheless, he was admired by his contemporaries and his reign marked the peak of the papacy of Avignon. During the terrible plague of 1348, he offered his protection to the Jews who where accused by the whole of Europe to be the cause. In the same year he buys the city from Joan of Sicily. Clement VI died on December 6,1352. |
