Avignon

My French history is a bit flimsy.  It was not on the curriculum in Australian schools in my childhood and youth.

I knew that there had been French Popes and that at one stage they competed with those in Rome for legitimacy.

It turns out that from 1309 until the French Revolution in 1791 Avignon was a Papal State and a dozen Popes ruled from here until 1437.

The Papal Palace here is akin to a medieval castle, because that's what it is.  It was unsuccessfully besieged in 1398 then again five years later during the Catalan War.

Papal Palace Avignon - the skull has been pierced by a crossbow arrow

The move to Avignon was as a result of infighting in the Church and between various secular princes as a result of the Crusades, hence the fortress-like Palace here.

But with the eighth French Pope, in 1423, Rome re-established itself as the centre of Western Christendom and soon appointed an Italian Pope, declaring all subsequent French Popes in Avignon anti-Popes.

They then went on a campaign of vilification of the Avignon anti-Popes, declaring them spendthrift and of course sexually immoral. This was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.  The plates and cutlery of the previous ‘legitimate’ Popes here were so valuable that no one could leave a dinner until an inventory had been taken.  

An inquisition sorted it out and, as we know, Rome prevailed. It's amazing what a bit of torture will do to show one the error of one's ways. After that, the top guy in Avignon became the Papal Legit.

As to sexual immorality,  sexual hijinks in Rome soon put any in Avignon into the shade.  In 1455 Alfons de Borja, became Pope Callixtus III, followed by Pius II principally remembered today for his erotic writings and a little later by Rodrigo Lanzol Borgia, Pope Alexander VI. The  Borgias were widely suspected of many crimes:  selling positions in the church, theft, bribery and murder by poisoning among them.  Adultery and unconstrained libidinousness were mere bagatelles.  

During the French Revolution the city was reintegrated with France and the Palais de Popes was somewhat vandalised. Then it became a prison and then a military barracks.

In the twentieth century it became a restoration project and is now effectively a museum.

Secular art now hangs in what were once chapels and it is tempting to think that the choice of art is a not so subtle poke at the Church, as it is almost entirely comprised of female nudes and a sculpture entitled 'tree of man' begins with primates with tails.

Papal Palace Art Exhibition

On a less secular theme, at the end of the square is the The Musée du Petit Palais,  a museum and art gallery that boasts an exceptional collection of Renaissance art, much of it very beautiful. 

The Musée du Petit Palais Avignon

I spent some time here while the shopper did what she likes best.  I particularly liked the early use of perspective in the Annunciation, featuring a distinctly upper-class Mary, and the realistic succour of her child, seldom seen in modern representations.

Le Pont

The other great claim to fame of Avignon is 'Le Pont' that we got to sing about in School, when we weren't singing about brother Jack.

This famous bridge is one of several on this site that were frequently swept away in the massive floods of this region, prior to a series of dams upstream on the Rhône and tributaries.

The whole Avignon plane could be covered to a depth of several metres.

There was once a Roman bridge here but it disappeared some time prior to the middle ages miracle that brought about the one of the song:

Sur le Pont d'Avignon L'on y danse, l'on y danse Sur le Pont d'Avignon L'on y danse tous en rond.

According to legend Saint-Bénézet was a shepherd who in 1177 was told by God to go to Avignon and build a bridge.

A miracle occurred in which he hefted a large stone into the river, conveniently on the site of the previous Roman bridge. He and the local bishop then cashed in on tolls charged to cross the Rhône.

This bridge was destroyed by Louis VIII of France during one of numerous Crusades and was then rebuilt in stone in 1345 during the Avignon Papacy, still in the name of Saint-Bénézet. But it was frequently damaged in floods sent by God and was abandoned in the 17th century.

Today there's a nice new concrete bridge down river, designed and built in the conventional manner by engineers.

Four arches of the 14 century bridge survive and we walked on them today. It's extremely windy and I wouldn't recommend dancing there. Wendy lost her map and feared for her scarf and even her mobile phone.

Sur le Pont d'Avignon

Information on the bridge claims that 'sur le pont' is a corruption the original was 'sous le pont' (under the bridge) where the road is now and there was once a night club and riverside revelries, at the time the music-hall song was written.

So like many things French it's actually a bit naughty.