Pope Urban V

Pope Urban V (Latin: Urbanus V ; 1310 19 December 1.2 Election and papacy
1370), born William de Grimoard,[1] was Pope from
28 September 1362 to his death in 1370 and was also a Main article: Papal conclave, 1362
member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the sixth
Avignon Pope.
In September 1362, William was in Naples as a papal
Even after his election as ponti, he continued to follow emissary when Pope Innocent VI died. After previously
the Benedictine Rule, and he lived simply and modestly electing Pope Clement VI's brother, who declined,[3] in a
which did not always gain him allies who were used to surprise move, on the 28th of that month they elected Grilives of luxury. Pope Pius IX beatied him in 1870 on moard as the new Pope. He was not initially informed of
account of his holiness, and he is the only ponti of the the result, instead he was requested to return immediately
Avignon Papacy to be beatied.
to Avignon to consult with the conclave. The cardinals
Urban V pressed for reform throughout his ponticate feared the reaction of the Romans to the election of anand also oversaw the restoration and construction of other foreign pope, and so kept the results of the election
churches and monasteries. He came close to reuniting the secret until Williams arrival 5 weeks later. The Romans
Eastern and Western churches, but was not able to achieve had been clamoring for some time for a Roman, or at least
this. This goal was one of he made upon his ascension to Italian, pope, and it was feared they would interfere with
Williams travel had they known of his election. Upon
the ponticate.[2]
his arrival, William learned of his election and took the
pontical name of Urban, the fth pope of that name
to rule the Church.

When asked the reason for the selection of his new name,
Grimoard was alleged to have said: All the popes who
have borne this name were saints.

Biography

Grimoard was a compromise candidate who was elected

due to the fact that none of the cardinals voting in the
conclave wished to serve. He was not even a bishop at
1.1 Early life
the time of his election, and had to be consecrated as one
before his coronation. This was done on 6 November by
Cardinal Andouin Aubert,[5] the nephew of his predecesWilliam de Grimoard was born in 1310 in the Castle of
sor. He served as the sixth pope in the Avignon Papacy.
Grizac in the French region of Languedoc (today part
of the commune of Le Pont-de-Montvert, department of
Lozre), the son of William de Grimoard, Lord of Bellegarde, and of Amphlise de Montferrand. His two brothers were Etienne and Angel de Grimoard, future cardinal,
and his sister was Delphine.
As a young man in 1327, Grimoard became a Benedictine
monk in the small Priory of Chirac, near his home,[3]
which was a dependency of the ancient Abbey of St. Victor near Marseille, and he was sent there for his novitiate.
After his profession of monastic vows, he was ordained a
A bolognino of Urban V.
priest in his own monastery in Chirac in 1334.
Showing great academic talent, he was then sent to the
great universities of Europe, earning a doctorate in Canon
Law in 1342. He became acclaimed as a foremost
canonist of the age, himself teaching at Montpellier, Paris
and Avignon. In August 1361, he was elected as the abbot
of the Abbey of St. Victor.[4] Despite the appointment,
he continued to teach as a professor across France.

1.2.1 Reformer and patron of education

As Pope he continued to follow the discipline of the
Benedictine Rule and to wear his monastic habit.[3]
Known to disapprove of the pomp and luxury of the car1

REFERENCES

dinals lives, he continued the simony started by his prede- Naples and the confession of faith by the Byzantine Emcessors by paying the cardinals that voted for him 40,000 peror John V Palaeologus,[9] crowned Charles IVs queen
orins.[6]
as Empress[10] and established the Bridgettine order.[11]
Pope Urban V introduced considerable reforms in the administration of justice and liberally patronized learning.
He founded a university in Hungary. In Toulouse, he
saved the university of music. In Montpellier, he restored
the school of medicine there and founded the College of
Saint Benedict, whose church, decorated with numerous
works of art, later became the cathedral of the city. He
founded colleges in Quzac and Bdous, and a church
and library in Ispagnac.

Unable any longer to resist the urgency of the French cardinals, and with numerous cities of the Papal States in
revolt, Urban V boarded a ship at Corneto heading for
France on 5 September 1370, arriving back at Avignon
on the 24th of the same month. A few days later he fell
severely ill. Feeling his death approaching, he asked that
he might be moved from the Papal Palace to the nearby
residence of his brother, Angel, whom he had made a cardinal, that he might be close to those he loved. He died
[12]
Urban V issued a preliminary consent for the establish- there on 19 December 1370.
ment of the University of Krakw, which by September
1364 had gained full papal consent.[7] He provided books
and the best professors to more than 1,000 students of all 2 Beatication
classes. Around Rome, he also planted vineyards.
Pope Gregory XI opened the cause of beatication for his
predecessor which documented miracles and the virtues
1.2.2 Military campaigns
of the late pope. But the cause stopped in 1379. It
stopped once more in 1390 under the orders of Antipope
His ponticate witnessed one of the last ickers of cru- Clement VII.
sading zeal in the Alexandrian and the Savoyard crusades, whereby Christian armies retook Alexandria and The Western Schism caused the process to stop but was
Gallipoli, respectively. He also sent many missions to revived later on which led to the beatication of Urban V
in 1870 by Pope Pius IX.[3] His feast day is celebrated on
Bosnia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and even China.
December 19.[13]
The great feature of Urban Vs reign was the eort to
return the papacy to Rome and to suppress its powerful rivals for the temporal sovereignty there. In 1363 he
excommunicated Bernab Visconti,[8] the last great gure 3 References
of Ghibellinism in northern Italy, who occupied the Papal
city of Bologna and valiantly resisted the troops of Cardi- [1] Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, (HarperCollins,
2000), 243.
nal Gil de Albornoz, the Vicar of the Papal States at the
time. Urban ordered a crusade to be preached throughout
[2] Blessed Pope Urban V. Saint of the Day. Retrieved 27
Italy against Visconti and his kindred, accused as robbers
January 2015.
of the churchs estate.
As Urban Vs greatest desire was that of a crusade against
the Turks, however, he found it necessary to purchase
peace in March of the following year. Thus, through
the mediation of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, he
lifted his excommunication against Bernab, obtaining
Bologna only after he signed a hasty peace that was highly
favorable to Bernab.
1.2.3

To Rome and back

[3] Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, 243.

[4] "''Catholic Encyclopedia'': Bl. Urban V. Newadvent.org.
1912-10-01. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
[5] Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, 243.
[6] George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families and
Descendants of the Popes, (McFarland and Company Inc.,
1998), 43.
[7] Krakow, Julian Dybiec, Charters of Foundation and
Early Documents of the Universities of the Coimbra
Group, ed. Jos. M. M. Hermans, Marc Nelissen, (Leuven
University Press, 2005), 60.

Continued troubles in Italy, as well as pleas from gures

such as Petrarch and St. Bridget of Sweden, caused Urban
V to set out for Rome, which he reached on 16 October
1367. Although greeted by the clergy and people with [8]
joy, and despite the satisfaction of being attended by the
Emperor in St. Peters, and of placing the crown upon
[9]
the head of the Empress, it soon became clear that by
changing the seat of his government he had not increased
its power. In Rome he was otherwise able to receive
the homage of King Peter I of Cyprus, Queen Joan I of [10]

George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families and

Descendants of the Popes, 34.
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453, Vol. 2, (University of Wisconsin
Press, 1980), 671.
Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, 244.

[11] Franklin Daniel Scott, Sweden, the Nations History,

(Southern Illinois University Press, 1988), 79.
[12] American Catholic.org Blessed Pope Urban V''".
Americancatholic.org. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
[13] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/619397/
Blessed-Urban-V

External sources
Rendina, Claudio (1994). I papi. Storia e segreti.
Rome: Newton Compton.
From the 9th edition (1883) of an unnamed encyclopedia

External links

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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Pope Urban V Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Urban_V?oldid=674454931 Contributors: General Wesc, Perique des Palottes,
Olivier, Gabbe, Angela, JamesReyes, John K, Adam Bishop, Fibonacci, Lord Emsworth, RadicalBender, Dimadick, Robbot, RedWolf,
Egon, Snowdog, Necrothesp, Klemen Kocjancic, D6, Rich Farmbrough, YUL89YYZ, El C, Kaganer, Kusma, Dtobias, FeanorStar7,
Pol098, Je3000, Stefanomione, Eoghanacht, Xos, Darkhorse82, Chobot, Jaraalbe, YurikBot, Svitrigaila, Aljodasch, Rjensen, Bob247,
Philip Stevens, Attilios, SmackBot, Srnec, Irlchrism, Chris the speller, TimBentley, MalafayaBot, Je5102, GoodDay, Savidan, Ser
Amantio di Nicolao, Mathiasrex, 2T, Eastfrisian, Chuckfew, Bilcarter, Vaquero100, Cydebot, Grahamec, Besieged, PepijnvdG, Studerby, Roberta F., Thijs!bot, Jed, James086, Qp10qp, Escarbot, Neumannk, EKindig, Magioladitis, Doug Coldwell, ZackTheJack, Edward321, Kask, MartinBot, DrKiernan, Nauka, Mangwanani, Kansas Bear, Funandtrvl, VolkovBot, Vincent Lextrait, WOSlinker, TXiKiBoT, John Carter, SieBot, Alex Middleton, Grandhautbois, Monegasque, Lightmouse, Bede735, BenoniBot~enwiki, ClueBot, EoGuy,
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