Boniface VIII

Benedetto Caetani · 1295 – 1303 · 9 yrs · died

Claimed authority over every human creature in Unam Sanctam. Was roughed up by a French raiding party within a year.

Did

Declared the first Jubilee in 1300; Rome made a fortune.
Issued Unam Sanctam (1302), the high-water mark of papal claims over kings.

Didn't

Beat Philip IV of France, whose agents seized him at Anagni in 1303. He died a month after his release.

From the record

Pope Boniface VIII was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 until his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial origin with connections to the papacy. He succeeded Pope Celestine V, who had abdicated from the papal throne. Boniface spent his early pontificate abroad in diplomatic roles.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

← Celestine V Benedict XI →

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