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The "cursed" day when the King of France had the Pope arrested

2021-01-17T12:35:01.341Z


1303. Between King Philippe le Bel and old Pope Boniface VIII, both jealous of their power, nothing works. A duel at the top, juice


Pope Francis arrested in the middle of the night in the Vatican?

This crazy rumor spread on social networks last weekend.

What was she asserting?

That the American FBI had arrested, on Saturday January 9, the sovereign pontiff, targeted by "80 counts, including child trafficking".

And this while St. Peter's Square was plunged into darkness after a massive power cut (again fictitious: the cameras monitoring it had just gone into night mode).

This fake news, denied on Sunday January 10 by the appearance of the Pope in front of the cameras, is the work of the conspiratorial sphere QAnon.

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You have to look up to guess the fortified citadel of Anagni, whose shadow emerges on the night of September 6 to 7, 1303. Awakened by the bells which have sounded the alarm, the inhabitants come running.

“Death to Pope Boniface!

Long live the King of France!

», They hear in the procession of armor.

The crowd attends the show, banned by this unimaginable act: we are going to attack the Pope!

It is in this residence located 50 km south of Rome that Boniface VIII, soon to be in his seventies, went green during the scorching heat of summer.

He breathes a healthier air there, both literally and figuratively: in Anagni, Benedetto Caetani (real name) is at home, in his family stronghold.

Safe from his sworn enemies - the Colonna, the Odini, and many others - who suspect him of having ejected Celestin V from the papal throne in 1294 to sit there.

Hatred of the King of France

Even in the event of danger, the population of Anagni will form a sanitary cordon, persuaded himself the old prelate.

But picked cold in the dead of night, she does not flinch in front of the procession of soldiers recruited by Guillaume de Nogaret, whose fleur-de-lis banner flaps in the wind.

Portrait of Philippe IV le Bel, King of France from 1268 to 1314. Painting by Jean-Louis Bezard (1799-1881) .Josse / Leemage  

At only 33 years old, he became the main adviser to Philip IV “the Fair”, after an ascent as spectacular as that which led him to the papal palace.

His mastery of the law, like his ability to mount twisted blows, made him indispensable with the Capetian.

It was he who, a few months earlier, had investigated a terrible case against Boniface, accusing him of murder, sexual depravity, enrichment, and - as long as we are at it - heresy.

Boniface, the report concludes, has soiled his divine mission and betrayed Christ.

Considering the charges - assembled from scratch, even if the prelate is notoriously corrupt - it is the stake that awaits him!

Why so much hatred between the sovereign of the “eldest daughter of the Church” and the head of the Catholic world?

It began in 1296, when Philippe, in need of money, levied a new tax on the clergy, to the fury of Boniface, who considered the king a vassal.

His tiara, he believes, should cover all the crowns of the Christian world.

However Philippe intends to reign unchallenged at home.

The tax dispute will not stop festering, to the point of no return.

Anticipate excommunication

The French plan is to bring Boniface to a council (normally the prerogative of the Pope).

It is still necessary to get hold of him, to notify him of his crimes in front of witnesses, and to notify him of his summons to trial.

Nogaret, who has received carte blanche from Philippe, goes to the other side of the Alps in the spring for his secret mission, and spends the summer to join together the (very) numerous enemies of the heir of Saint Peter.

But on September 2, everything accelerated when the advisor got wind of the bull of excommunication that this devil of the pope was preparing to promulgate on September 8 against the King of France.

If pontifical lightning strikes, the damage caused to Philippe, grandson of Saint Louis, will be colossal.

The indelible stain.

And any council against the head of the Church will be in vain.

Nogaret must take the lead, and quickly!

With the help of a head of the Colonna family, he recruited an army of 2,000 infantry and cavalry.

The commando sets out for Anagni.

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In the citadel, it is stupor.

The Pope wakes up and his nightmare begins.

After a short truce, the assault was given on September 7 at 3 p.m.

The soldiers find old Boniface in his room, seated on the papal throne with all the attributes of his power: his tiara, the keys of Saint Peter ... "Here is my neck, here is my head", he exclaims with aplomb, determined to "die as a pope".

The Pope is provisionally saved

Colonna would have given it to their heart's content without Nogaret's intervention.

Which has no intention of killing the sovereign, but to notify him of his next appearance.

It is done but, already, the inhabitants of Anagni are recovering.

"Death to foreigners!"

They yell.

The weather turns bad for Nogaret who must flee, leaving his “booty” behind him.

The Pope is provisionally saved ... but this coup shattered him.

He who dreamed of becoming the master of the world is no more than an old man humiliated and consumed by sorrow.

At the end of his strength, he died on October 11.

Pope Boniface VIII (1230-1303), anonymous 18th century painting Aisa / Leemage  

Two years later, a French pope, Clement V, ascended the throne of Saint Peter, which he moved in 1309 to Avignon.

In the case of Anagni, the attitude of Philip the Fair was "good and fair", he will assure, as if to absolve the latter of his incredible raid against the head of the Church.

The triumph is therefore total for the Iron King.

But it won't last ...

The legend of the "Cursed Kings"

Let us forget the story here for the legend.

Because after the coup against the Pope, a prophecy, issued by the Bishop of Sion (Switzerland), would have circulated: “By divine inspiration, I know that the King of France will be condemned by God […] he and his sons will lose their kingdom… ”

This curse returns a few years later in the tortured mouth of Jacques de Molay, grand master of the powerful order of the Templars, condemned to death in March 1314 after a new plot by Nogaret.

“Misfortune will soon befall those who wrongly condemn us.

God will avenge our death ”, the Templar would have yelled at the stake.

Invented or not, the anathema will be taken up by Maurice Druon in his famous saga on the “Cursed Kings”.

Let's come back to the story: Philippe le Bel died in November 1314. His three sons followed fairly quickly, and the Capetian dynasty died out in 1328. So, doubly cursed?

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-01-17

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