### Avignon exile, reform synods
the Avignon exile Its direct preliminaries were the following: the French king, Philip IV, laid tax on the French clergy without permission from the Pope, so Pope Bonifac (1294-1303) decided to excommunicate him. The king's men, however, captured the Pope, who soon died. Then the royal supporter, Clement V, Archbishop of Bordeaux, (1305-1314) became the next Pope, who moved to South France, to Avignon. He was the first Pope in Avignon, who was followed by six other Popes. Orban V (1362-1370) was the first Pope to return to Rome in 1367 under German and Italian pressure. Since he could not cope with the anarchy there, he moved back to Avignon. The Holy See moved back to Rome during Gregory XI (1370-1378)'s papacy. He entered the Vatican on 17 January 1377, which became the residence of popes instead of the Lateran. After his death the Italian and French parties chose their own popes - and this was the beginning of the split of the Western church (1378-1414) and the deepest crisis of medieval papacy. The pompous court and the new taxation system of the Avignon popes caused dissatisfection throughout Europe. The board of cardinals (consistorium) became the leading organisation of church government during the reign of the Avignon popes. RGY reform synods Synods called with the purpose of stopping the split of the church, which took place after the Avignon exile of the Popes, consolidating the unity of the church and reforming the inner matters of the church: they were held in Pisa (1409), Constanz (1414-1418) and Basel (1431-1449). They tried to reorganise the church structure by pushing back papal power and placing the synod over the authority of the Pope. In this process the synod of Basel was the most successful. Many of the decisions made there did not become part of the universal synod, for example, the attack against the main papal power, the so-called primate. The length of the synod, the change of the place of the synod (in 1438 it was held in Ferrara, from 1439 in Florence, from 1443 in Rome), the lack of formal closing clearly show the inner difficulties. Between 1439-1442 union with the Eastern church was planned and encouraged, which was carried out in theory, but it was not accomplished in reality because of the onset of the Turkish occupation. RGY