By the end of the 13th century, however, several heads of state had begun wringing concessions out of the papacy. One of these issues was taxation of Church property. The Church owned a good deal of property, & was a potential "gold mine" for royal treasuries.
But conflict with Philip flared anew, in 1301, when Bishop Bernard Saisset of Pamiers was arrested by the king. Saisset, a strong partisan of Boniface, was accused of inciting rebellion against the crown of France. Boniface immediately denounced Philip, asserting the Church's jurisdiction over clergy. He called for a council to be held in Rome the next year. He thus planned to rally all the extensive resources of the Church, across Europe, to enforce Church jurisdiction over clergy & end secular taxation of Church property.
King Philip, in response, called together representatives of France's nobility, clergy, & commons, the "States-General," to hear his side of the case; this was held in late 1302 & early 1303.
Fearing he would be excommunicated, early in 1303, King Philip sent his men to seize the Pope, from one of his palaces (at Agnani). Although Boniface's men rescued him in short order, the man was gravely shaken by this attack — & he died soon afterward.
Boniface was succeeded as Pope by Benedict XI, a humble Dominican friar, who attempted to make the best of the affair, yet save face for the Church. He pardoned all who had attacked Boniface, except their leader, William de Nogaret. At the same time, Philip lobbied for another general council of the Church, with the purpose of denouncing Boniface posthumously. This never materialized, though, for Benedict died suddenly (of dysentery).
Philip convinced Clement to move the papal residence to Avignon, France. Thus began the so-called "Babylonian Captivity" of the papacy (an allusion to the capture of Hebrews by Babylonians as told in the Old Testament). Over the years, Clement became more & more the tool of King Philip. He went so far as to help Philip destroy the Knights Templars. The Templars were a clerical-military order, founded during the Crusades in the 12th century. They had grown secretive & powerful over the years, with extensive property. They had the authority to lend money, & Philip was gravely in debt with them; by disgracing & then destroying them, this debt was wiped out.
A succession of popes sympathetic to the French crown were chosen, & the papal residence remained at Avignon for decades. But, in 1376, Pope Gregory XI was convinced by leading Church figures, including St. Catherine di Siena, to restore the papacy to Rome.
At one point (1409) the issue became even more clouded, as a council held at Pisa elected a third Pope, when the Avignon-elected anti-pope at that time (Benedict XIII) had turned out to be corrupt & unbearable. After a good deal of wrangling — mostly in the form of debates held in the competing papal curiae (courts), the Avignon- and Pisa-elected anti-popes abdicated (of course, without ever admitting they had been "illegitimate") & the remaining Pope, Benedict IX, convened another council to decide the issue.
In 1417, the Western Schism ended, with the election of Pope Martin V. This period is also called the "Great Schism," although this term is ambiguous, since it's often used to speak of the Schism of 1054, in which the eastern & western Churches parted company.
This Schism was hardly a shining moment for the Roman Church. It highlighted much that was wrong with it, as an institution. It had meddled in politics — before Boniface VIII, largely successfully — but in so doing had opened itself to political manipulation. It had become a large & cumbersome bureaucracy, which sometimes couldn't agree on its own ground rules.
In any event, the issuance of this bull directly led to the election of a Pope more amenable to secular authorities. It also led to a period of poor leadership over the Church, & this in turn led to the period of the Western Schism, in which as many as three men vyed for the office of Pope.
The papacy & the Roman Church never recovered from this disgrace. It prompted many — within the Church & outside of it — to question the extent of Church authority, & the scope of the papacy. Later, during the Reformation, the haughtiness behind Unam sanctam, as well as the Western Schism which was its indirect result, would be used against the Church. The Church indeed seemed to have learned a bit from this experience. Over the course of the next couple of centuries, the process of electing Popes was refined, making it difficult if not impossible for outside forces to manipulate the choice of Pope, & ensure a smooth succession.
Still, these reforms were only legalistic, & limited to procedure. The Church continued to act as if it were the ultimate authority in Europe — even though this was no longer true. A great many abuses within it continued, abuses which later reformers, such as Erasmus, Hus, Wyclif, & Ockham would complain about. Ultimately, it was Martin Luther who finally succeeded in making a case for the fact that the Church, & the papacy, had lost its way; this is another of my "Greatest Moments in History."
Boniface's issuace of Unam sanctam, therefore, is one of the most monumental blunders in all of history. In trying to assert papal authority as he believed it should be, he overstepped his bounds; in doing so he uncovered the "soft white underbelly" of the Church, if you will, & it never recovered. In fact, it can fairly be said that, had Boniface VIII never issued Unam sanctam, there might never have been a Reformation.
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