The Avignon Papacy is the period from 1309 to 1378, during which seven successive popes reside in Avignon, in France, rather than in Rome.

This situation had arisen from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown.

A deadlocked conclave following the strife between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France and the death of his successor Benedict XI after only eight months in office had in 1305 finally elected a Frenchman, as Pope Clement ,.

Clement had declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and in 1309 moves his court to the papal enclave at Avignon, where it remains for the next sixty-seven years.

This absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy".

A total of seven popes reign at Avignon; all are French, and they increasingly fall under the influence of the French Crown.

Gregory XI finally abandons Avignon on September 13, 1376, and moves his court to Rome (arriving on January 17, 1377), officially ending the Avignon Papacy.

Despite this return, in 1378 the breakdown in relations between the cardinals and Gregory's successor, Urban VI, gives rise to the Western Schism.

This starts a second line of Avignon popes, now regarded as illegitimate.

The last Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, loses most of his support in 1398, including that of France; following five years of siege by the French, he flees to Perpignan on March 11, 1403.

The schism ends at the Council of Constance in 1417 after only two popes had reigned in opposition to the Papacy in Rome.