face to the
tail, and led off to prison. They meant to transport him to France to
await the general council. He was rescued, returned to Rome, was seized
and imprisoned again. On the 11th of October he died.

Thus, after a pontificate of nine eventful years, perished Boniface
VIII. His history and his fate show to what a gulf Roman Christianity
was approaching. His successor, Benedict XI., had but a brief enjoyment
of power; long enough, however, to learn that the hatred of the King of
France had not died with the death of Boniface, and that he was
determined not only to pursue the departed pontiff's memory beyond the
grave, but also to effect a radical change in the papacy itself.
[Sidenote: Poisoning of Benedict XI.] A basket of figs was presented to
Benedict by a veiled female. She had brought them, she said, from the
Abbess of St. Petronilla. In an unguarded moment the pontiff ate of them
without the customary precaution of having them previously tasted. Alas!
what was the state of morals in Italy? A dysentery came on; in a few
days he was dead. But the Colonnas had already taught the King of France
how one should work who desires to touch the popedom; the event that had
just occurred was the preparation for putting their advice into
operation. [Sidenote: Understanding between the king and the Archbishop
of Bordeaux.] The king came to an understanding with Bernard de Goth,
the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Six conditions were arranged between them:
1. The reconciliation between the Church and the king; 2. The absolution
of all persons engaged in the affair of Boniface; 3. Tenths from the
clergy for five years; 4. The condemnation of the memory of Boniface; 5.
The restoration of the Colonnas; 6. A secret article; what it was time
soon showed. A swift messenger carried intelligence to the king's
partisans in the College of Cardinals, and Bernard became Clement V. "It
will be long before we see the face of another pope in Rome!" exclaimed
the Cardinal Matteo Orsini, with a prophetic instinct of what was coming
when the conspiracy reached its development. [Sidenote: Removal of the
papacy to Avignon.] His prophecy was only too true. Now appeared what
was that sixth, that secret article negotiated between King Philip and
De Goth. Clement took up his residence at Avignon in France. The tomb of
the apostles was abandoned. The Eternal City had ceased to be the
metropolis of Christianity.

But a French prelate had not bargained wi