Catherine of Siena travelled personally to the Avignon papal court in 1376 to press one specific political demand. What was it?
Catherine was 29, an unschooled Dominican tertiary from a Sienese dyer's family. She had been writing Gregory XI letters for several years — substantially the most direct personal political correspondence any pope of the period received from any woman. She stayed at Avignon approximately four months in mid-1376, had multiple personal audiences with Gregory, and was the most visible figure in his pre-departure decision process. He left Avignon on 13 September 1376 and reached Rome on 17 January 1377. Catherine died at Rome on 29 April 1380, aged 33, probably of stroke after extended fasting.
Read the full story →Catherine of Siena was an unschooled Dominican tertiary from a substantial Sienese dyer's family who became one of the most influential European Catholic figures of the 14th century. Her substantial 1376 personal mission to Avignon helped persuade Pope Gregory XI to end the seventy-year Avignon papacy. She was 29.
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