In this episode, we explore the dramatic collapse of papal power in 14th-century Italy, tracing how Pope Clement V — a Frenchman installed by the ruthless King Philip IV after the arrest and death of Boniface VIII — relocated the entire papacy to Avignon in 1309, effectively making it a puppet of the French crown. With Italy ungovernable, the Holy Roman Empire in flux, and nations from England to Florence openly ignoring excommunications, the Church’s centuries-long grip on European monarchs was visibly crumbling. We also dive deep into the rise and spectacular fall of the Knights Templar — the medieval world’s first multinational corporation, who went from protecting pilgrims in Jerusalem to owning fleets, vineyards, castles and the island of Cyprus — until Philip IV, drowning in debt to them, engineered their destruction on Friday 13 October 1307, forcing confessions under torture and burning their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, at the stake in Paris in 1314. De Molay’s dying curse — that both Pope and King would soon answer to God — proved oddly prophetic: Clement was dead within a month, Philip before the year was out.
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