st Boniface. Benedict XI. exerted himself to give satisfaction
to the conqueror; he declared the Colonnas absolved; he released the
barons and prelates of France from the excommunications pronounced
against them; and he himself wrote to the king to say that he would
behave towards him as the good shepherd in the parable, who leaves ninety
and nine sheep to go after one that is lost. Nogaret and the direct
authors of the assault at Anagni were alone excepted from this amnesty.
The pope reserved for a future occasion the announcement of their
absolution, when he should consider it expedient. But on the 7th of
June, 1304, instead of absolving them, he launched a fresh bull of
excommunication against "certain wicked men who had dared to commit a
hateful crime against a person of good memory, Pope Boniface." A month
after this bull Benedict XI. was dead. It is related that a young woman
had put before him at table a basket of fresh figs, of which he had eaten
and which had poisoned him. The chroniclers of the time impute this
crime to William of Nogaret, to the Colonnas, and to their associates at
Anagni; a single one names King Philip. Popular credulity is great in
matters of poisoning; but one thing is certain, namely, that no
prosecution was ordered. There is no proof of Philip's complicity; but,
full as he was of hatred and dissimulation, he was of those who do their
best to profit by crimes which they have not ordered. It is clear that
such a pope as Benedict XI. would not do either for his passions or his
purposes.

He found one, however, from whom he flattered himself, not without
reason, that he would get more complete and efficient co-operation. The
cardinals, after being assembled in conclave for six months at Perouse,
were unable to arrive at an agreement about a choice of pope. As a way
out of their embarrassment, they entered into a secret convention to the
effect that one of them, a confidant of Philip the Handsome, should make
known to him that the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Goth, was the
candidate in respect of whom they could agree. He was a subject of the
King of England and a late favorite of Boniface VIII., who had raised him
from the bishopric of Comminges to the archbishopric of Bordeaux. He was
regarded as an enemy of France; but Philip knew what may be done with an
ambitious man, whose fortune is only half made, by offering to advance
him to his highest point. He, therefore, appo