here his appearance raised the pity of all, for he had
tasted nothing since his arrest. The old man begged that some good woman
would save him from dying by hunger. On this the crowd burst out into
cries of, "Life to you, holy father!" and immediately people hurried
away in all directions, and came back with abundance of food and drink
for his relief. The pope spoke kindly to all who were near him, and
pronounced forgiveness of all but those who had plundered the Church.

Boniface was soon afterwards removed to Rome. But the sufferings which
he had gone through had been too much for a man almost ninety years old
to bear. His mind seems to have given way; and there are terrible
stories (although we cannot be sure that they are true) about the manner
of his death, which took place within a few days after he reached the
city (Nov. 22, 1303). It was said of him, "He entered like a fox, he
reigned like a lion, he went out like a dog;" and although this saying
was, no doubt, made up after his end, it was commonly believed to have
been a prophecy uttered by old Pope Celestine, to whom he had behaved so
treacherously and so harshly.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE POPES AT AVIGNON.--THE RUIN OF THE TEMPLARS.

A.D. 1303-1312.

PART I.

The next pope, Benedict XI., wished to do away with the effects of
Boniface's pride and ambition, and especially to soothe the king of
France, whom Boniface had so greatly provoked. But Benedict died within
about seven months (June 27, 1304) after his election, and it was not
easy to fill up his place. At last, about a year after Benedict's death
(June 5, 1305), Bertrand du Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, was chosen. It
was said that he had held a secret meeting with King Philip in the
depths of a forest, and that, in order to get the king's help towards
his election, he bound himself to do five things which Philip named,
and also a sixth thing, which was not to be spoken of until the time
should come for performing it. But this story seems to have been made up
because the pope was seen to follow Philip's wishes in a way that people
could not understand, except by supposing that he had bound himself by
some special bargain.

For some years Clement V. (as he was called) lived at the cost of French
cathedrals and monasteries, which he visited one after another; and then
(A.D. 1310) he settled at Avignon, a city on the Rhone, where he and his
successors lived for seventy years--about the same length