Was the papacy strengthened or weakened during its residence in Avignon?

Papal authority was at its prime during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries where it had both a secular and spiritual role. The early crusades made the Papacy appear even more successful and monarchs, like the Kings of England, would be willing to act for the pope. Boniface VIII's 'Unum Sanctum' was clarification, just before the beginning of the Avignon papacy, of the pope as the ultimate authority and spiritual head of Christendom. However, the Italian …

…cultural changes were having upon the Church. Word Count, 2,187. Bibliography Barraclough, Geoffrey, The Medieval Papacy (London, 1968) Crowder, C.M.D., Unity, Heresy and Reform, 1378-1460 (London, 1977) Lynch, Joseph H., The Medieval Church: A Brief History (Harlow, 1992) Mollat, Guillaume, The Popes at Avignon, trans. Janet Love (London, 1963) Renouard, Yves, The Avignon Papacy, 1305-1403 (London, 1970) Ullman, Walter, A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages (London, 1974) Ullman, Walter, The Origins of the Great Schism (London, 1948)