Timeline Of Avignon

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Avignon in southern France.

Prior to 14th century

* 4th–5th century AD - Diocese of Avignon established.
* 500 - Frankish regulus, Clovis I besieges the city during the Franco-Visigothic Wars, but is convinced to abandon the siege.
* 508 - Wandill, a lieutenant of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, makes Avignon his headquarters.
* 581 - Mummolus in Avignon resisted siege by the Austrasian Guntram Boso.
* 591 - Outbreak of plague.
* 599 - Outbreak of plague.
* 730 - Saracens in power.
* 737 - Town falls to the Frankish leader Charles Martel after a siege.
* 739 - Saracens retake town.
* 1054 - Great Schism breaks apart the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church, of which the Diocese of Avignon belongs to the former and will play an important role for the Papacy in coming centuries.
* 1080 - Catholic Council of Avignon held.
* c. 1129 - Beginning of the ''Commune'', a period when Avignon was self-governing. Provence was divided between three families: Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, William III of Forcalquier and Alfonso Jordan (Count of Toulouse).
* 1185 - Pont Saint-Bénézet (bridge) completed (traditional date).
* c. 1220 - a second set of city walls constructed outside the earlier walls.
* 1226 - Town falls to Louis VIII of France after a three-month siege during the Albigensian Crusade.
* 1251 - Convention of Beaucaire and the end of the ''Commune'', the two brothers of Louis IX, Alphonse of Poitiers and Charles I of Anjou, take control of the town.
* 1290 - Charles II of Anjou becomes the sole seigneur of the town.

14th century

* 1303 - University of Avignon founded.
* 1309 - Pope Clement V moves to Avignon at the start of the Avignon Papacy.
* 1334 - Papal conclave in Avignon elects Pope Benedict XII.
* 1335 - Construction of the Palais des Papes begins under Pope Benedict XII.
* 1348
**Avignon bought by Pope Clement VI from Joanna, countess of Provence for 80,000 florins.
**Black Death kills perhaps half the population of the town.
* 1355 - Avignon menaced by bands of mercenaries.
* c. 1357 - Construction of the city walls begins.
* 1367–1370 - Pope Urban V in Rome.
* 1376 - Pope Gregory XI leaves Avignon for Rome at the end of the Avignon Papacy.
* 1378 - Western Schism begins with Antipope Clement VII in Avignon and Pope Urban VI in Rome.

15th century

* 1408 - Antipope Benedict XIII escapes from Avignon.
* 1417 - Western Schism ends with the election in Rome of Pope Martin V.
* 1475 - Diocese of Avignon elevated to an archdiocese.
* 1479–1488 - City walls repaired and remodelled with the reduction in the number of gates from twelve to seven. The work was initiated by Archbishop Giuliano della Rovere who subsequently became Pope Julius II.
* 1481 - Avignon becomes an enclave when Provence becomes part of France with the death of Charles II, Count of Provence.

16th century

* 1517 - Italian scholars Sannazar de Ripa and André Alciat arrive to teach at the University of Avignon.
* 1561 - Pope Pius IV sends his cousin, Fabrizio Serbelloni, to organise the defence of the town against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598).
* 1564 - Jesuit college established in the town.
* 1580 - Outbreak of plague.

17th century

* 1662–1663 - Opening of three city gates that had been walled up during the Wars of Religion. The gates were: Porte de la Ligne, Porte de l'Oulle and the Porte Saint-Roch.
* 1662–1664 - Annexation of Avignon by Louis XIV of France.
* 1669 - Pont Saint-Bénézet abandoned.
* 1688–1689 - Annexation of Avignon by Louis XIV of France.

18th century

* 1753 - Work begins to remove a section of the Rocher des Doms to widen the towpath along the Rhône.
* 1755 - Severe flooding with more than three quarters of the town under water.
* 1768–1774 - Annexation of Avignon by Louis XV of France.
* 1791
** 14 September - Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin declared part of France during the French Revolution.
** Massacres of La Glacière
* 1792 - Avignon becomes part of the Bouches-du-Rhône souveraineté.
* 1794 - Montfavet becomes part of Avignon.
* 1796 - Archives départementales de Vaucluse established.
* 1797 - 19 February - Treaty of Tolentino in which Pope Pius VI formally cedes control of Avignon to France.

19th century

* 1800 - Population: 21,412.
* 1801
** Canton of Avignon-Nord

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