" Published by E.P. Dutton & Co.]
It will now be convenient briefly to trace the growth of that remarkable
edifice, at once a castle and a cloister, a palace and a prison, which
constitutes the chief attraction of Avignon to-day, and which, altho
defaced by time and by modern restorers, remains in its massive grandeur a
fitting memorial of the great line of pontiffs who have made that little
city famous in the annals of Christendom.
We have seen that Pope John XXII., having allotted a piece of land to his
nephew, Arnaud de Via, for the erection of a new episcopal palace, was
content to modify and enlarge the old one for pontifical uses, and that
Benedict XII., with characteristic straightforwardness, purchased the new
fabric from Arnaud's heirs and, having handed it over to the diocesan
authorities, proceeded to transform the old building into a stately and
spacious apostolic palace for the head of Christendom.
He was moved to this purchase after mature reflection, for it was a matter
of urgent importance that the pontiff of the church of Rome should possess
a palace of his own at Avignon as long as it might be necessary for him to
remain there.
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