The Cahorsins were merchants and financiers from the French city of Cahors and the surrounding region of Quercy during the High Middle Ages . During their 13th-century heyday, they were among the most prominent communities of Christian long-distance traders outside of Italy , and were particularly prominent in commerce between England and its continental lands of the Duchy of Aquitaine . They declined rapidly from around 1300 CE, but their name long remained synonymous with usury in much of Western Europe.
50-855: The names of Cahors and the Quercy both derive from the Cadurci people who inhabited the region during the Iron Age and Roman period . In medieval parlance, Cahorsins , alternatively spelled Caorcins , Caorsins , Caoursins or Cahursins , included merchants from Cahors but also Cajarc , Capdenac , Cardaillac , Castelnau-Montratier , Figeac , Gourdon , Rocamadour , and Souillac They were referred to as Caorsini in Italian , Cahorsijnen in Dutch , and Kawertschen in German . In English , Caursines
100-725: A crusade against Milan. Louis, acting with Imperial powers, sent an army to reinforce Milan in early 1323. In response, John detailed violations committed by Louis and upon receiving no response excommunicated him on 23 March 1324 and then deposed him on 11 July. Louis called a council of Italian Ghibellines to Trent, where Louis declared his support for the Spiritualist Franciscans and denounced John as an illegitimate and heretical pope. John retaliated by declaring any city to offer Louis welcome would be placed under interdict . He received an embassy from Rome which issued an ultimatum of either returning to Rome or suffering
150-465: A description of those who engage in witchcraft. Pope John also warned people against not only learning magic or teaching it but against the more "execrable" act of performing magic. Pope John stated that anyone who did not heed his "most charitable" warning would be excommunicated. Pope John officially declared witchcraft to be heresy, and thus it could be tried under the Inquisition. Although this
200-461: A merchant and moneychanger. The Cahorsins' name was often used to refer to Christian (i.e. non- Jewish ) usurers , together with that of Lombards , both during the 13th century and in the later period following their decline. Their usury activity was prohibited by rulers such as Henry III, Duke of Brabant in 1261 and successive kings of France, Louis IX in 1269 and Philip III in 1274. Dante Alighieri referred to Cahors and Cahorsins twice in
250-565: A personal recommendation of Edward, was given Dublin. In January 1318, John sent a congratulatory letter to Edward II on his victory over Edward Bruce. He had passed an excommunication of all enemies of Edward II and later singled out Robert and Edward Bruce. John had allowed Edward II to keep the crusade tax imposed by the Council of Vienne , while reminding him that England was a papal fief and that he owed John an oath of loyalty. A few months later, John heard from Irish princes petitioning for
300-478: A source of conflict between reigning pope Clement V and Emperor Henry VII , culminating with the sudden death of Pope Clement V in 1314. The period that followed was an interregnum of two years due to disagreements between the cardinals , who were split into three factions. After two years of inaction, Philip, Count of Poitiers summoned a papal conclave of 23 cardinals to Lyon in August 1316. Philip forbade
350-607: A three-year process, John canonized Thomas Aquinas on 18 July 1323. One of John's sermons on the beatific vision caused controversy which lasted until he retracted his views just before his death. John died in Avignon on 4 December 1334. Born in 1244, Jacques was the son of Arnaud Duèze, who was probably a Cahorsin merchant or banker. He studied canon law at Montpellier and theology in Paris . Jacques taught civil law at Cahors and later canon law at Toulouse . By 1295, he
400-590: A time in sermons while he was pope, although he never taught it in official documents. In January 1334, in complete opposition to John XXII, the Faculty of Theology of the Sorbonne stated that after death the blessed souls are raised to the beatific vision. Louis, sensing an opportunity to remove him, conspired with cardinal Napoleone Orsini to depose John at an ecumenical council. John, considered by many to be theologically incompetent, backed down from his position on
450-556: Is reliant on tertiary services and makes Cahors the Lot's economic centre. Cahors has had a rich history since Celtic times . The original name of the town was Divona or Divona Cadurcorum , "Divona of the Cadurci ," Divona was a fountain, now called "la fontaine des Chartreux", worshiped by the Cadurci, a Celtic people of Gaul before the Roman conquest in the 50s BC. The Cadurci were among
500-548: Is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region . The capital and main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Quercy , Cahors is home to 20,141 cadurciennes and cadurciens (2021). Nestled in a meander of the Lot and surrounded by steep arid limestone hills, this historic city is home to a great monumental diversity, mainly inherited from Roman times and
550-563: The Divine Comedy , in part out of his aversion for contemporary Pope John XXII . In Canto XI of Inferno , he paired Cahors with Sodom ( Soddoma e Caorsa ) as sinful places, respectively associated with sodomy and usury; and in Canto XXVII of Paradiso , he portrayed Saint Peter referring to Cahorsins and Gascons ( Caorsini e Guaschi ) in an allusion to the rapacity of John XXII and of his predecessor Clement V , who
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#1732771882459600-575: The Levant to La Rochelle by road. Their presence at the Champagne fairs is documented from 1216, and in Flanders from 1230. In 1240, Henry III exiled from England some Cahorsins, mainly of Sens , for usury with extortion. By the middle of the 13th century, Cahors played a larger rôle in long-distance trade than most other cities of southwestern France, including Toulouse . In the third quarter of
650-529: The Middle Ages ; the city's monuments include a historic city centre, Saint-Étienne cathedral , Roman walls and the famous Valentré bridge (a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the pilgrimage path to Santiago de Compostela ). Famed for its wine and gastronomy ( truffles and foie gras ), this southern French city holds the label of the French Towns of Art and History . The Cadurcian economy
700-667: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cahors managed the University of Cahors [ fr ] . Pope John XXII granted a charter on 7 June 1331. The university had three colleges at Cahors: Pélegry (1358), Rodez (1371), and San Michel (1473). Fénelon studied at this institution, which, in 1751, was dissolved as a separate institution and annexed to the University of Toulouse . The institution had faculties covering theology, law, medicine, arts and literature. The university dissolved in 1751 and faculties annexed into
750-688: The 1294–1303 Gascon War which put an end to their prior balancing act as subjects of the King of France in and around Cahors, but active in English lands in Aquitaine and Great Britain. That period also saw the decline of the Champagne fairs and increased competition from Italian merchants. The legacy of Cahorsin opulence has been related to the rise of Jacques Duèse from Cahors up to his election in 1316 as Pope John XXII . Duèse's father had probably been
800-595: The 13th century, the Cahorsins were major financial system participants in London and England , on a par with Italian merchants from Florence , Lucca and Siena , and some of them took over the former properties of English Jews following the Edict of Expulsion in 1290. The causes of the Cahorsins' decline in the late 13th and early 14th centuries have not been identified with certainty. They may have been related with
850-597: The 14th-century fortified Valentré bridge. It is the seat of the Diocese of Cahors . It was also notorious at that time for the financiers widely known as Cahorsins , Christians who charged interest on their loans. The church in these times said that using money as an end in itself ( usury ) was a sin. Because of this Cahors became synonymous with this sin, and was mentioned in Dante 's Inferno (XI.50) alongside Sodom as wicked. Pope John XXII , born Jacques Duèze or d'Euse,
900-404: The 20th century. Yves Renouard contributed further research on the Cahorsins in the early 1960s. This bank and insurance -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cahors Cahors ( French pronunciation: [kaɔʁ] ; Occitan : Caors [kaˈuɾs, ˈkɔw(s)] ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France . It
950-680: The Cahorsins as a significant trading community has been related to the emergence of these two new port cities in the 11th and early 12th centuries. Despite major lapses in documentation, evidence for the long-distance merchant activity of Cahorsins goes back to the late 12th century, with their attested presence in Marseille and Saint-Gilles in 1178 and in La Rochelle in 1194. Using the Lot and Garonne rivers, Cahorsins exported their local wine to England and imported wool from there, but transported more valuable goods and spices imported from
1000-569: The Holy City's submission to Louis IV. John sent his papal legate, Giovanni Orsini, to Rome, but Orsini was denied entry. In reprisal, Orsini placed Rome under interdict. Louis entered Rome on 17 January 1328. In St. Peter's cathedral, he was consecrated by two sympathetic cardinal bishops, and crowned by Rome's representative, Sciarra della Colonna. Pietro Rainalducci was created Antipope Nicholas V in May 1328, by Louis. In response, John, using
1050-655: The Papacy and lived a princely life in Avignon . John opposed the policies of Louis IV the Bavarian as Holy Roman Emperor , which prompted Louis to invade Italy and set up an antipope, Nicholas V . John also opposed the Franciscan understanding of the poverty of Christ and his apostles, promulgating multiple papal bulls to enforce his views. This led William of Ockham to write against unlimited papal power. Following
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#17327718824591100-651: The Roman Church were to be regarded as final and could not be revoked if they were not erroneous. By the bull Ad conditorem canonum of 8 December 1322, John XXII declared it ridiculous to pretend that every scrap of food given to the friars and eaten by them belonged to the pope, refused to accept ownership over the goods of the Franciscans in future and granted them exemption from the rule that absolutely forbade ownership of anything even in common, thus forcing them to accept ownership. On 12 November 1323, he issued
1150-740: The University of Toulouse. Pope John XXII Pope John XXII ( Latin : Ioannes PP. XXII ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse ), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope , elected by the Conclave of Cardinals , which was assembled in Lyon . Like his predecessor, Clement V , Pope John centralized power and income in
1200-486: The bull Quia vir reprobus of 16 November 1329, John replied to Michael of Cesena's Appellatio . Between November 1331 and March 1332, John XXII made four questionable sermons concerning the beatific vision . John argued that those who died in the faith did not see the presence of God until the Last Judgment . This caused a theological controversy concerning the beatific vision . He continued this argument for
1250-403: The bull Quum inter nonnullos , which declared "erroneous and heretical" the doctrine that Christ and his apostles had no possessions whatsoever. Influential members of the order protested, such as the minister general Michael of Cesena , the English provincial William of Ockham , and Bonagratia of Bergamo . In reply to the argument of his opponents that Nicholas III's bull Exiit qui seminat
1300-516: The cardinals from leaving until they had chosen a new Pope. On 7 August 1316, this conclave elected Jacques, who took the name John XXII and was crowned in Lyon. He set up his residence in Avignon rather than Rome, continuing the Avignon Papacy of his predecessor. Upon his election, John gave 35,000 florins, of the 70,000 left to him by Clement V, to the cardinals that had voted for him. He
1350-454: The city insufficient. The Bishop of Embrun, Bertrand de Deaux, arrived to assist Pouget but simply exacerbated the situation. This led to a revolt in 1334, Pouget's expulsion, and death threats for any member of the Curia. The papal palace was destroyed and it took John's successor, Benedict XII , many years to find peace with Bologna. John died in Avignon on 4 December 1334 (aged 89/90). He
1400-553: The commission heard the testimony of 111 witnesses. The commission sent finalized documents to the Papal Curia and John XXII canonized Thomas Aquinas formally on 18 July 1323. Prior to John XXII's election, a contest had begun for the Holy Roman Empire's crown between Louis IV the Bavarian and Frederick I of Austria . Initially, John was neutral and refrained from being an arbiter. On 25 November 1314, Louis, with
1450-465: The consuls of Cahors to establish a small university in that city. In June 1332, John declared his intention to move his residence to Bologna . In preparation of this, the cardinal legate, Bertrand du Pouget, had been working for years in Bologna to oversee the construction of a papal palace and to integrate the political climate for the papacy's arrival. By August, however, John deemed the safety of
1500-530: The day before his death, agreeing that those who die in grace do indeed immediately enjoy the beatific vision. The thought of witchcraft seemed to be in its early stages, while Kors states John XXII had a personal reason for setting out to stop witchcraft. Kors points to the fact that Pope John had been the victim of an assassination attempt via poisoning and sorcery. As such, Pope John's involvement with witchcraft suppression can be officially traced to his 1326 papal bull Super illius specula in which he laid out
1550-535: The death of archbishop Matthias von Buchegg to gain an ecclesiastical and political edge, appointed Heinrich von Virneburg as Archbishop of Mainz to assist in the struggle against the Emperor. Following Louis's coronation of Nicholas V, Franciscan Minister General Michael Cesena, Bonagrazia Bergamo, and William of Ockham all fled Avignon. In 1330, Antipope Nicholas V submitted just before the Pope's death. John XXII
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1600-470: The last Celtic tribes to resist the Roman invasion. Cahors derives from Cadurcorum . However, romanization was rapid and profound: Cahors became a large Roman city, with many monuments whose remnants can be seen today. It has declined economically since the Middle Ages, and lost its university in the 18th century. Today it is a popular tourist centre with people coming to enjoy its medieval quarter and
1650-412: The mid-1230s by Matthew Paris . A stream of early French historiography, initiated in the 17th century by Du Cange and partly perpetuated in the 19th century by Maurice Prou among others, has portrayed the medieval Cahorsins as Italian merchants from Tuscany and/or Piedmont . This was, however, disproved in studies by Edmond Albe [ fr ] and Philippe Wolff in the second quarter of
1700-499: The papal bull Sol oriens . In 1318, he sent a letter of thanks to the Muslim ruler Uzbeg Khan , who was tolerant of Christians and treated them kindly. John has traditionally been credited with having composed the prayer " Anima Christi ", which has become the English "Soul of Christ, sanctify me ...". On 27 March 1329, John condemned many writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical in his papal bull In Agro Dominico . He allowed
1750-522: The replacement of Edward II as sovereign lord of Ireland, stating that successive kings of England had not respected the papal grant of Ireland to Henry II of England. John's letter to Edward implied that a second papal evaluation of the lordship of Ireland was not out of the question. By November 1317, Guillelmo de Tocco, Prior of the Benevento Dominican monastery, was heading a preliminary investigation into Thomas Aquinas ' sainthood. In
1800-622: The summer of 1318, John met with de Tocco, who presented letters from the regal heads of Sicily imploring for a papal inquiry into the sainthood of Aquinas. De Tocco also presented John with notarized records of Aquinas's miracles and requests from princes and universities asking for Aquinas's canonization. John chose three cardinals, none of whom was a Dominican, to scrutinize the presented records. Finding no errors, they gave their recommendation to John. John then issued two letters, nominating as papal commissioners: Umberto, Archbishop of Naples; Angelo, Bishop of Viterbo; and Pandulpho de Sabbello, who
1850-630: The town is 64.72 square kilometres (24.99 square miles), with population density relatively high for France at 309 inhabitants per square kilometre (800/sq mi). The area around Cahors produces wine, primarily robust and tannic red wine. Wine from the Cahors appellation must be made from at least 70% Malbec (also called Cot, Auxerrois and Pressac) grape, with a maximum of 30% Merlot or Tannat grape varieties. The Cahors Blues Festival has taken place annually, in July, since 1982. From 1331 to 1751
1900-610: The votes from five of the seven electors, was crowned king of the Germans at Aachen , by the archbishop of Mainz, while Frederick received only two votes the day before. In response, in April 1317, John imposed a new concept, vacante imperio , granting the power to administer the empire to the pope, which was contained within the papal bull Si fratrum . By 1322, faced with a growing Ghibelline movement in northern Italy, John had instructed his papal legate, Bertrand du Poujet, to call for
1950-647: Was a greater virtue than chastity or poverty. On 26 March 1322, with the bull Quia nonnunquam , he removed the ban on discussion of Exiit qui seminat , and commissioned experts to examine the idea of poverty based on belief that Christ and the apostles owned nothing. The experts disagreed among themselves, but the majority condemned the idea on the grounds that it would deny the church's right to have possessions. The Franciscan chapter held in Perugia in June 1322 responded with two encyclicals stating that all judgments made by
2000-512: Was an excellent administrator and efficient at reorganizing the Catholic Church. He favored a regulation-heavy form of governance. John was known to have a temper, and involved himself in the politics and religious movements of many European countries in order to advance the interests of the papacy. He would routinely write to non-Catholic leaders asserting his authority over them. On 7 April 1317, John canonized Louis of Toulouse with
2050-607: Was appointed chancellor of Charles II, and it was due to his influence that the gladiatorial games in Naples were banned. On 18 March 1310, he was made Bishop of Avignon. He delivered legal opinions favorable to the suppression of the Templars , but he also defended Boniface VIII and the Bull Unam Sanctam . On 23 December 1312, Clement V made him Cardinal-Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina . The limits of papal power became
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2100-552: Was born in Cahors in 1244, the son of a shoemaker. In the 2007 Tour de France , Cahors was the start of stage 18. Cahors also in the 2022 Tour de France was the finish of stage 19. The town is situated 115 km (71 mi) north of Toulouse , on the RN20 / A20 , connecting the city, via Limoges to Paris and Orléans . The town's height above sea level is between 105 metres (344 feet) and 332 metres (1,089 feet). The area of
2150-419: Was buried in Avignon, at the cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms. John received an embassy, in December 1316, from Edward II of England concerning the empty bishoprics of Dublin and Cashel. Edward presented his preferred appointees and was adamant that John not promote any native Irishman to bishop or archbishop. John promoted William FitzJohn, bishop of Ossory to the bishopric of Cashel, while Alexander Bicknor,
2200-496: Was counselor to Bishop Louis of Toulouse . Following Louis's death in 1297, Jacques was installed as the temporary chancellor of the University of Avignon and by 1299 was canon of Puy. On the recommendation of Charles II of Naples he was made Bishop of Fréjus in 1300. Jacques was still bishop of Fréjus when in 1307, a knight named William d'Arcis and a priest named Bertrand Recordus attempted to kill him. Both were imprisoned and in 1309 were sentenced to death. In 1308, Jacques
2250-545: Was determined to suppress what he considered to be the excesses of the Spirituals, who contended eagerly for the view that Christ and his apostles had possessed absolutely nothing, citing in support of their view Pope Nicholas III 's bull Exiit qui seminat . On 7 October 1317, John XXII promulgated the bull Quorumdam exigit , clarifying the earlier bulls issued by Nicholas III and Clement V, Exiit qui seminat and Exivi de paradiso , and stating unequivocally that obedience
2300-573: Was fixed and irrevocable, John XXII issued the bull Quia quorundam on 10 November 1324, in which he declared that it cannot be inferred from the words of the 1279 bull that Christ and the apostles had nothing, adding: "Indeed, it can be inferred rather that the Gospel life lived by Christ and the Apostles did not exclude some possessions in common, since living 'without property' does not require that those living thus should have nothing in common." With
2350-545: Was from Villandraut in Gascony . Giovanni Boccaccio later echoed Dante's disparaging references to Cahorsins in commentary of his own. References to usurers as Cahorsins were widespread in late medieval Germany, where their name was spelled Kawertschen . As late as the mid-17th century, they were still lambasted as "worse than Jews" by a legal scholar in Bordeaux , echoing similarly stereotypical language formulated in
2400-535: Was occasionally used in the past but not in recent historical literature. In the modern period, possibly because of the negative connotations associated with the Cahorsins' lending practices, people from Cahors have been instead referred to as Cadurciens . Cahors lies on the land road between Montpellier on the Mediterranean Sea and La Rochelle on the Atlantic Ocean , and the emergence of
2450-541: Was the official ruling for the church, Pope John's first order dealing with magic being tried by the Inquisition was in a letter written in 1320 by Cardinal William of Santa Sabina. The letter was addressed to the Inquisitors of Carcassonne and Toulouse. In the letter Cardinal William states that with the authority of Pope John the Inquisitors there were to investigate witches by "whatever means available" as if witches were any other heretic. The letter went on to describe
2500-620: Was unable to attend. De Tocco gathered two of the three papal commissioners in the Archbishop's palace in Naples and the inquiry lasted from 21 July to 18 September 1319. On the final day, the documentation of the inquiry was signed, sealed and sent to the Papal Curia at Avignon. Upon receiving the documents, John turned them over to a cardinal committee. On 23 June 1321, John created a new commission consisting of Peter Ferri, Bishop of Agnani, Andrew, Bishop of Terracina, and Pandulpho de Sabbello. This inquiry lasted fifteen days, during which
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