Council of Vienne

synod

Key facts

Date: 1311–1312
Accepted by: Catholic Church
Previous council: Second Council of Lyon
Next council: Council of Constance
Convoked by: Pope Clement V
President: Pope Clement V
Attendance: 20 cardinals, 122 bishops, and 38 abbots (several more were barred by King Philip IV of France )
Topics: Knights Templar
Documents and statements: Disbandment of Knights Templar, King Philip absolved of actions against Pope Boniface VIII , crusade declared (but never carried out)

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Image: Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance (1870) (14781914891).jpg

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Article

The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne, France. This occurred during the Avignon Papacy and was the only ecumenical council to be held in the Kingdom of France (the previous two had been held in Lyon, which was under the Kingdom of Burgundy). One of its principal acts was to withdraw papal support for the Knights Templar at the instigation of Philip IV of France. The Council, unable to decide on a course of action, tabled the discussion. In March 1312 Philip arrived and pressured the Council and Clement to act. Pope Clement V passed papal bulls dissolving the Templar Order, confiscating their lands, and labeling them heretics.

Church reform was represented by the decision concerning the Franciscans, allowing abbots to decide how to interpret their Rule. The Beguines and Beghards of Germany were condemned as heretics, while the council forbade marriage for clerics, concubinage, rape, fornication, adultery, and incest.