My first ‘meeting’ with Pope Clement V took place about thirty years ago, when as a young student I was studying the arrest of the Templars. My initial impression was that of a greedy, immoral pope, who fell easy prey to the endless ambition of Philip the Fair. As years went by and the excitement of my undergraduate years led to more meticulous research, I discovered that, notwithstanding the many studies on Clement V, uncertainty and ambiguity about his pontificate were still great and much work remained to be done. The present study was undertaken to meet the need for a reconsideration of prevailing premises in order to draw a more coherent picture of the pope and his pontificate.

The final version of this book was written during a sabbatical leave at Clare Hall, Cambridge. I would like to thank the College authorities for their kind hospitality, Gillian Beer, the president, in particular. Special thanks are also due to my colleagues, who invested precious time to improve and clarify obscure passages in the manuscript: Malcolm Barber, for his careful reading of the whole manuscript and for sharing with me his knowledge of ‘our Templars’; Norman Housley and Tony Luttrell, for clarifying complex issues regarding the crusade and papal policy in Italy; Miri Rubin, for her constant support and providing an example of boundless energy; and Patrick Zutshi, whose wide knowledge of the Avignon papacy and whose careful use of terms served me as a guide. To all of them my deepest gratitude.