In his role as inquisitor, Jacques Fournier has long interested historians. Yet strangely, in his later role as pope under the name Benedict XII, he has attracted far less attention than the other Avignon popes. Benedict is most often credited with settling the dispute over the Beatific Vision at its height in the early years of his pontificate, and for standing up against the most glaring forms of nepotism which were rightly associated with both Clement V (1305–1314) and John XXII (1316–1334). On the other hand, his local directives, although far from being simple anecdotes in the papacy’s institutional history, are nearly always left aside.

In this regard, Clement V is always cited concerning the choice of Avignon as a papal seat. This precarious installation, however, was only decided four years into his pontificate with the specific goal of preparing for the Council of Vienne (1311). Was this really more important for the papal institution than Benedict's decision to make the palace at Avignon officially the new seat of the papacy in 1336? In the same vein, the palace, as we know it today, is most often and primarily associated with his successor, Clement VI (1342–1352), who ensured the financing and supervision of the entire southern half of the palace where the grandest rooms and most remarkable iconographical programmes are located.