Pope Innocent VI

Étienne Aubert, born in 1282 in the Diocese of Limoges, taught civil law before climbing through church offices to Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri under Clement VI. Elected pope on 30 December 1352, he immediately revoked an agreement that would have placed the college of cardinals above him and set about reforming church administration. He dispatched Cardinal Albornoz as legate to restore order in Rome while he remained in Avignon, and brokered the 1360 Treaty of Brétigny between France and England. Wars in Italy and the aftermath of plague drained papal finances, forcing him to cut chapel staff and sell art from the collection. Considered just and merciful by most - though St. Bridget of Sweden condemned his persecution of the Fraticelli - he died on 12 September 1362 and was buried at the Chartreuse du Val de Bénédiction in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.