page_title: Pierre Desprès
section_title: Conclave of 1352
hierarchical_section_title: Pierre Desprès / Biography / Conclave of 1352
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Clocher de l'église Saint Pierre à Avignon, Vaucluse
context_page_description: Pierre Desprès was a French Cardinal during the period of Avignon Papacy. He was son of Raymond II Desprès, seigneur of Montpezat, and Aspasie de Montaigut, the heiress of Bertrand, seigneur de Montaigut. He had a brother, Raymond, who was ennobled in 1325. Pesserat points out that Montpezat was an important town, being the seat of the Archdeacon of Montpezat in the diocese of Cahors, who was also Sacristan of the Cathedral. Not at all coincidentally, Pope John XXII was a native of Cahors, and his father had been Sieur de Saint-Félix en Quercy. With his expertise in the law as a teacher and practitioner, and with his experience as a judge in the Roman Curia, Pierre Desprès was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Church by John XXII, where he served from 1325 to 1361. He was thus head of the Papal Secretariat, in charge of the drafting of papal bulls and letters, and a principal papal advisor. The post was also one of the most lucrative in the Roman Curia, since a fee was charged for every document and the Vice-Chancellor received a share of every fee.
context_section_description: Pope Clement VI died in the Apostolic Palace in Avignon on 6 December 1352.  Cardinal Pierre Desprès, Bishop of Palestrina and Dean of the College of Cardinals,  presided over  the Conclave of 1352. Despite the fact that he was Vice-Chancellor of the Church, the evidence does not indicate that he was a major force in the discussions, or that he had much time to become an influence. The leaders of the two major factions were Cardinal Guy de Boulogne and Cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, each of whom controlled sufficient votes to deny members of the other party the canonically necessary two-thirds of the votes for a successful election. There was plenty to fight about.  The cardinals eventually drew up a set of Electoral Capitulations, which are enumerated by the new Pope, Innocent VI, in the bull by which he annulled them.  The Conclave opened on Sunday, 16 December, and came to a successful conclusion on Tuesday, 18 December, with the election of Cardinal Étienne Aubert (Stephanus Alberti).  The swiftness of the election is attributed to the fact that it was known by the cardinals that King John II of France was on his way to Avignon, intending to have a pope who would serve his interests.  Wanting to preserve the liberty of the Church and their own, the Cardinals put aside their customary leisurely pace and produced a Pope before the King's arrival.
  In 1355, Cardinal Pierre Desprès was assigned as arbitrator between Andruin, Abbot of Cluny and Philip Abbot of Sancti Sequani (Saint-Seine) in the diocese of Mâcon, in a dispute that reached back to the time of Pope Boniface VIII.  On 25 September 1355 Pope Innocent VI issued a bull, confirming the decision of Cardinal Desprès, requiring the payment of 50 gold florins to Cluny every year on All Saints' Day.
  In 1358, Cardinal Desprès rebuilt the Church of Saint-Pierre in Avignon, which had last been repaired in the tenth century and had fallen into ruins.  He established it as a Collegiate Church with Canons.
caption: Saint-Pierre, Avignon
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