Pierre Roger de Beaufort, Pope Gregory XI

Pierre Roger de Beaufort (c. 1329–1378), born at Maumont in the Limousin, was the nephew of Pope Clement VI, who made him a cardinal in 1348 at about eighteen. He studied at Perugia and became a skilled canonist.

Elected pope at Avignon on 30 December 1370, he took the name Gregory XI and was the seventh and last Avignon pope. He waged the War of the Eight Saints against Florence, placing the city under interdict in March 1376.

Catherine of Siena came to Avignon to urge his return, and on 17 January 1377 he entered Rome, ending nearly seventy years of papal residence at Avignon. He died on 27 March 1378. Urban VI was elected to succeed him and a rival pope emerged at Avignon, beginning the Western Schism, not fully healed until the Council of Constance.