Of Kings and Taxes: Behind the Arrest of Pope Boniface in 1303

Of Kings and Taxes: Behind the Arrest of Pope Boniface in 1303
Depiction of the arrest of Pope Boniface VIII at Anagni, near Rome, in 1303. Public Domain
Gerry Bowler
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Commentary

On Sept. 7, 1303, a French military force which had crossed into Italy seized the pope at his summer palace at Anagni, south of Rome. The soldiers dragged him from his throne, beat him, and threw him in a jail cell, intending to take him back to France for trial. What had prompted such an extraordinary turn of events?

Gerry Bowler
Gerry Bowler
Author
Gerry Bowler is a Canadian historian and a senior fellow of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.