A V I 



fixed his everlaftiiip throne. Since the removal of the holy 

 fee, the facred buildings of the Lateran and the Vatican, 

 their altars and their faints, were left in a ftate of poverty 

 and decay ; and Rome was often painted under the image 

 of a difconfulate matron. But it was alleged, that the cloud 

 which hung over the fevcn hills, would be dilpelled by the 

 prefence of their lawful fovcreign j eternal fame, the profpe- 

 rity of Rome, and the peace of Italy, would be the recom- 

 pence of the pope who Uiould dare to embrace this generous 

 refolution. Of the five popes to whom Petrarch addrelTed 

 his exhortations, the three firll, John XXII., Benedid XII., 

 and Clement VI., were importuned or amufed by the bold- 

 ncfs of the orator ; but the memorable change, which had 

 been attempted by Urban V., between the years 1367 and 

 1370, was finally accomphflicd by Gregory XI. A.D. 

 1377, who did not furvivc his return to the Vatican above 

 fourteen months. His deceafe wr.s followed by the " Great 

 weilern fchifm," which began after the deceafe of Gregory 

 XI., A. D. I C<^» ^y ^^^ election of Clement VII. in oppo- 

 fition to Urbaii VI., and continued for about forty years, 

 till the council of Conftance, A.D; 1414 — 1418, when the 

 elevation of Martin V. was the sera of the reftoration and 

 eftabhfliment of the popes in the Vatican. During this in. 

 terval, there were two popes, one refiding at Rome or in 

 Italy, and the other at Avignon. SccSchisk. 



This city is about three miles and two furlongs in cir- 

 cumference', and is in general irregular and badly built; but it 

 is furrounded by walls and turrets with battlements, not unlike 

 thofe of Rome, and its public edifices are large and grand, 

 accordinor to the tafte of the fourteenth centurj'. The 

 church of Notre Dame is ancient, and is one of the bell 

 adonied in the city; the archiepifcopal palace overlooks the 

 Rhone, the city, and the fields. Thefe buildings, together 

 with the mint, adorn a large fquare, which is the common 

 walk of the inhabitants. The church of the Coelellines is 

 y£ry magnificent, and is full of fine monuments. The uni- 

 vcrfity has four colleges; the place in which the Jews have 

 been accuilomed to live is a dillinft quarter; and thofe who 

 pay tribute are forbidden to leave it without yellow hats, 

 and the women alio wear fomething yellow about their 

 heads; and they are thus dillinguiilied from the Chrilliaii3. 

 Their number is confiderable, though the diftridl of their re- 

 fidence is verj' confined. Near the Rhone is a large rock, 

 within the circuit of the walls, upon which is a platform, 

 whence the whole city and the places about it may be fcen. 

 The bridge, about a quarter of a mile in length, that crofTcd 

 the Rhone, was demolilhcd by an inundation in 1699. The 

 fountain of Vauclufe, which is the fource of the river Sor- 

 gucs that waters the city, and whither Petrarch often re- 

 tired to indulge his grief and hopelefs love, is fituated in a 

 winding valley, forming the figure of a horfe-fhoe, about 

 live miles from Avignon. The fountain is a bafon of water, 

 fevcral hundred feet in circumference, very deep, and clear 

 as cryftal, but overfhaded by an incumbent rock. The 

 water difcharged from this fountain, by a narrow pafTage, 

 forms a cafcade, which is precipitated along a rocky chan- 

 nel. The rocks, which inveft this romantic fpot, are worn 

 by time and the inckinency of the weather, into a thoufand 

 fantallic formj. And on one of the pointed extremities, in 

 a fiiuation almoll inacceflible, are feen the remains of an 

 ancient caille, projecting over the water, called by tht pea- 

 fants " 11 Caltello di Petrarca;" and they add, that Laura 

 lived upon the oppofite fide of the river, under the bed of 

 which was a fubterraneous pafiage, by which the two lovers 

 vifited each other. The refidence of the poet was much 

 lower down, and nearer to the banks of the Sorgucs, as 

 appears from his account of it, and from his relation of his 



A VI 



contcfts with the naiads of the ftream, who daring winter 

 encroached on his fmall adjoining territory: but no remains 

 of it are now to be difcovei-ed. Below the bridge is an 

 ifland, where the oorgucs joins the Rhone, in which are 

 feveral houfes of pleafure. The inhabitants of Avignon 

 were eftimatcd before the revolution at 30,000, I coo of 

 thefe being ccckfiaftics,' and fome hundreds Jews. N. lat. 

 43' 56' 55". E. long. 4° 48' 10". 



AviGNON-Av-;y, called alfo Frauh-lerry, in Botany, is 

 the fruit of a (hrub, by fomc authors called lycium ; growing 

 plentifully near Avignon, and other parts of France. See 



J_,YCtUM. 



AVIGNONET, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Upper Garonne, and chief place of a 

 carton in the dil'.riftof Vilkfrp.nche, twenty miles fouth-eail 

 of Touloufe, and four miks fouth-eaft of Vilkfranche. 



AVILA, GiLLES Gonzales, in Biography, a Spanilh 

 ecckfiattic and hiilorian of the fevcnteenth century, was a 

 native of Avila, and acquired at Rome, where he ftudied, a 

 great knowledge of facred and civil hillory. On his return 

 to Spain, he had an ecckfiaftical benefice at Salamanca; and 

 in 1612, he removed to Madrid, and was appointed hiftorio- 

 grapher to the king. He died in 1658, at the age of So 

 years. His principal works, publifijed in Spanilh, were 

 " The Hiftory of the Antiquities of Salamarca," and 

 " The theatre of the Churches of the Indies, &c." Nbuv. 

 Diet. H ill. 



Avila, in Geography, a city of Spain, in Old Caftile, 

 feated on the river Adaja, on a large plain, furrounded with 

 mountains and plantations of fruit-trees and vineyards, and 

 having a manufacture of cloths, that are faid to be equal 

 to thofe of Segovia. It is fortified by nature and art, 

 having a wall 9075 feet in circuit, with twenty-fix lofty 

 towers, and ten handfome gates. It has feventeen prin- 

 cipal llreets, containing feveral good and ftately houfes; 

 nine fquares, 2000 houfes, nine pariflies, and as many mo- 

 nafteries, feven nunneries, two colleges, nine hofpitak, 

 eighteen chapels, and an annual allowance of io,oco ducats 

 for the maintenance of orphans and other poor people. 

 The univerfity was founded in 1445, confirmed by pope 

 Gregoi7XIII. in 1538, and afterwards enlarged; and its 

 cathedral has eight dignitaries, twenty canons, and the 

 fame number of minor canons. N. lat. 40° 35'. W.long. 



4' 13'- 



This city has been rendered famous by the depofi- 



tion of Henry IV. A.D. 1465. The indignation of 

 the Caflilian nobility againll the weak and flagitious admi- 

 niftration of this prince, led them to combine againft him-, 

 and to exercife the right, which they arrogated as one of tlie 

 privileges of their order, of trying and of pafling fentence 

 on their fovereign. For this purpofe they crefted a fpacious. 

 theatre in a place without the walls of the town, and having 

 prepared an image, clad in royal robes, reprefenting the 

 king, they placed it on a throne, with a crown on its head,, 

 a fceptre in its hand, and the fword of jiiftice by its fide. 

 The accufation againft the king was then read, and the 

 fentence of depofition was pronounced in prefence of a 

 numerous afiembly; and whilft the feveral charges were de- 

 livered, they proceeded to tear the crown from the head of 

 the image, to fnatch the fword of jullice from its fide, to 

 wreft the fceptre from its hand, and, at the clofe of the 

 whole, to tumble it headlong from the throne. V\"hen this 

 ceremony was finifhcd, Don Alfonfo, Henry's brother, was 

 proclaimed king of Caftile and Leon ir. his ftead. Robert- 

 fon's Hift. Ch. V. vol. i. p. 1 79. 



Avila, or Aviks, a town of Spain, in Afturia, near the 

 bay of Bifcay, nine leagues from Ovicdo. 



Avila, 



