66

The municipal authorities of Avignon maintained complex diplomatic relations with the papacy in the seventeenth century. Such relations were characterized by the obligation to swear an oath of fidelity to the Pope, the necessity to negotiate for the interests of the city, and by the desire to forge relations with the cardinal-nephew. The question of an ambassadorship, considered as a privilege, became the object of regular conflict between the urban gentry of Avignon (who monopolized the embassy), and the papal authorities who wished to control it more and more strictly. Preoccupied by the fear of not obtaining a permanent ambassadorship, the representatives of Avignon attempted to conduct different strategies to gain influence in the Papal court using protection networks in the college of cardinals and their mastery of diplomatic ceremonies.