ABSTRACT
From the perspective of the military orders, the pontificate of Clement V suggests a turning point in their traditional alliance with the papacy. From the beginning of the pontificate up to the end of 1312, when papal crusading projects were closely connected with the Order of St John, the Hospitallers became the pope's close partners and, as such, achieved a vantage point in the Curia. Clement made maximal effort to secure the free passage of the Hospitallers eastwards, a rather difficult objective, given the fractured nature of Christendom. In 1314 Clement recompensed Peter of Pleine Chassagne with his nomination to patriarch of Jerusalem, a clear testimony of the pope's high appraisal of the Hospitaller crusade. In November 1311, the Hospitallers seized a Genoese ship coming out of Alexandria with a cargo of spices and refused to release it without papal authorization. In the aftermath of the Council ofVienne, however, papal correspondence shows a clear decline in support for the Hospital.
