The history of papal rule in Rome dates back to the 8th century, but only at the end of the 14th–15th centuries did the power of the popes acquire extraordinary significance. Forced to leave Rome in 1307 and settle in France, in Avignon, for more than three-quarters of a century, the popes returned to the Eternal City only in 1378. Their reign marked the beginning of a real restoration policy: Rome became the true capital of the scientific world, the center of literature, philosophy and the fine arts. The French historian Jacques Hers unfolds before the reader a broad and objective picture of the life of the papal court, fascinatingly talking about the subtle political game and the struggle for power, about endless intrigues and dynastic marriages, about magnificent festivities and the titanic work of great architects and artists, in a word, about everything that what is commonly called everyday life.