He died on December 4, 1334, bowed with age and saddened by the failure of his work. A more complete study of his letters than has yet been made may in some measure enlarge our knowledge of his properly Pontifical action, but there can be little doubt that money and politics chiefly engrossed his attention. The chief interest of his Pontificate is the light it throws on the preparation for the Reformation. John's fiscal policy, however much open to censure, was unselfish; but he opened to his even less religious successors the road to disaster.
[Footnote 255: For the letters see _Lettres de Jean XXII._ (2 vols., 1908 and 1912), edited by Arnold Fayen: a selection of 3653 letters, generally business notes of little importance. Various short lives of John are given in Baluze's _Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium_, vol. ii., and there are censorious allusions to him in G. Villani's _Historie Florentine_: a contemporary but biassed work. Bertrandy's _Recherches sur l'origine, l'élection, et le couronnement de Jean XXII._ (1854) is valuable for his early years, as well as Dr. J. Asal's _Die Wahl Johann's XXII._ (1910). V. Verlaque's _Jean XXII._ (1883), is foolishly partisan, and declares John "one of the greatest successors of St. Peter." Sectional studies will be noticed in the course of the chapter.]
[Footnote 257: The gold florin is estimated at about ten shillings of English money.]
[Footnote 258: _Die Einnahmen der Apostolischer Kammer unter Johann XXII._ (1910), by Dr. Emil Göller, and _Die Ausgaben der Apostolischer Kammer unter Johann XXII._ (1911), by K.H. Shäfer.]
[Footnote 259: See, especially, the book of his letters "Sine titulo," most of which contain appalling invectives on the Popes and cardinals and clergy. _Epistola_ xviii, is a classical picture of vice, even among the elderly clergy. Its chief defect is to associate the name of tolerably respectable Babylon with such a picture.]
[Footnote 260: See a full (and conservative) analysis of the evidence in E. Abbe's _Hugues Géraud_ (1904). I am entirely ignoring the gossipy chroniclers of the time, whom Milman too frequently follows.]
[Footnote 261: _Ep._ xvii. of the book "Sine titulo."]
[Footnote 262: See Michel, "Le Procès de Matteo et de Galeazzo Visconti," in _Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire_, xxix. (1909), and H. Otto, "Zur Italienischen Politik Johanns XXII.," in _Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken_, Bd. xix. (1911).]