His strife sprang from the new position of the Papacy.
The removal of the Popes to Avignon which followed on the quarrel of Boniface the Eighth with Philip le Bel and the subjection to the French court which resulted from it affected the whole state of European politics.
In the ever-recurring contest between the Papacy and the Empire France had of old been the lieutenant of the Roman See.

But with the settlement at Avignon the relation changed, and the Pope became the lieutenant of France.
Instead of the Papacy using the French kings in its war of ideas against the Empire the French kings used the Papacy as an instrument in their political rivalry with the Emperors.

But if the position of the Pope drew Lewis to the side of England, it had much to do with drawing Edward to the side of Lewis.

It was this that made the alliance, fruitless as it proved in a military sense, so memorable in its religious results.

Hitherto England had been mainly on the side of the Popes in their strife against the Emperors.