Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/82

 NICHOLAS

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NICHOLAS

to hold his lands ns the pope's vassal, and to protect. the Roman Soo, its possessions, and the freedom of papal elections. A similar agreement was coiicIiKlcd with Prince Hicliard of Capiia. After holding a synod at Benevento Nicholas returned to Rome with a Nor- man army which reconquered Pra-neste, 'I'usculum, and Xumentamim for the Holy See and forced Bene- dict X to capitulate at Galcria (autumn of 1059). Hildebrand, tlie soul of the pontificate, was now created archdeacon. In order to secure the general acceptance of the laws enacted at the synod of 1059, Cardinal Stephen, in tlie latter part of that year, was Bent to l'"r;ince where lie presidetl over the synods of Vienne (.'U .lanuary, KMiOj and Tours (17 February, 1060). The decree wliiih introduced a new method of papal election had caus<-d great dissatisfaction in Ger- many, because it reduceil the imperial right of confirma- tion to the precarious condition of a personal privilege granted at will; but, assured of Norman protection, Nicholas could fearlessly renew the decree at the Latcran synod held in 1060. After this council Car- dinal Stephen, who had accomplished his mission to France, appeared as papal legate in Germany. For five days he vainly solicited an audience at court and then returned to Rome. His fruitless mission was followed bj' a German sjTiod which annulled all the ordinances of Nicholas II and pronounced his deposi- tion. The pope's answer was a repetition of the de- cree concerning elections at the synod of 1061, at which the condemnation of simony and concubinage among the clergy was likewise renewed. He lies buried in the church of St. Reparata at Florence of which city he had remained bishop even aftir Iiis ele- vation to the papal throne. His pontifie;ite, tlmuuh of short duration, was marked by events fraught with momentous and far-reaching consequences.

Jaff:6, Regesta Pontif. Roman., I (2nd ed., Leipzig, 18S5), 557- 66; Diplovmta, Epistola, Decreta in P. L., CXLIII, 1301-66; Clavel. Le Pape Nicolas II (Lvons, 1906) ; Delarc, Le Ponti- fical de Nicolas II in Rev. des Quesl. Hist., XL (18S6), 341-402; WUKM, Die Papslwahl (Cologne, 1902), 24-8; Hefele, Concilien- geschichte, IV (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1879), 798-850; Mann, Lines of the Popes. VI (St. Louia, 1910), 226-60; Funk, tr. Cappa- DELTA, Church History, I (St. Louis, 1910), 263-4. 274. For bibli- ography of the election decree, see Hergenrother-Kirsch, Kirchcngeschichte, II (Freiburg, 1904), 342-4.

N. A. Webeh.

Nicholas III, Pope (Giovanni Gaetani Orsini), b. at Rome, c. 1216; elected at Viterbo, 25 November, 1277; d. at Soriano, near Viterbo, 22 August, 12S0. His father, Matteo Rosso, was of the illustrious Ro- man family of the Orsini, while his mother, Perna Gaetana, belonged to the noble house of the Gaetani. As senator Matteo Rosso had defended Rome against Frederick II and saved it to the papacy. He was a friend of St. P>ancis of Assisi and belonged to his third order, facts not without influ- ence on the son, for both as cardinal and pope the latter was ever kindly disposed towards the Franciscans. Arms of We have no knowledge of his edu-

NicHoi.As III cation and early life. Innocent IV, grateful for the services rendered to the Holy See by his father, created the young Orsini (28 May, 1244) car- dinal-deacon with the title of St. Nicholas in Carcere TuUiano, and gave him benefices at York, Laon, and Soissons. Probably at an earlier date the adminis- tration of the Roman churches of San Lorenzo in Damaso and of San Cri.sogono had been entrusted to him. One of five cardinals, he accompanied Innocent IV in his flight from Civil ;\ Vecchia to Genoa and thence to Lyons (29 .lurie, 12 U). In 1252 he was dis- patched on an unsuccessful mission of peace to the warring Guelphs ;ind ( Ihibellincs of Florence. In 1258 Louis IX i)ai<l an elo(|ucnt tribute to his independence and impartiality by suggesting his selection as equally acceptable to England and to France for the solemn

ratification of the peace concluded between the two countries. His integrity was likewise above reproach, for he never accepted gifts for his services. So great was his influence in the Sacred College that the elec- tion of Urban IV (1201) was mainly due to his inter- vention. Urban named him general inquisitor (1262) and protector of the Franciscans (1263). Under Clement IV (1265-68) he was a member of the delega- tion of four cardinals who invested Charles of Anjou with the Kingdom of Naples (28 June, 1265). Later he played a prominent part at the elections of Gregory X, who received the tiara at his hands, and of John XXI, whose counsellor he became and who named him archpriest of St. Peter's. After a vacancy of six months he succeeded John as Nicholas III.

True to his origin he endeavoured to free Rome from all foreign influence. His policy aimed not only at the exclusion of the ever-troublesome imperial au- thority, but also sought to check the growing influence of Charles of Anjou in central Italy. At his request Rudolf of Habsburg renounced (1278) all rights to the possession of the Romagna, a renunciation subse- quently approved by the imperial princes. Nicholas took possession of the province through his nephew, Latino, whom he had shortly before (12 March, 1278) raised to the cardinalate. He created Berthold, an- other nephew. Count of the Romagna, and on other occasions remembered his relatives in the distribution of honourable and lucrative places. He compelled Charles of Anjou in 1278 to resign the regency of Tus- cany and the dignity of Roman Senator. To insure the freedom of papal elections, he ordained in a con- st it utimi of 18 July, 1278, that thenceforward the seiKiliiiial power and all municipal offices were to be rcser\ed to Roman citizens to the exclusion of emperor, king, or other potentate. In furtherance of more har- monious relations with the Byzantine court., the pope also aimed at restricting the power of the King of Naples in the East. To his efforts was due the agreement concluded in 1280 between Rudolf of Habsburg and Charles of Anjou, by which the latter accepted Pro- vence and Forcalquier as imperial fiefs and secured the betrothal of his grandson to dementia, one of Ru- dolf's daughters. The much-discussed plan of a new division of the empire into four parts is not sufliciently attested to be attributed with certainty to Nicholas. In this partition Cierinany, as hereditary monarchy, was to fall to Rudolf, the Ivingdom of Aries was to devolve on his son-in-law, Charles Martel of Anjou, while the Kingdoms of Lombardy and Tuscany were to be founded in Italy and bestowed on relatives of the pope. Nicholas's efforts for the promotion of peace between France and Castile remained fruitless. Un- able to carry out his desire of personally appearing in Hungary, where internal dissensions and the devasta- tions of the Cumani endangered the very existence of Christianity, he named, in the fall of 1278, Bishop Philip of Fermo his legate to that country. A synod, held at Buda in 1279 under the presidency of the papal envoy, could not complete its deliberations owing to the violent interference of the people. King Ladis- laus IV, instigator of the trouble, was threatened in a papal letter with spiritual and temporal penalties if he failed to reform his ways. The king temporarily heeded this solemn admonition, and at a later date suppressed the raids of the Cumani. The appoint- ments of worthy incumbents to the Archbishoprics of Gran and Kalocsa-Bacs made under this pontificate further helped to strengthen the cause of Christianity.

The task of Nicholas III in his dealings with the Eastern Church was the practical realization of the union accepted by the Greeks at the Second Council of Lyons (1274), for political reasons rather than out of dogmatic persuasion. The instructions to the legates whom he sent to Constantinople contained, among other conditions, the renewal by the emperor of the oath sworn to by his representatives at Lyons. The