Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/634

* NICHOLAS. 540 NICHOLAS I. for two days in the Castle of Sant' Angelo, iiiiti!. terrilied by a siukleii illness and by some fatali- ties which befell his followers, he drew oft' his forces and made peace. Nicholas brought the new Slavonic Church, just growing up through the preaching of Cyril and Methodius (q.v. ), under the control of the Papacy. Altogether he was one of the most vigorous of the early popes, one who laid the foundations upon which Gregory Vll. could build: an im|)r(ssive figure, who may stand with Charlemagne to close the centuries of formation and preparation, and open the Middle Ages. Consult: Leroy, Saint yicholas I. (Paris, 1808; Eng. trans., London, 1901) ; Hergenruther, Plioliiis, Patriarch roti Coiintaiitinopcl (Kegens- burg, 1867 ) ; Liimmer, Papst Xikolaus I. und die hyzuntinischc iilaalsLirche seiner Zeit (Berlin, 1857); Sehriirs, Uincmar, Erzbischof von Reims (Freiburg, 1SS4). Nicholas II.. Pope 1059-01, Gerhard by name, a Burgundian by birth. He was a canon of Li&ge, and in 104G became Bishop of Florence. When, on the death of Stephen X. in 1058, the so-called Tusculan faction of the Roman nobility chose the Bishop of ^'elletri Pope under the name of Benedict X.. Hildebrand induced an assembly at Siena in December to elect Gerhard. The Empress Agnes espoused his cause, and he entered Rome in .January. Hildebrand became archdeacon of the Roman Church in the latter part of the same year (1059). and was the soul of the entire Pontificate of Nicholas. (See Greg- ory VII.) Under his inlluence and that of Peter Damiani stringent measures were enforced against simony and concubinage; the Papal election was also definitely restricted to the college of car- dinals, and the whole tendency of Nicholas's ad- ministration was to free the Church from the invasion of external inlluences. He died in Flor- ence, .July 19, lOCil, and was buried in his former cathedral. NicnoL.s ni.. Pope 1277-80, Giovanni Gac- tano dcgli Orsini. lie was made cardinal by Innocent IV. in 1244, and employed by several popes ill important diplomatic missions. On the death of .John XXI.. he was elected at Viterbo after a prolonged ilivision in the conclave, which was only terniin;ited by the citizens locking the cardinals up in the town hall. He had already acted as mediator 1. 'tween Charles of Anjnu and Rudolf of Ilajisburg. and now employed his in- fluence with them to strengthen materially the temporal power of the Church in Italy. He is described as a man of strict morals and consid- erable learning, though the reproach of nepotism is brought against him. Nlcnoi..s IV.. Pope 1288-92, Geronimo by name. He entered the Franciscan Order at an early age. and in 1272 was sent to Constanti- nople to invite the Greeks to the Council of Lyons. Two years later, on the death of Saint Bonaventura, he was elected general of his Order. Nicholas III. maik' him a cardinal, and Martin IV. Bishop of Palestrina. After nearly a ■year's interregnum he was chosen to succeed honorius IV.. and was the first Franciscan Pope. In his time Acre, the last stronghold of the Christians in the East, fell intrt the hands of the Moslems; and he made vigorous attempts to stir up Christendom to renewed efforts against them, also making strenuous endeavors to convert the Tatars. N1CI101.A.S v.. Pope 1447-5.T, Tommaso Paren- tucelli. Born probably at Sarzana, near Pisa, in 1397, he was educated at Bologna and Florence. In 1420 he came to Rome and was employed iu the ecclesiastical service. In 1444 he was made Bishop of Bologna and cardinal two years after- wards in recognition of his skill in conducting dillicult negotiations in tlermany. On succeed- ing three months later to the Papal throne, he ad- dressed himself first to the settlement of the troubles growing out of the Council of Basel, and ])revailed upon the Antipope Feli.x V. to resign his claims, thus securing universal recognition in 1449 and restoring peace to the Church. In 1452 he crowned Frederick III. as Emperor — the last Imperial coronation to take place in Rome. He sought to stir up Christendom to oppose the ad- vance of the Turks. He reproached the Greeks with their dilatory postponement of the agree- ments made at the Council of Florence, and upon the Greek Emperor finally accepting his condi- tions, sent Cardinal Isidore to Constantinople with troops and money. The submission of the Greeks was, however, only feigned ; and on May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell into the hands of the Mohammedans. In the icvival of classical learning which preceded and followed that event X'icholas was actively concerned. He dis])atched agents in all directions, east and west, to purchase or to copy every important Greek and Latin manuscript. The number collected by him was about 5000. He remodeled and may almost be said to have founded the Vatican li- brary. He caused translations to be made of the Greek classics, both sacred and profane. He in- vited to Rome the most eminent scholars of the world, and extended his special patronage to the Greeks who were driven from Constantinople; in short, he did ail in his power to make Rome the centre of the world, both in art and letters. — The name of Nicholas V. was also assumed by the Antipope set up by Louis of Bavaria against Pope John XXII. in 1328, the Franciscan Pietro Kainalducci di Corbara. who finally made his submission and died at Rome in 133.1. NICHOLAS I. (1844—). Prince of Mon- tenegru. He was educated in Cetinje, Triest, and Paris, returning to Cetinje when about twenty years old. His uncle. Prince Danilo, was assassinated in August, 1800. and-Nichohis was inunediately proclaimed Prince. In the .same year he married Jlilona. davighter of Peter Val- setitch, president of the Council of State. Danilo .lexander, his eldest son. was born June 29, 1871. Helena, one of his six daughters, became the wife of the Prince of Naples, now Victor Enunanuel III. of Italy. He has introduced many reforms in educjition. the civil administra- tions, an<l the army. The ])erio(l of Nicholas's reign has been one of much moTuent for Monte- negro, which obtaineil from the European Powers recognition of its independence in the treaty of Berlin (1878). He has shown himself on the whole a capable ruler, using for the good of his people the almost absolute power he holds. See JIoN-TKNKCRO. NICHOLAS I., PAVI,o^TC^ (1796-18.5.'5). Emperor of Russia from 1825 to 1855. He was the third son of Paul I., and was born at Saint Peters- burg July 6 (old style .Tune 25). 1790. His early education was under the direction of his mother. a princess of Wiirttemberg. His later studies were principally in the fields of economics and military science, but he evinced no especial abil-