NICHOLAS. 
56 
France, with the character of his legate; where heprefided 
in a council aflembled at Tours, with the defign of reform¬ 
ing the abufes which prevailed in the Gallican church, and 
were connived at by the bilhops in thofe parts. In the year 
1061, Nicholas held a council inthe Lateran palace, at which 
were prefent Aldred archbilhop of York, and Guifo and 
Walter, bilhops eleft of Wells and Hereford. Aldred 
had been tranflated from Worcefter to York, and he un¬ 
dertook the journey to Rome, that he might receive the 
pall at the pope’s hands, who however would not grant 
it, but upon the condition that Aldred fhould refign the 
fee of Worcefter, which he was defirous of retaining with 
his higher preferment. The two other bilhops accompa¬ 
nied him, that they might be ordained by the pope himfelf, 
who performed that ceremony in the prefence of the coun¬ 
cil. Soon after this council broke up, Nicholas went to 
Florence, where he died in the fame year, after a pontifi¬ 
cate of two years and between fix and feven months. Ac¬ 
cording to the teftimony of cardinal Damian, he was a 
man of learning, of a lively genius, and of great refolution 
in the purfuit of any undertaking on which he had deter¬ 
mined. He alfo fays that he waschafte beyond fufpicion, 
and that his generofity to the poor knew no bounds. 
There are nine of his “ Letters” ftill extant; one of which, 
direfted to Edward the ConfefTor, king of England, con¬ 
tains a confirmation of the privileges granted to the 
church of Weftminfter; and the reft chiefly relate to the 
ecclefiaftical affairs of France. 
NICHOLAS III. (Pope), whofe former name was John 
Cajetan, was a native of Rome, and a defcendant from a 
branch of the noble family of the Urfini. When he was 
raifed to the purple, he was made cardinal-deacon of St. 
Nicholas in Carcere Tulliano. Upon the death of pope 
John XXL at Viterbo in theyear 1277, the cardinals fliowed 
little difpofition to agree in the choice of a fuccefl'or; the 
Italians oppofing the election of a Frenchman, and the 
French of an Italian. It fhould be obferved, that the 
conftitution of Gregory X. concerning the conclave, 
(namely, that the cardinals fhould be fliut up till they had 
completed the eledi >n,) had been revoked by the late 
pope, and that the cardinals now contented themfelves 
with meeting only once a-day on this bufinefs, and then 
returned to their refpeftive habitations. When they had 
fpent two whole months without coming to any refolution, 
the magiftrates of Viterbo, thinking it unlikely that they 
would come to an agreement fo long as they enjoyed their 
liberty, placed them under confinement in the town- 
lioufe ; and even then a vacancy of more than fix months 
liadelapfed, before their choice was declared to have fallen 
on cardinal Cajetan. Soon after his eledion, which took 
place in November 1277, he repaired to Rome in order 
to be ordained, as he was only in deacon’s orders ; and 
upon his being crowned he took the name of Nicholas, 
from the faint who gave the title to his cnrdinalate. Be¬ 
fore his coronation he wrote to the emperor Rudolph, in 
order to prevent, if poflible, the war which threatened to 
break out between himand Charles kingofSieily. Charles 
had been appointed vicar of the empire in Tufcany, by 
pope Clement IV. during the difpute between the earl of 
Cornwall and the king of Caftile, refpeding the imperial 
dignity. As, however, Rudolph was now acknowledged 
by all king of the Romans, he maintained that the office 
of vicar of the empire had ceafed, and that all the power an¬ 
nexed to it devolved on him. This power Charles re- 
fufed to relinquiffi, and Rudolph was preparing to drive 
him from Tufcany by force of arms. The pope’s objed, 
therefore, was to perfuade Rudolph to fufpend his in¬ 
tended march into Italy, and to refer thefubjed in difpute 
to the judgment of the apoftolic fee. 
In theyear 1278, ambafladors arrived at Rome from the 
Greek emperor Michael Palgeologus and his fon Andro- 
nicus, to confirm the uryejh agreed upon at the council of 
Lyons between the Greek and Latin churches. Nicholas 
received them in the moft honourable manner; and they 
(wore to all the articles which were fubfcribed by the 
former ambafladors at the council above mentioned.. 
They had, indeed, made an effort to obtain the pope’s con¬ 
nivance at the Greeks omitting in the fymbol the words 
“ and from the Son ;” but in this defign they failed, and' 
the pope exprefsly commanded his nuncios, who accom¬ 
panied them on their return to Conftantinople, abfoluteljr 
to infill on the addition of that article to the Creed. In 
the fame year, Rudolph confirmed to the pope all the 
grants made, or which were pretended to have been made, 
by former emperors to the apoftolic fee; which thus be¬ 
came poflefled of the whole exarchate of Ravenna, and the 
province of Remandiola, afterwards called the Romagna. 
He alfo obtained the concurrence of all the electors of the 
empire to his diploma of confirmation. In return for this 
liberality, the pope obliged the king of Sicily to refign the 
vicariate of Tufcany, declaring that the office was annulled 
by the lawful eledion of Rudolph to the dignity of king 
of the Romans. 
By depriving Charles of his power in Tufcany, Nicholas, 
not only rendered an acceptable fervice to the emperor, 
but alfo gratified the hatred which he had conceived to 
the king of Sicily. One caufe of this hatred was the 
death of a Roman nobleman, who had married a niece of 
Nicholas while cardinal, whom Charles, as fenator of 
Rome, had caufed to be beheaded for taking the part of 
Conradin againft him, though moft of the Roman nobi¬ 
lity, and among the reft our cardinal himfelf, had inter¬ 
ceded for his life. Another caufe was, the king’s indig¬ 
nant and haughty rejection of a propofal made by the pon¬ 
tiff, foon after his promotion to the popedom, for a match 
between his nephew and a daughter of Charles. From 
this time he omitted no occafion that offered of fhowing 
his enmity to the king, and of joining the emperor againft 
him. He obliged Charles to refign the dignity of fenator 
of Rome, conferred upon him by pope Clement IV. and 
then iflued a bull, forbidding any emperor, king, prince, 
duke, marquis, count, or baron, as well as their children, 
brothers, or nephews, from being thenceforth elected to 
that office. The fame bull ordained, that the fenatorial 
dignity fhould not be conferred on any perfon for life, but 
only for one year; at the end of which another perfon 
fhould be chofen, unlefs the pontiff for the time being 
thought fit to continue the former in his dignity. But, 
notwithftanding this bull, Nicholas got the Romans to 
choofe himfelf fenator for life. So far was he carried by 
his hatred to king Charles, that, to his indelible difgrace, 
he became a party in projecting that barbarous and fliock- 
ingconfpiracy formed by John of Procida and Peter king 
of Arragon to drive Charles out of the ifland, which is 
known by the name of the Sicilian vcj'pers. (See the ar¬ 
ticle Natles, vol.xvi. p. 538.) But, before this confpi- 
racy was ripe for being carried into execution, Nicholas 
died at Suriano near Viterbo, in 1280, after a pontificate 
of two years and nearly nine months. His moral cha¬ 
racter is faid to have been unexceptionable ; and he is 
commended for his great generofity to the poor, his libe¬ 
rality in building and repairing churches, his encourage¬ 
ment of learning and learned men, and the ftriClnefs with 
which he caufed the canons of the church to be obferved 
in all places immediately fubjeCt to his fee. But, with all 
his commendable qualities, he carried the practice of ne- 
potifm to an extravagant excefs, bellowing all the bell and 
moll lucrative employments upon his relations, and mak¬ 
ing it his bufinefs to raife and enrich them. He granted 
many privileges to the religious orders, particularly to the 
Francifcans ; and, in the year 1279, publilhed that fa¬ 
mous bull vulgarly called the Conftitution exiit, from the 
firft word in it, which confirmed the rule of St. Francis, 
and contained an accurate and elaborate explication of 
the maxims it recommended and the duties it prefcribed. 
By this ediCl, the pontiff renewed that part of the rule 
which prohibited all kinds of property among the Fran¬ 
cifcans, every thing that bore the lealt refemblance of a 
legal pofleffion, or a fixed domain ; but he granted to 
them, at the fame time, the ule of things necefiary, filch 
3 as 
