58 
N I C H 
fition. Accordingly, the emperor Frederic iflued an edi< 5 l, 
ordering all the fubjedls of the empire to obey Nicholas V. 
as the only true vicar of Chrilt upon earth ; and, after the 
example of the emperor, almoft all the Chriltian dates and 
princes united in acknowledging Nicholas for the fove- 
reign pontiff. Among thefe, Charles VII. king of France 
particularly diftinguifhed himfelf, by affembling all the 
prelates and barons of the kingdom at Lyons, to delibe¬ 
rate about the means of putting an end to the fchifm. 
With this view, they refolved to fendambaffadors to Felix 
at Laufanne, to perfuade him to refign his dignity; who 
found him not unwilling to make that facrifice for the 
peace of the church, on certain conditions. Thefe con¬ 
ditions they tranfmitted to Nicholas ; who, finding them, 
as he declared, not only juft and reafonable, but equally 
advantageous to both parties, agreed to them without any 
hefitation. The principal of them were, that Felix fhould 
. hold the firft place in the college of cardinals, and be per¬ 
petual legate of the holy fee in Germany ; that fo long as 
he lived he fhould be allowed to wear the pontifical habit; 
that all excommunications, fufpenfions, &c. inflifted by 
either party fhould be revoked ; that the cardinals of both 
parties fhould retain their dignities, and the other pof- 
feffors of ecclefiaftical dignities or offices, of both obe¬ 
diences, fhould enjoy them undifturbed; that all colla¬ 
tions, indulgences, and other graces, granted on both 
fides, fhould be confirmed; and that, within the term of 
feven months, Nicholas fhould aflemble a general council 
within the dominions of the king of France. After Ni¬ 
cholas and Felix had mutually iffued bulls confirming 
thefe terms, in April 1449 the latter renounced, in due 
form, the pontifical dignity, in the prefence of the re¬ 
maining fathers of the council of Bafil, which had been 
transferred to Laufanne ; and they unanimoufly eledted 
Nicholas in his room. Thus, by the moderation of both 
parties, an end was put to this fchifm, and Nicholas was 
universally acknowledged the true and lawful pope. 
In the following year, the fixth jubilee was celebrated 
at Rome; and, though the city was crowded with pil¬ 
grims during the whole year, by the prudent regulations 
which Nicholas adopted they were furnifhed with all ne- 
ceflary fupplies upon reafoiiable terms, and all diforders 
and quarrels were prevented. However, an unforefeen 
accident happened, which gave him great concern : one 
day as the crow'd was pafling over the bridge of St. An¬ 
gelo, it unexpectedly broke down ; by which means two 
hundred perfons were either drowned or trampled to 
death. In the year 1452, the emperor Frederic and the 
emprefs Eleonora, attended by the flower of the German 
nobility, came to Rome, where they were received with 
the greateft marks of refpedl and efteem, and crowned by 
the pope with all the ufual folemnities. 
In the year 1453, Nicholas received the intelligence of 
the capture of Conftantinople by Mahomet II. Some his¬ 
torians mention this fa£t as the greateft affiiftion that 
befel the pope ; but Gibbon, fpeaking on the fubjedt, fays, 
“ The weftern princes were involved in endlefs and do- 
meftic quarrels ; and the Roman pontiff was exafperated 
by the falfehood or obftinacy of the Greeks. Inftead of 
employing in their favour the arms and treafures of Italy, 
Nicholas V. had foretold their approaching ruin, and his 
honour feemed engaged in the accomplifhment of his pro¬ 
phecy. Perhaps he was foftened by the laft extremity of 
their diftrefs; but his companion was tardy : his efforts 
were faint and unavailing; and Conftantinople had fallen 
before thefquadrons of Genoa and Venice could fail from 
their harbours.” From this time Nicholas fpent the re¬ 
mainder of his pontificate in endeavours to allay the civil 
wars and commotions which took place in Italy, to recon¬ 
cile the Chriltian princes who were then at war with one 
another, and to unite them in one league againftthe ene¬ 
mies of the Chriltian church. In his efforts he was com¬ 
pletely unfuccefsful; and the difappointment is faid to 
have haftened his death, which happened in 1455, after he 
had completed the eighth year of his pontificate. “ The 
O L A S. 
fame of Nicholas V.” fays the author juft quoted, “ has 
not been adequate to his merits. From a plebeian origin, 
he raifed himfelf by his virtue and learning : the charac¬ 
ter of the man prevailed over the intereft of the pope ; and 
he fharpened thofe weapons which were foon pointed 
againft the Roman church. He had been the friend of 
the moft eminent fcholars of the age: he became then- 
patron; and fuch was the humility of his manners, that 
the change was fcarcely difcernible either to them or to 
himfelf. If he prefled the acceptance of a liberal gift, it 
was not as the meafure of defert, but as the proof of be¬ 
nevolence ; and, when modeft merit declined his bounty, 
■ Accept it,’ he would fay, with a confcioufnefs of his 
own worth; ‘you will not always have a Nicholas among 
you.’ The influence of the holy fee pervaded Chriften- 
dom ; and he exerted that influence in the fearch, not of 
benefices, but of books. From the ruins of the Byzan¬ 
tine libraries, from the darkeft monafteries of Germany 
and Britain, he collected the dully manufcripts of the 
writers of antiquity ; and wherever the original could 
not be removed, a faithful copy was tranfcribed, and tranf¬ 
mitted for ufe. The Vatican, the old repoiitory for bulls 
and legends, for fuperftition and forgery, was daily reple- 
nifhed with more precious furniture ; and fuch was the 
induftry of Nicholas, that in a reign of eight years he 
formed a library of 5000 volumes. To his munificence 
the Latin world was indebted for the verfions of Xeno¬ 
phon, Diodorus, Polybius, Thucydides, Herodotus, and 
Appian ; of Strabo’s Geography; of the Iliad; of the 
moft valuable works of Plato and Ariftotle ; of Ptolemy 
and Theophraftus, and of the fathers of the Greek church.’ 7 
—The authorities for the foregoing articles are Gibbon; 
Bou ev's Hijl. of the Popes; Cave's Hijl. Lit. vol. ii. and 
Mojheim. 
NIC'HOLAS, furnamed the Grammarian, Patriarch 
of Conftantinople in the eleventh century, whole remains 
are held in efteem by the Greek church, was raifed to that 
dignity in the year 1084, according to moft writers; 
though Riccioli and Baronins place that event under the 
year 1089. He was a man, fays Zonaras, not unlkilled in 
literature, though his acquaintance with it was not pro¬ 
found. He died in the year 1111. Two of his “ Synodal 
Decrees” relating to marriage, another on canonical obe¬ 
dience, and a long letter which he addrefled to the em¬ 
peror Alexius Comnenus, intended to prove that it is not 
lawful to take away bilhoprics from metropolitans, are 
inferted, in Greek and Latin, in Leunclav. Jus Gr£ec„ 
Rom. lib. iii. and “ Synodal Anfwers” to various quef- 
tions propofed to him by different monks, reliding out of 
Conftantinople, in Greek and Latin, may be feen in the 
Works of Theodore Balfamon, publilhed at Paris in 1620. 
Cave's Hijl. Lit. vol. ii. 
NIC'HOLAS of Clairvaux, a monk of the Ciftercian 
order in the twelfth century, was the difciple and fecre- 
tary of St. Bernard. He quitted the monaftery whence 
he derived his furname, and removed into Italy, where he 
died in the monaftery of Montiramey, about the year 1180. 
He was the author of a volume of “ Letters,” publilhed 
by John Pickard, a canon regular of St. Vidlor at Paris, 
and inferted in the twenty-fecond volume of the Bibl. 
Patr. They abound in wit, and are written in a very 
pleafing ftyle ; and, if they do not contain any thing re¬ 
markable, relating either to dodtrinal topics or matters 
of church-difcipline, they ferve to throw light on the 
hiftory of the times. He was alfo the author of a volume 
of “ Difcourfes,” dedicated to Henry count of Campania, 
which are given in the third volume of the Bibl. Cilterc. 
and Baluze has publilhed two additional Letters of his, 
in the fecond volume of his Mifcellan. Cave's Hi/l. Lit. 
vol. ii. 
NIC'HOLAS (Eymericus), a famous Spanifti inquifitor- 
general in the fourteenth century, was born at Girone in 
Catalonia, about the year 1320. He embraced the mo- 
naftic life in the order of St. Dominic ; and, after diftin- 
guifliing himfelf as a preaching-friar, was made inquL 
fitor- 
