Editing Pope Nicholas V (section)

==Early life==
Tommaso Parentucelli was born in [[Sarzana]], an important town in [[Lunigiana]], to the physician Bartolomeo Parentucelli and wife Andreola Bosi of [[Fivizzano]].{{sfnp|Gregorovius|Hamilton|1900|p=106}} The Lunigiana region had long been fought over by competing Tuscan, Ligurian and Milanese forces. Three years before Parentucelli's birth, the town was captured from the Florentines by the Genoese Republic. His father died while he was young. Parentucelli later became a tutor, in [[Florence]], to the families of the [[Strozzi family|Strozzi]] and [[Albizzi]], where he met the leading [[Humanism|humanist]] scholars.<ref name="Scannell" />

Parentucelli studied at [[Bologna]] and Florence, gaining a degree in [[theology]] in 1422.{{sfnp|Hay|1995|p=164}} Bishop [[Niccolò Albergati]] was so awestruck with his capabilities that he took him into his service and gave him the chance to pursue his studies further by sending him on a tour through Germany, France and England.<ref name="EB1911" /> He was able to collect books, for which he had an intellectual's passion, wherever he went. Some of them survive with his marginal annotations.<ref name="Scannell" />

Parentucelli attended the [[Council of Florence]]{{sfnp|Hollingsworth|1995|p=238}} and in 1444, when his patron died, he was appointed [[Bishop of Bologna]] in his place.{{sfnp|Terpstra|1995|p=34}} Civic disorders at [[Bologna]] were prolonged, so [[Pope Eugene IV]] soon named him as one of the legates sent to [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]]. He was to assist in negotiating an understanding between the [[Papal States]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]], regarding undercutting or at least containing the reforming decrees of the [[Council of Basel]] (1431–1439).<ref name="EB1911" />