Editing Pope Nicholas IV

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1288 to 1292}}
{{lead too short|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Nicholas IV
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| birth_name = Girolamo Masci
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 22 February 1288
| term_end = 4 April 1292
| consecration = 1281
| cardinal = 12 March 1278
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Nicholas III|Nicholas III]]
| predecessor = [[Honorius IV]]
| successor = [[Celestine V]]
| birth_date = 30 September 1227
| birth_place = Lisciano, [[Kingdom of Naples]]
| death_date = 4 April 1292 (aged 64)
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Franciscan|Minister General of Order of Friars Minor]] (1274–1279)
* [[Santa Pudenziana|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana]] (1278–1281)
* [[Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Palestrina|Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina]] (1281–1288)
}}
| coat_of_arms = C o a Niccolo IV.svg
| other = Nicholas
| image = Papa Niccolò IV, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Nicolas IV, apse of [[Santa Maria Maggiore]] church in Rome
}}

'''Pope Nicholas IV''' ({{langx|la|Nicolaus IV}}; born '''Girolamo Masci'''; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292) was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 22 February 1288 to his death, on 4 April 1292. He was the first [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] to be elected pope.<ref name=McBrien>McBrien, Richard P., ''Live of the Popes'', p.226, Harper Collins, 2000</ref>

==Early life==
Jerome Masci (Girolamo Masci) was born on 30 September 1227 at Lisciano, near [[Ascoli Piceno]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hourihane|first1=Colum|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 2|date=2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0195395365|page=441|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtlMAgAAQBAJ&q=Pope+Nicholas+IV+lisciano}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=J N D|last2=Walsh|first2=Michael|title=A Dictionary of Popes|date=2010|publisher=OUP Oxford|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0199295814|page=207}}</ref> He was a pious, peace-loving man whose goals as a Franciscan friar were to protect the Church, promote the [[crusades]], and root out [[heresy]]. According to [[Heinrich of Rebdorf]], he was a Doctor of Theology.<ref>Marquardi Freheri, ''Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores'' editio tertia (curante Burcardo Gotthelffio Struvio) Tomus Primus (Argentorati: sumptibus Ioannis Reinholdi Dulsseckerii 1717), p. 605.</ref> As a [[Franciscan]] [[friar]], he had been elected the Order's superior (minister) for Dalmatia during the [[Franciscan]] general chapter held at Pisa in 1272.   [[Pope Gregory X]] (1271-1276), was sending a [[papal legate|legate]] to the Byzantine emperor, [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]], in 1272, to invite the participation of Byzantine prelates in the Second Council of Lyons. The pope's ambition was to achieve a reunion of Eastern and Western Christendom.  St [[Bonaventure]], then [[minister general]] of the Order of Friars Minor ([[Franciscan]]s), was asked to select four Franciscans to accompany the legation as nuncios. He chose Friar Jerome Masci as one of the four.<ref>Luca Wadding, ''Annales Minorum'' IV  second edition (edited by J. M. Fonseca) (Rome 1732), p. 345. Their instructions, drawn up by Pope Gregory, are printed at pp. 353-355.</ref> When [[Bonaventure]] died suddenly during the fifth session of the Order's General Chapter at Lyons on 15 July 1274, Friar Jerome Masci was elected to succeed him as the [[Franciscan]] minister general, even though he was absent at the time, only then returning with the Byzantine delegates from the embassy to Constantinople.<ref>Luke Wadding, ''Annales Minorum'' IV  second edition (edited by J.M. Fonseca) (Rome 1732), p. 399 and 411.</ref>

Jerome was the associate of [[John of Vercelli]], [[Master of the Order of Preachers|master general]] of the [[Dominican Order]], when the latter was sent by [[Pope Nicholas III]] (Giovanni Caetani Orsini) on 15 October 1277, to arrange a peace between [[Philip IV of France]] and [[Alfonso III of Aragon]].  Jerome and [[John of Vercelli]] were again appointed to the same task on 4 April 1278.<ref>August Potthast, ''Regesta Pontificum Romanorum'' II (Berlin 1875), nos. 21165, 21294-21295; 21310; and see A. Theiner, ''Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici'' 22 (Bar-le-Duc 1870), under the year 1277, no. 47, p. 402.</ref>  At the same time, Jerome was ordered to continue for the time being as the [[Franciscan]] [[Minister General]].<ref>Potthast, no.  21356.</ref>

In 1278 Jerome was made [[cardinal priest]] by Pope Nicholas III, and at some point after 16 May 1279 was assigned the titular church of [[Santa Pudenziana]]. Even after his appointment as a cardinal, he was allowed to remain as minister general of the [[Franciscan]]s until the next general chapter. In the event, however, he was unable to attend the chapter for reasons of ill health, as a letter of apology of Pope Nicholas III, written in May 1279, indicates.<ref>Potthast, no.  21582.</ref>  On 12 April 1281 he was promoted to [[cardinal bishop]] of [[Palestrina]] by [[Pope Martin IV]].<ref name=Weber>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11057a.htm Weber, Nicholas. "Pope Nicholas IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 29 Jan. 2015].  Conrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia catholica medii aevi''  I, editio altera, (Monasterii 1913), pp. 10, 37, 46; and cf. p. 206.</ref>

==Pontificate==

===Papal conclave===
After the death of [[Pope Honorius IV]] on 3 April 1287, [[Papal election, 1287-1288|a conclave]] was held in Rome, at the papal palace next to Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, where Pope Honorius had died.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1287.html| title = Sede Vacante and Conclave of 1287-1288 (Dr. J. P. Adams).}}</ref> This was in accordance with the Constitution ''[[Ubi periculum]]'' of Pope Gregory X. At the beginning, in April, there were thirteen cardinals in Rome; three cardinals—Gerardo Bianchi, Giovanni Boccamati, and Jean Cholet—did not attend at all. The Sacred College was for a time hopelessly divided in its selection of a successor. When six of the electors died during the year 1287 (Ancher Pantaleon, Geoffrey de Bar, Hugh of Evesham, Giordano Orsini, Comes de Casanate, and Goffredo of Alatri—some, at least, carried off by fever), the others, with the sole exception of Jerome Masci, left the conclave and returned to their homes. It was not until the following year that they reassembled. The electors at that time were seven in number: Jerome Masci, along with Latino Malabranca, Bentivenga de Bentivengis, Bernard de Languissel, Matteo Rosso Orsini, Giacomo Colonna, and Benedetto Caetani. On 15 February 1288, the survivors unanimously elected Jerome Masci, to the papacy on the first scrutiny. It is said that the cardinals were impressed by his steadfastness in remaining at the papal palace, but there is no real documentation as to their motives. As he admitted in his electoral manifesto, Cardinal Masci was extremely reluctant to accept,<ref>''Judicia Dei abyssus''  in  A. Theiner, ''Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici'' 23 (Bar-le-Duc 1871), under the year 1288, § 5; p. 25; V. Langlois, ''Registres de Nicolas IV'' I, pp. 1-3 no. 1 (February 23, 1288).</ref> and indeed he persisted in his refusal for an entire week. Finally, on 22 February, he gave in and agreed.<ref>This is the story told by [[Heinrich of Rebdorf]], in  Marquardi Freheri, ''Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores'' editio tertia (curante Burcardo Gotthelffio Struvio) Tomus Primus (Argentorati: sumptibus Ioannis Reinholdi Dulsseckerii 1717), p. 605.</ref> He became the first [[Franciscan]] pope and chose the name Nicholas IV in remembrance of Nicholas III, who had made him a cardinal.<ref name=Weber/>

===New cardinals===

Given the considerable losses to the numbers of the Sacred College in 1286 and 1287, it is not surprising that Nicholas IV quickly proceeded to fill vacancies. What is surprising is that he did not even reach the number of cardinals who were alive under Honorius IV, let alone exceed it.  On 16 May 1288, he named six new cardinals: Bernardus Calliensis, Bishop of Osimo (who died in 1291), Hugues Aiscelin (Seguin) de Billon, OP, of the diocese of Clermont in the Auvergne;<ref>Hugues Aiscelin was Master of the Sacred Palaces, appointed either by Martin IV or Honorius IV:  J. Catalano, ''De magistro sacri palatii apostolici'' (Rome 1751), pp. 62-63.</ref> Matthew of Aquasparta in Tuscany, minister general of the Franciscans since 1287; Pietro Peregrosso of Milan, the vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church; Napoleone Orsini; and Pietro Colonna.<ref>Conradus Eubel, ''Hierarchia catholica medii aevi'' I, editio altera (Monasterii 1913), p. 11.</ref>

Nicholas IV issued an important constitution on 18 July 1289, which granted to the [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]]s one-half of all income accruing to the [[Holy See]] and a share in the financial management, thereby paving the way for that independence of the [[College of Cardinals]] which, in the following century, was to be of detriment to the papacy.

===Actions===
{{further|Rabban Bar Sauma|Franco-Mongol alliance|Europeans in Medieval China#Diplomatic missions to Europe}}
In regard to the question of the Sicilian succession, as feudal suzerain of the kingdom, Nicholas annulled the treaty, concluded in 1288 through the mediation of [[Edward I of England]], which confirmed [[James II of Aragon]] in the possession of the island of [[Sicily]].  This treaty had not properly seen to papal interests. In May 1289 he crowned [[Charles II of Naples|Charles II]] as [[king of Sicily]] after the latter had expressly recognized papal [[suzerainty]], and in February 1291 concluded a treaty with Kings [[Alfonso III of Aragon]] and [[Philip IV of France]] looking toward the expulsion of James from Sicily.<ref name=Weber/>

In 1288 Nicholas met with the Nestorian Christian [[Rabban Bar Sauma]] from China.

In August 1290 he granted the status of ''[[studium generale]]'' to the [[University of Coimbra|university]] that King [[Denis of Portugal]] has just founded a few months earlier in the city of [[Lisbon]].<ref>''The Papacy and the Rise of the Universities'', Gaines Post, ''Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'', Vol. 54, ed. William J. Courtney, Jurgen Miethke, Frank Rexroth and Jacques Verger, (Brill, 2017), 188.</ref>

The loss of [[Akko|Acre]] in 1291 stirred Nicholas IV to renewed enthusiasm for a [[crusade]].  He sent missionaries, among them the Franciscan [[John of Monte Corvino]],<ref name=McBrien/> to labour among the [[Bulgaria]]ns, [[Ethiopia]]ns, [[Mongols]], [[Tatars]] and [[China|Chinese]].

==Death==
Nicholas IV died in Rome on 4 April 1292, in the palace which he had built next to the Liberian Basilica (S. Maria Maggiore). He was buried in the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]].<ref>A. Theiner, ''Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici'' 23 (Bar-le-Duc 1870), under the year 1292, § 17, p. 123.  Richard P. McBrien, ''Live of the Popes'', 226.  His sepulchral inscription is recorded by Vincenzo Forcella, ''Inscrizioni delle chiese di Roma'' XI (Roma 1877), p. 11, no. 6.</ref> His epitaph reads: "Here lies Nicolas IV son of St. Francis" (''Hic requiescit / Nicolaus PP Quartus / Filius Beati Francisci'').<ref>{{Cite book|title=Il Calice di Guccio di Mannaia|last=Marioli|first=Luigi|publisher=Edizioni Musei Vaticani|year=2014|isbn=9788882713300|editor-last=Callori di Vignale|editor-first=Flavia|pages=10|language=it|chapter=Premessa|editor-last2=Santamaria|editor-first2=Ulderico}}</ref> His death lies on [[Good Friday]], being 2 days before Easter Sunday on 6 April 1292 (in the [[Julian calendar]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Side-by-side Easter calendar reference for the 13th century |url=http://5ko.free.fr/en/easter.php?y=13 |website=Petko Yotov's website |access-date=22 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Easter Date Tables |url=https://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/easter-date-tables.html?century=13 |website=Dr Mike's Math Games for Kids |access-date=22 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nicholas IV |url=https://www.wga.hu/database/glossary/popes/nicolas4.html#:~:text=Earnestly%20he%20urged%20Philip%20of,1292%2C%20Pope%20Nicholas%20IV%20died. |website=Web Gallery of Art |access-date=22 April 2025}}</ref>

==''Taxatio''{{anchor | ''Taxatio''}}==
The 1291–92 ''[[Taxatio]]'' he initiated, which was a detailed valuation for [[ecclesiastical]] taxation of English and Welsh parish churches and [[Prebendary|prebends]], remains an important source document for the medieval period. An edition was reprinted by the Record Commission in 1802 as ''Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae Auctoritate''.<ref>[http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/taxatio/index.html The Taxatio Project] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629211819/http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/taxatio/index.html |date=2016-06-29 }}, Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
* [[Cardinals created by Nicholas IV]]
* [[List of popes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==

* Otto Schiff, ''Studien zur Geschichte Papst Nikolaus' IV.'' (Berlin 1897) (Historiswche Studien 5).
* Gustavo Parisciani, ''Nicolò IV, fra Girolamo Masci d' Ascoli, primo papa francescano. VII centenario del pontificato 1288-1292.'' (Ancona 1988).
* Antonio Franchi, ''Nicolaus papa IV 1288-1292 (Girolamo d'Ascoli)'' (Ascoli Piceno 1990).
* Giulia Barone, "Niccolo IV," ''Enciclopedia dei papi'' (Roma 2000) I, pp.&nbsp;455–459.
==External links==
*{{commonscat-inline|Nicolaus IV|Pope Nicholas IV}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Bonaventure]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister General]]<br>of the Order of Friars Minor|years=1274–1279}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bonagratia de San Giovanni in Persiceto]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Honorius IV]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=22 February 1288 – 4 April 1292}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Celestine V]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}
{{Franciscans}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas 4}}
[[Category:1227 births]]
[[Category:1292 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at Santa Maria Maggiore]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina]]
[[Category:Diplomats for the Holy See]]
[[Category:Franciscan popes]]
[[Category:Italian Friars Minor]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Latin Patriarchs of Constantinople]]
[[Category:Ministers General of the Order of Friars Minor]]
[[Category:People from Ascoli Piceno]]
[[Category:People in Christian ecumenism]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:University of Perugia alumni]]