Nicholas III Biography

Dromo's Den

NICHOLAS III (Giovanni Gaetano degli Orsini). Pope, 1277-80. He was made Cardinal by Innocent IV in 1244 and employed by several popes in important diplomatic missions. On the death of John XXI he was elected at Viterbo after a prolonged division in the conclave. which was only terminated by the citizens locking the cardinals up in the town hall. He had already acted as mediator between Charles of Anjou and Rudolf of Hapsburg, and now employed his influence with them to strengthen materially the temporal power of the Church in Italy. He is described as a man of strict morals and considerable learning, though the reproach of nepotism is brought against him. He sent missionaries to Persia and to China (1278). Consult: Ferdirand Gregorovius, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. v (trans. from 4th Ger. ed., London, 1897); H. H. Milman, History of Latin Christianity, vol. vi (New York, 1903)

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol XVII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 124-125.