Pope Nicholas V(Latin:Nicolaus V;Italian:Niccolò V;15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455),[1]bornTommaso Parentucelli,was head of theCatholic Churchand ruler of thePapal Statesfrom 6 March 1447 until his death, in March 1455.[2]Pope Eugene IVmade him acardinalin 1446 after successful trips to Italy and Germany, and when Eugene died the next year, Parentucelli was elected in his place. He took his name Nicholas in memory of his obligations toNiccolò Albergati.
Nicholas V | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
 Portrait byPeter Paul Rubens,1610s | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Papacy began | 6 March 1447 |
| Papacy ended | 24 March 1455 |
| Predecessor | Eugene IV |
| Successor | Callixtus III |
| Previous post(s) |
|
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1422 byNiccolò Albergati |
| Consecration | 17 March 1447 byFrancesco Condulmer |
| Created cardinal | 16 December 1446 by Eugene IV |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tommaso Parentucelli 15 November 1397 |
| Died | 24 March 1455 (aged 57) Rome,Papal States |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Other popes named Nicholas | |
| Papal styles of Pope Nicholas V | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | None |
The pontificate of Nicholas saw thefall of Constantinopleto theOttoman Turksand the end of theHundred Years' War.He responded by calling acrusadeagainst the Ottomans, which never materialized. By theConcordat of Viennahe secured the recognition of papal rights over bishoprics and benefices. He also brought about the submission of the last of the antipopes,Felix V,and the dissolution of theSynod of Basel.A key figure in theRoman Renaissance,Nicholas sought to make Rome the home of literature and art. He strengthened fortifications, restored aqueducts, and rebuilt many churches. He ordered design plans for what would eventually be theBasilica of St. Peter.
Early life
editTommaso Parentucelli was born inSarzana,an important town inLunigiana,to the physician Bartolomeo Parentucelli and wife Andreola Bosi ofFivizzano.[3]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, inFlorence,to the families of theStrozziandAlbizzi,where he met the leadinghumanistscholars.[4]
Parentucelli studied atBolognaand Florence, gaining a degree intheologyin 1422.[5]BishopNiccolò Albergatiwas 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.[6]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.[4]
Parentucelli attended theCouncil of Florence[7]and in 1444, when his patron died, he was appointedBishop of Bolognain his place.[8]Civic disorders atBolognawere prolonged, soPope Eugene IVsoon named him as one of the legates sent toFrankfurt.He was to assist in negotiating an understanding between thePapal Statesand theHoly Roman Empire,regarding undercutting or at least containing the reforming decrees of theCouncil of Basel(1431–1439).[6]
Papacy
editParentucelli's successful diplomacy gained him the reward, on his return to Rome, of the titleCardinal-PriestofSanta Susannain December 1446. At thepapal conclaveof 1447 he was electedpopein succession to Eugene IV on 6 March. He took the name Nicholas in honour of his early benefactor,Niccolò Albergati.[4]
In only eight years, his pontificate delivered important achievements in the political, scientific, and literary history of the world. Politically, he needed to repair relationships which had broken down in the pontificate of Eugene IV. He called the congress which produced theTreaty of Lodi,secured peace withCharles VII of France,and concluded the Concordat of Vienna orAschaffenburg(17 February 1448) with the German King,Frederick III,[4]by which the decrees of the Council of Basel against papalannatesand reservations were abrogated so far as Germany was concerned. In the following year he secured a still greater tactical triumph with the resignation of theAntipope Felix Von 7 April and his own recognition by the rump of theCouncil of Baselthat assembled atLausanne.[6]
In 1450, Nicholas held aJubileeat Rome,[4]and the offerings of the numerous pilgrims who thronged to Rome gave him the means of furthering the cause of culture in Italy, which he had so much at heart. In March 1452 he crownedFrederick IIIasHoly Roman EmperorinSt. Peter's,in what was the last imperial coronation held in Rome.[6]
Within the city of Rome, Nicholas introduced the fresh spirit of theRenaissanceboth intellectually and architecturally. His plans were of embellishing the city with new monuments worthy of the capital of the Christian world.[4]It was in recognition of this commitment to building thatLeon Battista Albertidedicated to Nicholas V his treatiseDe re aedificatoria.[9]
He is the last pope to date to take the pontifical name "Nicholas".
Rebuilding Rome
editHis first care was practical, to reinforce the city's fortifications,[10]cleaning and even paving some main streets and restoring the water supply. The end of ancient Rome is sometimes dated from the destruction of its magnificent array ofaqueductsby 6th-century invaders. In theMiddle AgesRomans depended on wells and cisterns for water, and the poor dipped their water from the yellowTiber.TheAqua Virgoaqueduct,originally constructed byAgrippa,was restored by Nicholas and emptied into a simple basin that Alberti designed, the predecessor of theTrevi Fountain.[11]
He continued restoration of the major Roman basilicas, but also of many other Roman churches includingSant' Apostoli,Sant' Eusebio,San Lorenzo fuori le Mura,Santa Maria in Trastevere,Santa Prassede,San Salvatore,Santo Stefano Rotondo,San Teodoro,and especiallySan Celso.[12]He rebuilt thePonte Sant' Angelowhich had collapsed in 1450, and supported the redevelopment of the surrounding area as a prestigious business and residential district.[13]
Arts patron
edit
Nicholas V's major focus was on establishing the Vatican as the official residence of the Papacy, replacing the Lateran Palace. He added a substantial new wing includinga private chapelto theVatican,and – according toGiannozzo Manetti,biographer of Nicholas – planned substantial changes to theBorgodistrict. He also laid up 2,522 cartloads of marble from the dilapidatedColosseumfor use in the later constructions.[14]
The Pope's contemporaries criticised his lavish expenditure on building:Manettidrew parallels with the wealth and expenditure of Solomon, suggesting that Papal wealth was acceptable so long as it was expended to the glory of God and the good of the Church.[15]The decoration of theNiccoline ChapelbyFra Angelicodemonstrated this message through its depictions ofSt Lawrence(martyred for refusing to hand to the Roman state the wealth of the Church) andSt Stephen.[16]
Under the generous patronage of Nicholas,humanismmade rapid strides as well. The new humanist learning had been hitherto looked on with suspicion in Rome, a possible source ofschismandheresyfrom an unhealthy interest inpaganism.For Nicholas, humanism became a tool for the cultural aggrandizement of the Christian capital, and he sent emissaries to the East to attract Greek scholars after thefall of Constantinople.[17]The pope also employedLorenzo Vallato translate Greek histories,[18]pagan as well as Christian, intoLatin.This industry, coming just before the dawn ofprinting,contributed enormously to the sudden expansion of the intellectual horizon.
Nicholas, with assistance fromEnoch of AscoliandGiovanni Tortelli,founded a library of five thousand volumes, including manuscripts rescued from theTurksafter the fall of Constantinople.[19]The Pope himself was a man of vast erudition, and his friend Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, laterPope Pius II,said of him that "what he does not know is outside the range of human knowledge". A lifelong bibliophile, he treasured books: while the Vatican library was still being designed and planned, he kept the rarest books near to him in his bedroom, with the others in a room nearby. Often thinking fondly of his former work as a librarian, he once remarked, "I had more happiness in a day than now in a whole year."[20]
He was compelled, however, to add that the lustre of his pontificate would be forever dulled by thefall of Constantinople,which theTurkstook in 1453. Unsuccessful in a campaign to unite Christian powers to come to the aid of Constantinople, just before that great citadel was conquered, Nicholas had ordered 10 papal ships to sail with ships from Genoa, Venice and Naples to defend the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. However, the ancient capital fell before the ships could offer any aid. The Pope bitterly felt this catastrophe as a double blow toChristendomand toGreek letters."It is a second death", wrote Aeneas Silvius, "to Homer andPlato."[6]
Nicholas preached acrusadeand endeavoured to reconcile the mutual animosities of the Italian states, but without much success.[6]
In undertaking these works, Nicholas was moved "to strengthen the weak faith of the populace by the greatness of that which it sees". The Roman populace, however, appreciated neither his motives nor their results, and in 1452 a formidable conspiracy for the overthrow of the papal government under the leadership ofStefano Porcariwas discovered and crushed. This revelation of disaffection, together with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, darkened the last years of Pope Nicholas. "As Thomas of Sarzana", he said, "I had more happiness in a day than now in a whole year".[6]
Slavery
editIn late spring of 1452 Byzantine EmperorConstantine XIwrote to Pope Nicholas for help against the impending siege by Ottoman SultanMehmed II.Nicholas issued the bullDum Diversas(18 June 1452) authorizingKing Afonso Vof Portugal to "attack, conquer, and subjugateSaracens,pagans and other enemies of Christ wherever they may be found ". Issued less than a year before the fall of Constantinople, the bull may have been intended to begin anothercrusadeagainst theOttoman Empire.[21]
Ownership of theCanary Islandscontinued to be a source of dispute between Spain and Portugal and Nicholas was asked to settle the matter, ultimately in favor of the Portuguese.[22]The geographical area of the concession given in the bull is not explicit, but historianRichard Raiswellfinds that it clearly refers to the recently discovered lands along the coast of West Africa.[23]Portuguese ventures were intended to compete with the Muslim trans-Sahara caravans, which played a key role in the highly profitable Muslim slave trade and also held a monopoly on West African gold and ivory.[24]
The Portuguese claimed territorial rights along the African coast by virtue of having invested time and treasure in discovering it; the Castilian claim was based on their being the heirs of theVisigoths.In 1454 a fleet of caravels from Seville and Cádiz traded along the African coast and upon their return, were intercepted by a Portuguese squadron.Enrique IV of Castilethreatened war. Afonso V appealed to the Pope for moral support of Portugal's right to a monopoly of trade in lands she discovered.[25]
The papal bullRomanus Pontifex,issued on 8 January 1455, endorsed Portuguese possession of Cuerta (which they already held), and the exclusive right to trade, navigation, and fishing in the discovered lands, and reaffirmed the previousDum Diversas.[26]It granted permission to Afonso and his heirs to "... make purchases and sales of any things and goods, and victuals whatsoever, as it may seem fit, with any Saracens and infidels in said regions;... provided they be not iron instruments, wood used for construction, cordage, ships, and any kinds of armor."[27]
The bull conferred exclusive trading rights to the Portuguese between Morocco and the Indies with the rights to conquer and convert the inhabitants.[28]A significant concession given by Nicholas in a brief issued to King Alfonso in 1454 extended the rights granted to existing territories to all those that might be taken in the future.[29]Consistent with these broad aims, it allowed the Portuguese "to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery". However, together with a second reference to some who have already been enslaved, this has been used to suggest that Nicholas sanctioned thepurchase of black slavesfrom "the infidel":[30]"... many Guineamen and other negroes, taken by force, and some by barter of unprohibited articles, or by other lawful contract of purchase, have been... converted to the Catholic faith, and it is hoped, by the help of divine mercy, that if such progress be continued with them, either those peoples will be converted to the faith or at least the souls of many of them will be gained for Christ."[27]
It is on this basis that it has been argued that collectively the two bulls issued by Nicholas gave the Portuguese the rights toacquire slavesalong the African coast by force or trade.[26]By dealing with local African chieftains and Muslim slave traders, the Portuguese sought to become key European players in the lucrative slave trade. The concessions given in them were confirmed by bulls issued byPope Callixtus III(Inter Caetera quaein 1456),Sixtus IV(Aeterni regisin 1481), and they became the models for subsequent bulls issued byPope Alexander VI:Eximiae devotionis(3 May 1493),Inter Caetera(4 May 1493) andDudum Siquidem(23 September 1493), in which he conferred similar rights to Spain relating to the newly discovered lands in the Americas.[31]
See also
editReferences
editNotes
edit- ^"Nicholas V | Vatican Library & Dum Diversas | Britannica".britannica.Retrieved11 December2021.
- ^Filelfo & Robin (2009),p. 370.
- ^Gregorovius & Hamilton (1900),p. 106.
- ^abcdef
Scannell, Thomas Bartholomew (1911). "Pope Nicholas V".In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^Hay (1995),p. 164.
- ^abcdefgHayes, Carlton Joseph Huntley(1911)..InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^Hollingsworth (1995),p. 238.
- ^Terpstra (1995),p. 34.
- ^Leon Battista Albertiat theEncyclopædia Britannica
- ^Cheetham (1983),p. 180.
- ^Karmon, David (August 2005)."Restoring the Ancient Water Supply System in Renaissance Rome"(PDF).The Waters of Rome(3).University of Virginia:4–6.
- ^Hollingsworth (1995),p. 240.
- ^Hollingsworth (1995),p. 241.
- ^Manetti (1734).
- ^Hollingsworth (1995),p. 243.
- ^Hibbert, Christopher.The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431–1519,Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008, p. 9ISBN9780151010332
- ^Duffy (1997),p. 181.
- ^Sider (2005),p. 147.
- ^Bobrick, Benson. (2001).Wide as the waters: the story of the English Bible and the revolution it inspired.New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 84.ISBN0-684-84747-7
- ^Murray, Stuart (2012).The Library: An Illustrated History.New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p. 85.
- ^Sardar, Ziauddin, and Davies, Merryl Wyn. 2004.The No-Nonsense Guide to Islam.Verso.ISBN1-85984-454-5.p. 94.
- ^Stogre (1992),p. 65.
- ^Rodriguez, Junius P. (1997).The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery.ABC-CLIO.ISBN9780874368857– via Google Books.
- ^Phipps, William E. (2004).Amazing Grace in John Newton: Slave Ship Captain, Hymn Writer, and Abolitionist.Mercer University Press.ISBN9780865548688– via Google Books.
- ^Bown, Stephen R. (2012).1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half.St. Martin's Press. p. 84.ISBN978-0-312-61612-0.
- ^abElliott, Mary; Hughes, Jazmine (19 August 2019)."A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn't Learn in School".The New York Times.Retrieved20 August2019.
- ^abSee full text pp. 20–26 (English) inEuropean Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies to 1648,Washington, D.C.,Frances Gardiner Davenport,Carnegie Institution of Washington,1917–37 –Google Books.Reprint edition, 4 vols., (2004), Lawbook Exchange,ISBN1-58477-422-3;also athttp:// nativeweb.org/pages/legal/indig-romanus-pontifex.html
- ^The Historical Encyclopedia of world slavery ", Richard Raiswell, p. 469
- ^"Slavery and the Catholic Church ",John Francis Maxwell, p. 55, Barry Rose Publishers, 1975
- ^Earle, T. F.; Lowe, K. J. P. (2005).Black Africans in Renaissance Europe.New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 281.ISBN978-0521815826.
- ^"The Historical Encyclopedia of world slavery", Richard Raiswell, p. 469, "Black Africans in Renaissance Europe", p. 281, Luis N. Rivera, 1992, p. 25
Bibliography
edit- Cheetham, Nicolas (1983).Keeper of the Keys: A History of the Popes from St. Peter to John Paul II.Charles Scribner's Sons.ISBN978-0684178639.
- Duffy, Eamon (1997).Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes(2nd ed.). Yale University Press.ISBN978-0300073324.
- Filelfo, Francesco; Robin, Diana (2009).Odes.Harvard University Press. p. 370.ISBN9780674035638.
- Gregorovius, Ferdinand; Hamilton, Annie (1900).History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages.Cambridge University Press.
- Hay, Denys (1995).The Italian Renaissance in its historical background.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521291040.
- Hollingsworth, Mary (1995).Patronage in Renaissance Italy: From 1400 to the Early Sixteenth Century.Johns Hopkins University Press.ISBN978-0801852879.
- Manetti, Giannozzo (1734).Vita Nicolai V, in Rerum Italicarum scriptores, vol 3, pt.2.
- Sider, Sandra (2005).Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0816056187.
- Stogre, Michael (1992).That the World may Believe: The Development of Papal Social Thought on Aboriginal Rights.Médiaspaul.ISBN978-2-89039-549-7.
- Terpstra, Gregory (1995).Lay Confraternities and Civic Religion in Renaissance Bologna.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521480925.
Further reading
edit- "A violent evangelism",Luis N. Rivera, Luis Rivera PagánThe Synod of the North East: 31st Racial Ethnic Convocation (October 5–6, 2007),Westminster John Knox Press, 1992,ISBN0-664-25367-9
- Dokumente zur Geschichte der europäischen Expansion.hrsg. von Eberhard Schmitt, München (Beck), Bd.IDie mittelalterlichen Ursprünge der europäischen Expansion,hrsg. vonCharles Verlindenund E. Schmitt, München (Beck) 1986, 450 S. hier: Dok. 40,Nikolaus V. überträgt in der Bulle „Romanus pontifex “…,S. 218–231;
- Massimo Miglio:Niccolò V.In: Massimo Bray (ed.):Enciclopedia dei Papi.Volume 2:Niccolò I, santo, Sisto IV.Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2000, pp. 644–658 (treccani.it).
External links
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