NICEPHORUS, Patriarch of Constantinople, was the son of Theodorus, one of the imperial secretaries of Constantius Copronymus, and was born in 758. From his father he inherited a zeal for image-worship, which gave a colour to all the principal events of his life. He was present as imperial commissary at the Nicene Council of 787, and raised his voice against the Iconoclasts. This spirit of partizanship only became more intense when, in 806, he was raised from the condition of a monk to the patriarchate of Constantinople. An edict against the worship of images was passed in 814 by Leo the Armenian; but neither entreatments nor menaces could prevail upon Nicephorus to assent to it. He rather preferred to be deposed in the following year, and to spend the rest of his days in a convent. His death took place in June 828. Of his works, which are written in Greek, the best is his Breviarium Historicum, a compendious history of the period extending between 602 A.D. and 770. It was published, with a Latin version and notes, in 8vo, Paris, 1616; and was reprinted in the Corpus Historiæ Byzantina. A Life of the Patriarch Nicephorus, by his contemporary Ignatius, has been translated into Latin, and inserted in the Acta Sanctorum.
NICHOLAS I., the earliest of the Roman pontiffs who bore that name, was elevated from the rank of a deacon to the papal chair in April 858. One of his first endeavours was to realize the alleged supremacy of the popedom. Assuming as his authority the new ecclesiastical code, now known by the name of the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, he asserted that the Pope, as the representative of St Peter, was the head of Christ's body the church; that the bishops, as members of that body, had no other law than his will; and that all offences throughout Christendom should be liable to be arraigned before his tribunal. These principles, so boldly asserted, were as boldly carried into practice. Taking part in the dispute concerning the patriarchate of Constantinople between Ignatius and Photius, he excommunicated the latter in 863, and maintained a fierce controversy with the Emperor Michael III. in support of this exercise of his ecclesiastical authority. He also interfered, during the same year, with the attempt of Lotharius, King
Nicholas, of Lotharingia, to divorce his wife Thietberga, and to marry his concubine Waldrade. The Emperor Louis, the brother of Lotharius, bent upon forcing Nicholas to withdraw his interference, marched into Rome at the head of an army. But the fervent and long-continued devotions and the saint-like composure of the Pope soon awed the superstitious potentate into submission and reconciliation. Nicholas continued for the rest of his life to vindicate successfully the absolute ecclesiastical supremacy of the see of Rome. He died in 867. His letters, amounting to about a hundred, and treating of church doctrine and discipline, were published in folio, Rome, 1542. The rest of his works were inserted in Colet's Collection of Councils.
NICHOLAS II., whose original name was Gerhard, was promoted from the bishopric of Florence to the Papal chair in 1058. Under the guidance of the able and ambitious Hildebrand, who was afterwards supreme pontiff under the title of Gregory VII., he proceeded to establish his authority, and to provide for the increased stability and influence of the Papal see. John, bishop of Velletri, who had been set up as a rival Pope, under the name of Benedict X., was forced to submit. A law was passed in 1059 which took the power of choosing the supreme pontiff out of the hands of the Roman mob, placed it in the hands of the cardinal bishops and priests, and restricted the elective influence of the emperor and the citizens of Rome to a mere assent. The new Pope was even daring enough to claim the possession of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, to give them in fief to Robert Guiscard, a Norman, and thus to establish the civil supremacy of the Roman see over that territory which was afterwards known as the kingdom of Naples. Nicholas was further engaged in enforcing a stricter morality upon the priests, when he died in July 1061.
NICHOLAS III., whose original name was Giovanni Gattani, succeeded John XXI. in 1277. His descent from the noble family of the Orsini, his tact, and his energy rendered him a powerful upholder of the despotism of the Roman see. He obtained from the Emperor Rudolph several grants of territory in Italy, and punished the haughty insubordination of Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, by depriving him of the dignity of senator of Rome. Other great projects were occupying his attention, when a stroke of apoplexy brought his career to a close in 1280.
NICHOLAS IV., originally known by the name of Jerome of Ascoli, was raised from the bishopric of Palestrina to the pontifical chair in 1288. Though sometimes guilty of favouritism, he was characterized in general by an enlightened zeal for the welfare of the church. He was a liberal patron of theological as well as civil learning; he sent forth missionaries as far as China; and he used his utmost efforts to revive the spirit of the Crusades. It is said to have been the final expulsion of the Christians from the Holy Land that hastened his death in 1292.
NICHOLAS V., whose real name was Tommaso Da Sarzana, succeeded Eugenius IV. in 1447. The meek probity of his character did not suffer him to adopt the usual aggressive policy of the popedom; and his literary tastes induced him to seek for that general peace which is so favourable to the advancement of learning and civilization. The consequence was, that in 1449 the anti-Pope Felix V., who had for several years maintained a schism in the church, tendered his submission; and about the same time the Italian states, discontinuing their accustomed broils, relapsed into tranquillity. The learned pontiff was thus enabled to devote the rest of his life to the promotion of polite letters. Under his rule Rome became the favourite seat of learning. The most liberal patronage was extended to literary merit; wits and scholars from all parts of Europe thronged the pontifical court; a library, containing famous manuscripts of the Christian fathers and the great Greek authors, began to be formed in the Vatican; and messen-
gers were constantly arriving from all the countries of Christendom with new treasures for its shelves. This rapid advance towards general enlightenment was prematurely interrupted by the death of its wise and munificent promoter in 1455.