NICHOLAS, the name of five among the Roman pontiffs, of whom the following alone ap; war to call for separate notice.—Nieholas I. was born of a family, and on the death of Benedict III., in 858, Nicholas was elected to succeed him, and was consecrated in St. Peter's church, in the presence of Ludwig II., emperor of Germany. The earliest incident of importance of his pontificate is his conflict with Photins (q.v.), who had been intruded into the see of Constantinople after the deprivation of Ignatius. Nicholas demanded from the emperor the restoration of Ignatius, as well as the with drawal of certain attempted invasions of the -jurisdiction of the west. On the refusal of his demand, Nicholas excommunicated Photius (see GREEK Ciimicu), and that patri arch, in return, assembled a council at Constantinople, and retorting upon his rival the same sentence, alleged that with the translation of the scat of civil sovereignty from Home to Constantinople the ecclesiastical supremacy was likewise transferred. The emperor Michael supporting Photius in his claim, Nicholas failed to command submis sion to his sentence; nor was it till the following reign, that of Basil the Macedonian, that Photius was deposed, and Ignatius restored to his see. Meanwhile, however, Nicholas had been embroiled with the emperor Ludwig. The pope had been appealed to by the unjustly divorced wife of Ludvig's younger brother, Lothaire, king of Lor raine, and had appointed legates to inquire into and report upon the case; and the legates having exceeded their powers by giving a sentence in favor of Lothaire, the pope declared their sentence null, and excommunicated them. Ludwig espoused their cause, and marched his troops to Rome, in order to enforce satisfaction. After some hostile demonstrations, the emperor, terrified, it is said, by his own sudden illness and some fatalities which befell his followers, desisted from the enterprise, and withdrew his troops. Lothaire was forced to make submission; the decree of Nicholas was enforced, and Theutberga was formally reinstated in her position as a wife and queen. Nicholas died in 868.—NrcuoLas V. was originally called Thomas Parentucelli. Born at Pisa in 1398, he was educated at Florence and Bologna, and having fixed his residence in the latter city, he was eventually named bishop of that see by the pope, Eugenius IV. Dur
ing time troubled period of the councils of Basel and Florence, and in the difficult nego tiations with the German andother churches which arose therefrom, he conducted him self with such and prklenee, that on the death'dt Bitgenbis IV. he was chosen to succeed him on Mar. a, 1447. At this time, theanti-pope, Felix V., still maintained himself, although supported by a very small party; but .Nicholas prevailed on him to abdicate, and thus restored the peace of the church in 1449. In the judgment of the literary world, however, the great distinction of the pontificate of Nicholas lies in the eminent service which he rendered to that revival of letters which dates from his age. The comparative repose in which lie found the world at his accession, enabled him to employ, for the discovery and collection of the scattered master-pieces of ancient learn ing, measures which were practically beyond the resources of his predecessors. He dispatched agents to all the great centers, both of the e. and the w. to purchase or to copy every important Greek and Latin manuscript. The number collected by him was about 5,000. He enlarged and improved the Roman university. Ile remodelled, and may almost be said to have founded, the Vatican library. IIe caused translations to be made into Latin of most of the important Greek classics, sacred and profane. Be invited to Rome the must eminent scholars of the world, and extended his especial pat ronage to those Greeks whom the troubles of the native country drove to seek a new home in the west. Alarmed by the progress of the Turkish arms in Asia, he endeavored to arouse the Christian princes of Europe to the duty of succoring their brethren of the c. ; but the age of enthusiasm was past, and he was forced to look on inactively at the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This event, by forcing a large number of learned Greeks to repair to Italy and other countries of the w., contributed powerfullyto that progress of learning which Nicholas had deeply at heart; but he scarcely lived to enjoy this result, having died two years later, in 1455, at the comparatively early age of 57. Re must not be confounded with an anti-pope of the same name, Peter de Carborio, who was set up, iu 1328, by Ludvig of Bavaria, in antagonism to John XXII. (q.v.).