Pope Nicholas III
Nicholas III. (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini),
pope from
November 25,
1277 to
August 22,
1280, was a
Roman nobleman who had served under eight popes, been made cardinal-deacon of St Nicola in carcere Tulliano by
Pope Innocent IV., protector of the
Franciscans by
Pope Alexander IV., inquisitor-general by
Pope Urban IV., and succeeded
Pope John XXI., largely through family influence, after a six-months' vacancy in the
Holy See. His brief pontificate was marked by several important events. A born politician, he greatly strengthened the papal position in
Italy. He concluded a
concordat with
Rudolph I of Habsburg in May
1278, by which the
Romagna and the exarchate of
Ravenna were guaranteed to the pope; and in July he issued an epoch-making constitution for the government of Rome, which forbade foreigners taking civil office. Nicholas issued the bull Exiit on the 14th of August 1279 to settle the strife within the Franciscan order between the parties of strict and loose observance. He repaired the Lateran palace and the
Vatican at enormous cost, and erected a beautiful country house at Soriano near
Viterbo. Nicholas, though a man of learning and strength of character, brought just reproach on himself for his efforts to found
principalities for his nephews and other relations. He died from a stroke of apoplexy.
from a 1911 encyclopedia
On a side note, Dante in 'The Inferno' from 'The Divine Comedy' talked briefly to Pope Nicholas III, who was condemned to spend eternity in the Eight Circle, Third Bolgia of Hell, reserved for Simoniacs.