Nicholas IV (Nicolaus IV), born Girolamo Masci in Lisciano, near Ascoli Piceno, on September 30, 1227, and died in Rome on April 4, 1292, was pope from February 22, 1288 until his death. Coming from a humble family in the Marches of Ancona, he was the first Friar Minor to ascend the throne of Peter: before becoming pope, he had been legate to Constantinople and then minister general of the Franciscan order, directly succeeding Saint Bonaventure.[1][2]
His four-year pontificate bears the mark of the Franciscan spirit. By the bull Supra montem (1289), he gave the Third Order of Saint Francis its definitive rule, establishing the Poverello as the recognized founder of this great movement of lay penitents.[3][4] Above all, Nicholas IV was the pope of a bold missionary opening toward Asia: in 1288, he received in Rome the Mongol khan’s ambassador, the Nestorian monk Rabban Bar Sauma, to whom he personally gave communion; and he sent the Franciscan John of Montecorvino to China, who would found the first Catholic Church in Beijing.[5][6]
But his reign was also marked by failures and dependencies. All his attempts to revive the crusade failed: in 1291, Saint-Jean-d'Acre, the last major Christian stronghold in the Holy Land, fell to the Mamluks, ending nearly two centuries of Latin states in the East.[7][8] In Rome, the pope relied so heavily on the powerful Colonna family that satirists depicted him imprisoned inside a column, with only his tiara-crowned head emerging.[9][10]
Pious, learned, and a great patron — he commissioned Jacopo Torriti to create the mosaics of the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore — Nicholas IV leaves the image of a pope of transition: heir to the great designs of the late 13th century, but already beset by factional rivalries which, after him, would plunge the papacy into the long vacancy preceding Celestine V and then into the tragedy of Boniface VIII.[11][12]
Why Does Nicholas IV Matter?
The First Franciscan Pope
A little over sixty years after the death of Saint Francis of Assisi (1226), one of his spiritual sons ascended the throne of Peter. This was a momentous event: the order of the Friars Minor, born from the radical poverty of a convert from Assisi, was giving its first pope to the Church.[13][14] Nicholas IV never denied this origin; his epitaph at Santa Maria Maggiore proclaims him “son of Saint Francis.”[15] His entire pontificate bore this mark: favor toward the mendicant orders, rule given to the Third Order, deep Marian devotion, and missionary zeal.
The Pope of Missionary Outreach to Asia
No pope of the Middle Ages looked as far east as Nicholas IV did toward the Far East. Taking advantage of the Pax Mongolica that opened the routes of Asia, Nicholas IV received the embassy of the khan Arghun, sent friars to the Tatars, Bulgars, Ethiopians, and dispatched John of Montecorvino to China, the first Catholic evangelizer of the Far East.[16][17] This outreach, which largely lacked political follow-through, remains one of the greatest missionary impulses of medieval Christendom.
The Pope Dominated by the Colonna
The shadow over his pontificate was his dependence on a great Roman family. By multiplying offices and cardinal’s hats in favor of the Colonna, Nicholas IV allowed the image of a pope captive to a clan to form. The Catholic Encyclopedia bluntly judges that his reign lacked independence due to the undue influence of the Colonna.[18] This criticism, etched into memory by a famous caricature, compels any rigorous article to weigh the man’s role against the circumstances in this domination.
Jerome of Ascoli Before the Throne
A Humble Birth in the March of Ancona
Girolamo Masci was born on September 30, 1227 — the traditional date, with sources varying between 1225 and 1230 — in Lisciano, a hamlet near Ascoli Piceno, in the March of Ancona.[19][20] Unlike the Orsini of his protector Nicholas III, his family was obscure: the Catholic Encyclopedia calls him “of lowly origin.”[21] He is said to have had a father who was a scribe and two sisters, but contemporary sources refer to him only as “Jerome of Ascoli” — the family nickname Masci appears only in modern times.[22] From this humble origin, the future pope retained a genuine simplicity of manners, noted by his contemporaries.
Entering the Friars Minor young, Jerome acquired a solid theological education: he commented on the four books of Peter Lombard’s Sentences and left sermons preserved in the Casanatense Library in Rome.[23] Far from being a mere administrator, he was a learned religious and preacher.
The Friar Minor and the Legation to Constantinople (1272)
Jerome of Ascoli’s career shifted when he was entrusted with high diplomatic missions. In 1272, Pope Blessed Gregory X sent him to Constantinople at the head of a delegation to prepare the participation of the Greeks in the forthcoming union council.[24][25] The mission succeeded: on Christmas Eve 1273, the Greek clergy subscribed in Constantinople to the commitment to return to Roman obedience, and the legates carried this act to the Second Council of Lyon, where the union was solemnly proclaimed on July 6, 1274.[26]
This stay in Byzantium made Jerome a connoisseur of the Eastern question — experience that sheds light on the policy of openness toward the East he would pursue as pope. Few men in the curia knew the Eastern Churches and the routes of the Levant better than he did.
Minister General after Saint Bonaventure (1274)
At Lyon in 1274, as Saint Bonaventure — minister general of the Franciscans and great doctor of the order — died in the midst of the council, it was Jerome of Ascoli who succeeded him as head of the Friars Minor.[27][28] Leading the Franciscan order in the wake of Bonaventure, during a period still marked by debates on poverty, required authority and balance. Jerome maintained this leadership until May 1279, when he ceded the office to Bonagrazia of San Giovanni in Persiceto.[29]
It was during this generalate that Jerome took part, as an expert, in preparing the great Franciscan bull of Nicholas III, Exiit qui seminat (1279) on evangelical poverty — a text at the heart of the life of the order he led.[30]
Cardinal of Nicholas III, then of Martin IV
His fidelity and competence earned him the red hat. On March 12, 1278, Pope Pope Nicholas III created him cardinal-priest of the title of Santa Pudenziana, while he was on a mission in France to restore peace between France and Castile.[31][32] Three years later, in 1281, Pope Martin IV promoted him to cardinal-bishop of Palestrina (Preneste).[33] Having become one of the most experienced cardinals of the curia, the Franciscan of Ascoli was now papabile.
The Election of 1288
The Long Vacancy after Honorius IV
Upon the death of Pope Honorius IV on April 3, 1287, the See of Peter remained vacant for nearly ten months.[34][35] The cause was tragic: gathered in Rome at the palace near Saint Sabina on the Aventine Hill, the cardinals were decimated by an epidemic during the summer of 1287; six of them died, and the conclave broke up.[36] Only six or seven cardinals survived to resume deliberations in the winter.
Refusal, then Acceptance
On February 15, 1288, the surviving cardinals unanimously elected Cardinal Jerome of Ascoli.[37][38] But the elect, out of humility, refused the office and persisted in his refusal for a whole week. The cardinals then re-elected him a second time, on February 22, 1288, the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter; this time, Jerome accepted and was crowned the same day.[39][40] This initial refusal, far from being a mere formality, struck contemporaries: the first Franciscan pope ascended the throne reluctantly, faithful to the spirit of minority characteristic of his order.
The Name Nicholas, in Memory of Nicholas III
The elected pope chose to reign under the name Nicholas, “in pious remembrance of Nicholas III”, the Orsini pope who had made him cardinal ten years earlier.[41] The gesture expressed gratitude but perhaps also signaled loyalty to the Roman and familial policies of his benefactor—a loyalty that would later manifest, under another house, in the dominance of the Colonna.
The First Franciscan Pope and the Third Order
Supra montem: The Rule of the Third Order
Since Saint Francis, laypeople living in the world—married, artisans, merchants—had joined the Franciscan movement under the name of penitents, without a unified rule or clear status. On August 18, 1289, by the bull Supra montem, Nicholas IV gave this Third Order a common and definitive rule, largely based on the ancient text of 1221.[42][43] The bull regulated admission (a year of probation, profession of faith), prescribed a simple habit of humble cloth, gray or brown, and fixed days of fasting and prayer.
The act had a twofold significance. On one hand, it officially recognized Saint Francis as the founder of the Third Order, anchoring this vast lay movement within the Franciscan family.[44] On the other hand, it placed the penitents under the guidance of the Friars Minor, giving them unity of rule and direction.[45] Through this bull, the first Franciscan pope offered tens of thousands of laypeople a path of evangelical holiness in the world—one of the most enduring acts of his pontificate, since the Franciscan Third Order (today the Secular Franciscan Order) still exists.
A Pope of Franciscan and Marian Devotion
Nicholas IV governed as a Franciscan. He showered favors on the mendicant orders, promoted preaching and study, and nurtured a deep Marian piety that marked his artistic patronage. Treccani notes that the theme of the Incarnation and the Coronation of the Virgin, which he had depicted at Santa Maria Maggiore, “well reflected the pope’s profound Marian devotion.”[46][47] The Franciscan poverty and the splendor of Marian worship were not opposed in him: they expressed the same spiritual intensity.
Missionary Opening Toward the East
The Embassy of Rabban Bar Sauma (1288)
The most extraordinary episode of the pontificate was the arrival in Rome of a Mongol ambassador. The Ilkhan of Persia Arghun, seeking an alliance with the Christian West against the Mamluks of Egypt, had dispatched an elderly Nestorian monk born in China, Rabban Bar Sauma.[48] Arriving too late to meet Honorius IV, the monk waited for the election by discussing theology with the cardinals and visiting the tombs of the Apostles.
Once Nicholas IV was elected, the reception was warm. The pope authorized Bar Sauma to celebrate his own liturgy in the capital of Latin Christendom, and on Palm Sunday 1288, he personally gave him communion.[49] The gesture was deeply significant: a pope of Rome communing an Eastern Christian, envoy of a Mongol sovereign, at the heart of Saint Peter’s. Nicholas IV entrusted the monk with gifts and gave a precious tiara for the Nestorian patriarch Mar Yahballaha.[50] The dream of a great Mongol-Christian alliance never materialized; yet this encounter remains one of the most striking moments of medieval dialogue between East and West.
John of Montecorvino, First Evangelizer of China
Upon Bar Sauma’s return, Nicholas IV decided to send his own missionaries to Asia. In 1289, he entrusted the Franciscan John of Montecorvino with a mission as legate, bearing letters for the khan Kublai, the Ilkhan Arghun, the king of Armenia, and the Jacobite patriarch.[51] Departing in 1289, Montecorvino reached China and founded in Khanbaliq (Beijing) the first Catholic Church in the Far East, building churches, baptizing thousands of faithful, and translating the New Testament and the Psalms.[52] He was named archbishop of Beijing in 1307 by Clement V.
“I have built a church in the city of Khanbaliq, where the king has his principal residence. [...] I have baptized, as far as I can estimate, some six thousand people.” — John of Montecorvino, first letter from Khanbaliq (Beijing), January 8, 1305[53]
This isolated and fragile seed would scarcely survive the upheavals in Asia; but it marks Nicholas IV as the founding pope of Catholic missions in China, more than two centuries before the Jesuits of Matteo Ricci.
Other Missionary Fronts
Nicholas IV’s missionary zeal was not limited to China. He sent friars to the Bulgarians, the Tatars, the Ethiopians, and Eastern Christians, multiplying contacts between Rome and the peoples on the margins of Christendom.[54][55] This all-encompassing evangelization policy, driven by the momentum of the mendicant orders, makes his pontificate a high point of the missionary expansion at the close of the 13th century.
The Impossible Crusade and the Fall of Acre (1291)
Calls for Crusade
From the beginning of his pontificate, Nicholas IV sought to be the crusading pope. The situation in the Holy Land was desperate: the Mamluks of Sultan Qalawun, then his son al-Ashraf Khalil, were reducing the last Frankish strongholds one by one. In 1289, the fall of Tripoli sounded the alarm. The pope multiplied calls to Christian princes, levied tithes, armed galleys, and tried to rally the West.[56][57] King Edward I of England declared himself ready to depart; a large expedition was even planned for 1293.[58]
The Fall of Saint John of Acre
All this came too late. On May 18, 1291, after a fierce siege, Saint John of Acre — capital of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and the last major Christian stronghold in the Holy Land — fell to the Mamluk army.[59][60] With it collapsed the final Frankish positions: Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Tortosa. Nearly two centuries after the capture of Jerusalem by the First Crusade (1099), the adventure of the Latin States of the East came to an end.
“After the fall of Ptolemais in 1291, he called upon all Christian princes to take up arms against the Muslim, and armed twenty ships.” — Catholic Encyclopedia, article Pope Nicholas IV[61]
Faced with disaster, Nicholas IV redoubled his efforts: new calls, coalition projects, encouragement to military orders. But Europe, divided by the War of the Sicilian Vespers and weary of crusades, did not respond. The Franciscan pope died without having been able to reclaim the Holy Land — a failure not his alone, but that of all Christendom.
The Government of the Church and Rome
Coelestis altitudo: Half of the Revenues to the Cardinals
The most consequential institutional act was the constitution Coelestis altitudo potentiae, dated 18 July 1289. By this decree, Nicholas IV assigned the College of Cardinals half of all the revenues of the Holy See and a share in their financial administration.[62][63] The pope also ordered a revision of the venerable Liber censuum, which was a century old, to erase obsolete dues.[64]
This measure reflected the rising power of the Sacred College, which had become a true governing body alongside the pope. But by endowing the cardinals with their own wealth and financial autonomy, it laid the groundwork, according to historians, for the independence—and ambitions—of a college that would wield great influence in the turbulent conclaves of the following century.[65]
The Coronation of Charles II of Anjou (1289)
On the Italian political chessboard, Nicholas IV pursued a policy favorable to the House of Anjou. On 29 May 1289, Pentecost Sunday, he crowned Charles II of Anjou king of Sicily and Naples at Rieti, absolving him of censures and attempting to resolve the long-standing conflict born from the Sicilian Vespers of 1282.[66][67] The pope sought to arbitrate between the Angevins, Aragonese, and Habsburgs, without succeeding in ending a war that poisoned the Mediterranean and distracted the West from the crusade.
Universities and Condemnations
Concerned with scholarship, Nicholas IV supported the universities. He confirmed and favored notably those of Montpellier and Lisbon-Coimbra, granting several studia the licentia ubique docendi—the right to teach throughout Christendom.[68][69] On the doctrinal front, in 1290 he renewed the condemnation of the sect of the Apostolics (Apostolici), those “false apostles” who claimed to imitate primitive poverty literally while defying Church authority.[70]
The table below summarizes the main acts of governance during the pontificate.
| Act | Date | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Constitution Coelestis altitudo | 18 July 1289 | Half of the Holy See’s revenues to the College of Cardinals |
| Bull Supra montem | 18 August 1289 | Definitive rule of the Third Order of Saint Francis |
| Coronation of Charles II of Anjou | 29 May 1289 | King of Sicily and Naples, at Rieti |
| Mission of John of Montecorvino | 1289 | First Catholic Church in China |
| Condemnation of the Apostolics | 1290 | Repression of a heterodox poverty sect |
| Calls for Crusade / 20 galleys | 1290-1291 | Ineffective response to the fall of Acre |
The Pope of the Colonna
The Colonna at the Summit
A notable fact: Nicholas IV had no familial ties to the Colonna—so this cannot strictly be called nepotism.[71] Yet the pope elevated this great Roman family to unparalleled power. As early as 16 May 1288, he made the young Pietro Colonna a cardinal; he entrusted Stefano Colonna with the governorship of the Romagna (1289), Giovanni Colonna with the March of Ancona, and other close clan members with the highest offices of the Papal States.[72][73] The Curia and provinces seemed to fall under the control of a single house.
| Colonna Member | Office Received under Nicholas IV |
|---|---|
| Pietro Colonna | Cardinal-Deacon (16 May 1288) |
| Stefano Colonna | Rector of Romagna (1289) |
| Giovanni Colonna | Rector of the March of Ancona |
| Agapito Colonna | Vicar of the March |
The Column Caricature
This dominance struck contemporaries so strongly that it inspired a famous satire. The mocking minds of Rome depicted the pope trapped inside a column—the telling emblem of the Colonna—from which only his tiara-crowned head emerged.[74][75] The image said it all: a pontiff reduced, prisoner of a clan, barely visible behind the family column. It is one of the earliest major examples of political caricature applied to the papacy.
A Nuanced Judgment
Should Nicholas IV be condemned for this? The answer requires nuance. The pope did not enrich his own family—he had neither cardinal brothers nor rector nephews, unlike Nicholas III. His fault was rather to govern through a faction, relying on the Colonna’s strength to hold Rome and the Papal States, in a city torn by rivalries among great houses.
“His reign was not marked by sufficient independence, due to the influence of the Colonna.” — Catholic Encyclopedia, article Pope Nicholas IV[76]
The tragic downside of this policy would erupt after him: the conflict between the Colonna and Boniface VIII that would bloodily scar Rome at the century’s end.
The Builder and Patron: Santa Maria Maggiore and the Lateran
The Coronation of the Virgin
A great patron, Nicholas IV made Santa Maria Maggiore the jewel of his pontificate. He entrusted the artist Jacopo Torriti with decorating the apse, adorned with a splendid mosaic of the Coronation of the Virgin by Christ, surrounded by angels and saints.[77][78] Completed after the pope’s death, around 1295-1296, this mosaic remains “the most important surviving example of Roman mosaic art from the late Middle Ages.”[79] The pope himself is depicted among the saints, alongside Saint Peter and Saint Paul; Cardinal Giacomo Colonna, who completed the work, had himself portrayed opposite, in the same mosaic.[80][81]
The Lateran and Franciscan Memory
At Saint John Lateran, Nicholas IV completed restorations begun by his predecessors and also commissioned Torriti to execute the great mosaic of the apse.[82][83] He had, in mosaic letters, the memory of the works engraved—and, as a sign of his Franciscan fidelity, the reminder of Innocent III’s dream in which Saint Francis supports the Lateran basilica on his shoulder as it threatens to collapse.[84] The first Franciscan pope thus inscribed, at the heart of the pope’s cathedral, the founding image of his order.
Death (April 1292) and the Long Vacancy
Death in Rome
Nicholas IV died in Rome, in the papal palace he had built near Santa Maria Maggiore, on April 4, 1292, at about sixty-four years of age.[85][86] In keeping with his Marian devotion, he wished to be buried in the basilica of the Virgin he had beautified. His original tomb disappeared; it was the popes of the late 16th century, notably Sixtus V—another Friar Minor from the March of Ancona—who erected the funerary monument seen today at Santa Maria Maggiore.[87] His entire life is summed up in the words engraved on his epitaph:
“Here lies Nicholas IV, son of Saint Francis.” — Epitaph of Nicholas IV, basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome[88]
Twenty-seven Months Without a Pope
The death of Nicholas IV opened one of the longest vacancies in the history of the papacy. Divided between the factions of the Colonna and the Orsini, paralyzed by their rivalries, the cardinals took twenty-seven months to reach agreement.[89] It was only in July 1294 that they unexpectedly elected an elderly hermit renowned for his holiness, Pietro da Morrone, who became Celestine V—only to abdicate five months later, paving the way for the tragic pontificate of Boniface VIII. The partisan dependence that Nicholas IV had allowed to take root thus bore bitter fruit after him.
Timeline of the Life of Nicholas IV
- September 30, 1227Birth in LiscianoGirolamo Masci, Jerome of Ascoli
He was born into a modest family in the March of Ancona, near Ascoli Piceno, and entered the Friars Minor at a young age.
- 1272Legation to Constantinoplefor Gregory X
He prepared the union with the Greeks, sealed at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274.
- 1274Minister General of the Franciscansafter Saint Bonaventure
At Lyon, he succeeded the great doctor Bonaventure as head of the Franciscan order, who died during the council.
- March 12, 1278Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenzianaby Nicholas III
Created cardinal during a mission in France, he became cardinal-bishop of Palestrina in 1281 under Martin IV.
- February 22, 1288Elected Pope, First Franciscanafter a week of refusal
Elected on February 15, he initially refused, then accepted on February 22, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, taking the name Nicholas IV.
- Palm Sunday 1288Communion to Rabban Bar Saumathe Mongol ambassador
He received the envoy of Ilkhan Arghun and personally gave him communion in Rome.
- May 29, 1289Coronation of Charles II of Anjouin Rieti, Pentecost Day
He crowned the king of Sicily and Naples and attempted to resolve the conflict of the Sicilian Vespers.
- July 18, 1289Constitution Coelestis altitudoshared revenues
He assigned half of the Holy See’s revenues to the College of Cardinals.
- August 18, 1289Bull Supra montemthe rule of the Third Order
He gave the Franciscan Third Order its definitive rule and recognized Saint Francis as its founder.
- 1289Sending of John of Montecorvino to Chinathe first Catholic mission to the Far East
The Franciscan left as legate to the khan; he would found the first Catholic Church in Beijing.
- May 18, 1291Fall of Saint John of Acreend of the Latin East states
The last major Christian stronghold in the Holy Land fell; the pope’s calls for a crusade remained unheeded.
- April 4, 1292Death in Romeburial at Santa Maria Maggiore
He died near the basilica he had beautified; a twenty-seven-month vacancy followed before Celestine V.
Sources and Bibliography
Reference Sources
- Treccani, Enciclopedia dei Papi, "Niccolò IV" — the most comprehensive scholarly synthesis on his birth, Franciscan career, legation to Constantinople, generalate, pontificate, the Colonna family, and patronage.[90]
- Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent), "Pope Nicholas IV" (1911) — the classic factual framework on his career, election, crusade, missions, and overall assessment.[91]
- Encyclopædia Britannica and Encyclopedia.com (New Catholic Encyclopedia), "Nicholas IV" — concise entries on the first Franciscan pope, Coelestis altitudo, the Colonna, and the fall of Acre.[92][93]
On the Missions and Opening to the East
| Source | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Account of Rabban Bar Sauma (Syriac chronicle) | Embassy of Ilkhan Arghun, communion given by Nicholas IV at Palm Sunday 1288 |
| Sources on John of Montecorvino | Mission of 1289, foundation of the Church of Khanbaliq (Beijing) |
| Bull Supra montem (Franciscan Archive) | Definitive rule of the Third Order, Saint Francis as founder |
On Art and Memory
- Jacopo Torriti, mosaics in the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore (Coronation of the Virgin) and of Saint John Lateran, commissions by Nicholas IV.[94]
- Sixtus V, funerary monument erected at Santa Maria Maggiore in memory of Nicholas IV.[95]
For Further Study
- Pope Honorius IV (1285-1287) — his predecessor, whose death opened the ten-month vacancy.
- Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280) — the Orsini pope who made Jerome of Ascoli a cardinal and whose name he took.
- Pope Martin IV (1281-1285) — the pope who promoted him to cardinal-bishop of Palestrina.
- Pope Celestine V (1294) — the hermit elected after twenty-seven months of vacancy, following Nicholas IV.
- Pope Boniface VIII — the pontiff whose conflict with the Colonna prolonged the fractures of Nicholas IV’s reign.
- The Second Council of Lyon (1274) — the union with the Greeks that Jerome of Ascoli prepared in Constantinople.
- The Crusades (1095-1291) — the adventure of the Latin states in the East, ended by the fall of Acre under Nicholas IV.
- Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274) — the Franciscan minister general whom Jerome of Ascoli succeeded.
- The Papal States — the territorial framework governed under Nicholas IV by the Colonna rectorates.
Notes and References
Enciclopedia dei Papi, "Niccolò IV", Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, Rome, 2000: born near Lisciano (Ascoli Piceno), around 1225-1230 (traditional date September 30, 1227); nickname Masci attested only in modern times, contemporary sources call him "Girolamo d'Ascoli"; theological formation (commentary on the Sentences, sermons at the Casanatense); provincial of Slavonia (Dalmatia) 1272-1274; legation to Constantinople on behalf of Gregory X (subscription of the Greek clergy on Christmas Eve 1273, union decrees read at Lyon on July 6, 1274); minister general of the Friars Minor (1274) after Bonaventure, until May 1279 (succeeded by Bonagrazia da Persiceto); cardinal-priest of Santa Pudenziana on March 12, 1278 (Nicholas III), cardinal-bishop of Palestrina (1281, Martin IV); election early 1288 after a ten-month vacancy, coronation on February 22, 1288 (Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter), name chosen in reference to Nicholas III; favor to the Colonna (Pietro cardinal, Stefano rector of Romagna 1289, Giovanni rector of the Marches, Agapito vicar), without family relation, hence the "fama di papa nepotista"; coronation of Charles II of Anjou at Rieti on May 29, 1289 (Pentecost); crusade and fall of Acre on May 18, 1291; mission of John of Montecorvino in China (1289); bull Supra montem on the Third Order (Saint Francis founder); revision of the Liber censuum and sharing of revenues between the pontiff and the mensa collegii of the cardinals; patronage (Torriti mosaic of the Coronation of the Virgin at Santa Maria Maggiore completed by Cardinal Giacomo Colonna, apse and epigraph of the Lateran with the dream of Innocent III and Saint Francis supporting the basilica); died April 4, 1292, burial at Santa Maria Maggiore. URL: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/niccolo-iv_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)/.
1 4 14 19 22 23 25 26 28 29 30 32 35 40 43 44 46 58 64 66 68 71 72 78 81 82 84 85 90Catholic Encyclopedia, "Pope Nicholas IV", vol. XI, Robert Appleton Company, New York, 1911, reproduced by New Advent: Girolamo Masci, born in Ascoli in the March of Ancona, "of humble extraction," entered the Franciscans young; delegate to Constantinople in 1272 for the Council of Lyon; successor of Saint Bonaventure as minister general (1274); cardinal-priest of Santa Pudenziana (1278) during a mission in France for peace between France and Castile, bishop of Palestrina (1281, Martin IV); elected February 15, 1288, after refusal re-elected and accepted; first Franciscan pope, name taken "in loving remembrance of Nicholas III"; coronation of Charles II at Rieti on May 29, 1289; after the fall of Ptolemais (Acre) in 1291, "called upon all the Christian princes to take up arms against the Mussulman" and armed twenty ships; missionaries sent (John of Montecorvino to Bulgarians, Ethiopians, Tatars, and Chinese); constitution of July 18, 1289 granting cardinals half of the papal revenues; renewal of the condemnation of the Apostolici (1290); judgment: reign "not characterized by sufficient independence" due to the influence of the Colonna; died in Rome April 4, 1292, burial at Santa Maria Maggiore, monument later erected by Sixtus V. URL: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11057a.htm.
2 10 13 18 21 24 27 31 33 37 41 54 57 61 62 67 75 76 87 91 95Bull Supra montem of Nicholas IV (August 18, 1289), reference text (Franciscan Archive, bullarium): approval and unification of the Rule of the Order of Penitents (Third Order), substantially identical to the original text of 1221; conditions of admission (year of probation, profession of faith), simple habit of humble gray or brown cloth, days of fasting; recognition of Saint Francis as founder of the Third Order; placing the Third Order under the guidance of the Friars Minor, with unity of rule and direction. URL: https://franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/smonteme.html.
3 42 45Rabban Bar Sauma, embassy of 1287-1288 (Syriac account of the life of Bar Sauma and Mar Yahballaha III): Nestorian monk born in China, sent by the Ilkhan of Persia Arghun to propose a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Mamluks of Egypt; arrived in Rome too late for Honorius IV, he negotiated with the cardinals during the vacancy and visited Saint Peter’s; after the election of Nicholas IV, received warmly, authorized to celebrate his own liturgy, received communion from the pope on Palm Sunday 1288; entrusted with gifts and a precious tiara for the Nestorian patriarch Mar Yahballaha; the Mongol-Christian alliance ultimately came to nothing. Summary based on the encyclopedic article “Rabban Bar Sauma”.
5 48 49 50John of Montecorvino, mission of 1289: Franciscan who joined the order in 1280; Nicholas IV entrusted him in 1289 with a legate mission bearing letters for Kublai Khan, Ilkhan Arghun, the King of Armenia, and the Jacobite patriarch; departed in 1289 (companions Nicholas of Pistoia and Peter of Lucalongo), he reached India then Khanbaliq (Beijing) around 1294, built the first Catholic churches there, baptized several thousand faithful, translated the New Testament and the Psalms; appointed archbishop of Khanbaliq by Clement V in 1307. Based on the encyclopedic article “John of Montecorvino” and Franciscan sources.
6 16 51 52Fall of Saint-Jean-d’Acre, May 18, 1291: after a long siege, the Mamluk army of al-Ashraf Khalil captured Acre, capital and last major stronghold of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem; subsequent fall of the last Frankish positions (Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Tortosa); end of nearly two centuries of Latin states in the East born from the First Crusade (1099). Historical summary based on siege chronicles and reference notices on the end of the Crusades.
7 59New Catholic Encyclopedia, "Nicholas IV, Pope," reproduced by Encyclopedia.com: pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292, first Franciscan; born Girolamo Masci on September 30, 1227 in Ascoli; constitution Coelestis altitudo potentiae (1289) granting cardinals half of the papal revenues, marking the growing importance of the Sacred College; alliance with the Colonna (Pietro Colonna cardinal), hence the satire depicting "the pope as enclosed in a column (the Colonna’s insignia), with only his tiara-crowned head emerging"; renewed persecution of the Apostolici / false apostles (1290); crusade launched after the fall of Tripoli (April 1289), sending 20 ships; the fall of Acre (May 1291) "ended the agonizing existence of the Christian strongholds Outremer"; pope "pious and learned," patron of distinguished artists, whose political initiatives largely failed; after his death, 27 months of vacancy before the election of Celestine V; epitaph "Here lies Nicholas IV son of St. Francis"; burial at Santa Maria Maggiore. URL: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nicholas-iv-pope.
8 12 15 17 20 34 55 56 60 63 65 69 70 73 86 88 89 93Contemporary satire of Nicholas IV: the undue influence exercised in Rome by the Colonna family, so evident during the pope’s lifetime, inspired the “Roman wits” to a caricature depicting Nicholas IV embedded in a column — the speaking emblem of the Colonna family — from which only his head crowned with the tiara emerged. Based on the Catholic Encyclopedia (“Pope Nicholas IV”) and the New Catholic Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia.com). One of the earliest examples of political caricature applied to a pope.
9 74Jacopo Torriti, mosaic of the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore, Coronation of the Virgin, commissioned by Nicholas IV, completed around 1295-1296: Christ crowns the Virgin in a central medallion surrounded by angels and saints; Nicholas IV is depicted alongside Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Cardinal Giacomo Colonna (who completed the work) opposite; “the most important surviving example of Roman mosaic art from the late Middle Ages.” Torriti also executed, for Nicholas IV, the mosaic of the apse of Saint John Lateran (signed 1291, largely restored in 1878). Based on the encyclopedic article “Jacopo Torriti” and the Enciclopedia dei Papi (Treccani).
11 47 77 79 80 83 94PopeHistory.com, “Pope Nicholas IV — The 191st Pope”: conclave convened in Rome after the death of Honorius IV (April 3, 1287) at the palace near Santa Sabina on the Aventine; cardinals decimated by an epidemic during the summer of 1287, six electors died; the seven survivors unanimously elected Girolamo Masci on February 15, 1288; persistent refusal for a week, acceptance and coronation on February 22, 1288; consistory of May 16, 1288 creating six cardinals including Pietro Colonna and Napoleone Orsini. URL: https://popehistory.com/popes/pope-nicholas-iv/.
36 38 39John of Montecorvino, first letter from Khanbaliq (Cambaliech, Beijing), dated January 8, 1305, in the authoritative English translation by Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Hakluyt Society, London, 1866, vol. I: original “I have built a church in the city of Cambaliech, in which the king has his chief residence […]. I have baptized there, as well as I can estimate, up to this time some 6000 persons”; the missionary also describes the purchase and education of one hundred fifty young boys trained in Latin and liturgical chant. This letter, thirteen years after the death of Nicholas IV, reports on the fruits of the mission that the Franciscan pope had launched in 1289. Text reproduced by the Fordham Medieval Sourcebook. URL: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/corvino1.asp.
53Encyclopædia Britannica, "Nicholas IV (pope)": Girolamo Masci, born September 30, 1227 near Ascoli Piceno, first Franciscan pope; minister for Dalmatia, sent by Gregory X to Constantinople in 1272; minister general of the Franciscans (1274-1279); cardinal-bishop of Palestrina (Martin IV, 1281); elected February 22, 1288 after nearly eleven months of vacancy; reliance on the Colonna; 1289 bull granting the College of Cardinals half of the Church’s revenues and a share of administration; 1290 bull against the sect of the Apostolici; failure to revive the crusade, fall of Acre in 1291; sending Giovanni da Montecorvino to the court of Kublai Khan (first Catholic church in China); restoration of the Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore basilicas; died in Rome April 4, 1292. URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicholas-IV.
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