Pope Nicholas IV

Pope Nicholas IV (Lisciano, near Ascoli Piceno, September 30, 1227 – April 4, 1292), born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan monk, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X (1271–76) in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as general of his order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Nicholas III (1277–80), Cardinal Bishop of Palestina by Pope Martin IV (1281–85), and succeeded Pope Honorius IV (1285–87) after a ten-months' vacancy in the papacy.

He was a pious, peace-loving monk with no ambition save for the Church, the crusades and the extirpation of heresy. He steered a middle course between the factions at Rome, and sought a settlement of the Sicilian question. In May 1289 he crowned King Charles II of Naples and Sicily (1285–1309) after the latter had expressly recognized papal suzerainty, and in February 1291 concluded a treaty with Alfonso III of Aragon (1285–91) and Philip IV of France (1285–1314) looking toward the expulsion of James II of Aragon (1285–96) from Sicily. The loss of Acre in 1291 stirred Nicholas IV to renewed enthusiasm for a crusade. He sent missionaries, among them the celebrated Franciscan missionary, John of Monte Corvino, to labour among the Bulgarians, Ethiopians, Tatars and Chinese.

Nicholas IV issued an important constitution on July 18, 1289, which granted to the cardinals one-half of all income accruing to the Roman see and a share in the financial management, and thereby paved the way for that independence of the College of Cardinals which, in the following century, was to be of detriment to the papacy.

Nicholas IV died in the palace which he had built beside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.