Nicolas V
Born Tommaso Parentucelli with Sarzana towards 1398, pope of the March 6th 1447 with 1455. It put an end to the schism Antipape Felix {{V}} and it founded the Bibliothèque vaticane.
In its youth, it loses his father, doctor poor but talented, which prevents it from supplementing its studies in Bologna. Tutor with Florence of the families Strozzi and Albizzi, it meets there the most outstanding thinkers of his time.
Of return to Bologna, it finishes its studies of Master in theology and enters to the service of Niccolo Albergati, bishop of Bologna, becoming bibliographer for évêché. Parentucelli into practice puts its patrologic knowledge and scholastics at the time of the Concile of Florence, which enables him to dialog with the Greek bishops. The Eugene pope then entrusts to him diplomatic tasks of first importance, and after the death of this last, it succeeds and chooses the first name Nicolas to him.
Become the pope Nicolas , it sets up at Rome of new political and international balances. Manufacturer of fortifications and restorer of churches, it begins his pontificate by embellishing the big city and by inviting the painters, the architects and before all the writers. Recognized like only sovereign pontiff (1449), it stabilizes his relationship with Naples, and keeps a position of neutrality in Italy, until the peace of Lodi (1454).
Called le' “humanistic pope” , it has Lorenzo Valla at his court as an apostolic notary. He grants to the municipal leaders a certain number of privileges while keeping the control of the commune firmly. The œuves of Hérodote, Thucydide, Xénophon and Polybe are reintroduced in Western Europe thanks to its patronage.
Wounded by the damage made with the Greek culture, it tries without success to launch a crusade to deliver the Byzantines of the Turkish influence. For that, it gives on foot an effective army and increases the sunken tax ones.
Wanting to ensure the success of the catholic reform, it sends several legates, of which Nicolas de Cues, Jean Capistran and Guillaume d' Estouteville, in the north and the south of Germany, in England, and France. Having undertaken the rehabilitation of Jeanne d' Arc, her authority sees the crowning of Frederic III of the Holy roman Empire.
By the bubble Romanus Pontifex , it is posed as a referee Spanish and Portuguese empires and ensures the universal range of the authority of the pontiff, including in the christianization of native-born people and Moslems.
The contemporary historian Norman Cantor showed the pope of kindness towards the Portuguese delicatessens; he was nevertheless the continuator of Eugene IV, author of the bubble Sicut Dudum which prohibited the possession of men clearly. Paul III will write Sublimus Dei later to reaffirm this standpoint.
The end of its pontificate is however marked by the anxiety, because Stefano Porcaro, politician cultivated and favorite of the late pope Martin V, on several occasions tries to institute a republic in Rome. Patient but however not very old, it gathers around him the cardinals and summarizes the labors which had guided its life and its pontificate, before dying the March 25th 1455.
Free of any nepotism, it was of small size and weak physical constitution. Its piercing glance did not generate obedience; he was well more a man of letters a man of action. Its great generosity, its taste for difficult art and its policy options are worth to him nevertheless to be regarded as one of the most brilliant popes.
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See too
- Biography of Catholic Encyclopedia