Pope Nicholas III
1225 CE–1280 CE · Rome
Born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini of the powerful Roman family, Nicholas III was a long-serving cardinal and protector of the Franciscan order before his election. A vigorous and able pope, he restored the papacy's footing in Rome and the Papal States, curtailed Charles of Anjou's power by reclaiming the Roman senatorship and Romagna, and began rebuilding the Vatican area. His bull Exiit qui seminat addressed the contentious Franciscan poverty dispute. He was, however, openly accused of nepotism in advancing his relatives, for which Dante consigned him to the circle of the simoniacs. He died suddenly at Soriano nel Cimino.
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RomeרומאItaly
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Rome in this era
Between the 8th and 15th centuries Rome was the seat of the popes and capital of the Papal States, which grew from the Frankish king Pepin's grant of 756; Charlemagne was crowned emperor in St Peter's in 800. The city shrank far below its ancient size, and from 1309 to 1377 the popes resided at Avignon before returning to Rome.
About Rome
Rome, on the Tiber in central Italy, grew from an Iron Age settlement into the capital of the Roman Republic and then of an empire that by the 1st century CE ruled the whole Mediterranean. Its Jewish community, attested from the 2nd century BCE, is among the oldest in Europe. Christian tradition holds that the apostles Peter and Paul died there, and the city became the seat of the popes. After the Western Empire ended in 476 it passed to Gothic kings, to Byzantium and then to papal rule as capital of the Papal States, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1871. Vatican City, independent since 1929, lies within it.
In Rome at the same time
Pope Alexander IV, Pope Adrian V, Pope Honorius IV, Pope Bl. Gregory X, Pope Bl. Innocent V, Thomas Aquinas
Across the traditions, in Rome at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Pope Nicholas III’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Pope Nicholas III’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
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