Which position did Pope Nicholas III hold between May 1273 and Oct 1276?
Pope Nicholas III Pope Nicholas III ( ; c . 1225 – 22 August 1280 ) , born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini , was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 November 1277 to his death . He was a Roman nobleman who had served under eight popes , been made Cardinal-Deacon of St . Nicola in Carcere Tulliano by Pope Innocent IV ( 1243–54 ) , protector of the Franciscans by Pope Alexander IV ( 1254–61 ) , inquisitor-general by Pope Urban IV ( 1261–64 ) , and succeeded Pope John XXI ( 1276–77 ) after a six-month vacancy in the Holy See resolved in the papal election of 1277 , largely through family influence . Personal life . The future pope , Giovanni Gaetano Orsini , was born in Rome , a member of the prominent Orsini family of Italy , the eldest son of Roman nobleman Matteo Rosso Orsini by his first wife , Perna Caetani . His father was Lord of Vicovaro , Licenza , Bardella , Cantalupo , Roccagiovine , Galera , Fornello , Castel SantAngelo di Tivoli , Nettuno , Civitella , Bomarzo , San Polo and Castelfoglia , of Nerola from 1235 ; Lord of Mugnano , Santangelo and Monterotondo ; Senator of Rome 1241-1243 . His brother Giordano was named Cardinal Deacon of San Eustachio by Nicholas III on 12 March 1278 . His brother Gentile became Lord of Mugnano , Penna , Nettuno and Pitigliano . Another brother , Matteo Rosso of Montegiordano , was Senator of Rome ( probably ) in 1279 , War Captain of Todi , and Podestà of Siena in 1281 . There were five other younger brothers and two sisters . The Orsini family had already produced several popes : Stephen II ( 752-757 ) , Paul I ( 757-767 ) and Celestine III ( 1191-1198 ) . He did not , as some scholars used to think , study at Paris—though his nephew did . His career shows no indication that he was a legal professional or a theologian . He never became a priest , until he became pope in 1277 . Cardinalate . Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was one of a dozen men created a cardinal by Pope Innocent IV ( Sinibaldo Fieschi ) in his first Consistory for the creation of cardinals , on Saturday , May 28 , 1244 , and was assigned the Deaconry of San Nicola in Carcere . He was a Canon and Prebendary of York , and also of Soissons and Laon In the summer of 1244 , he was one of five cardinals who fled to Genoa with Pope Innocent IV . He was at Lyons , and was present in June and July for the Ecumenical Council of Lyons . Cardinal Orsini and the Curia did not return to Italy until May 1251—after the death of Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen . After spending the summer in Genoa , Milan and Brescia , they finally reached Perugia in November 1251 , where the Papal Court resided continuously until April 1253 . The Curia returned to Rome in mid-October , where Pope and Curia resided continually until the end of April , 1254 . In May they went on pilgrimage to Assisi , then visited Anagni , where the Court stayed from June until the second week in October , when they went off in pursuit of Manfred , the claimant to the Hohenstaufen imperial crown . At the beginning of December , the Battle of Foggia took place , and the papal army was routed . Innocent IV died in Naples , where he had taken refuge , on 7 December 1254 , and the meeting to elect his successor was therefore held in Naples in the palace in which he had died . Voting began on Friday , 11 December , with ten of the twelve cardinals present , but no candidate received the required votes . But on Saturday , 12 December , Cardinal Rinaldo dei Conti di Segni , the nephew of Pope Gregory IX , who had a reputation of a conciliator , was elected pope . He chose to be called Alexander IV and was crowned on Sunday , December 20 , 1254 , in the Cathedral of Naples . As for Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini , in his first eleven and a half years as a cardinal , he had only spent six months in the city of Rome . A peripatetic Curia had its disadvantages . Pope Alexander IV and the Curia continued to live in Naples , until the first week of June 1255 when they returned to Anagni , and it was not until mid-November that the Pope was back in Rome . There the Curia stayed until the end of May , 1256 , when it was off to Anagni for the summer , until the beginning of December . The problem was that Rome was in the hands of Senator Brancaleone degli Andalo , Count of Casalecchio , since 1252 , and the Ghibbelines and Alexander was repeatedly driven out by unruly mobs . Rome was home again until the end of May , 1257 , until the summer vacation at Viterbo began . The vacation lasted until the end of October , 1258 , when the Court visited Anagni again ; they stayed until the beginning of November , 1260 . The Pope then was able to reside at the Lateran until the first week of May , 1261 , when the Court was off to Viterbo again . Alexander IV died at Viterbo on 25 May 1261 . A total of nineteen months was spent in Rome , out of a total of seventy-eight months . Alexander had created no new cardinals , and so the Electoral meeting following his death had only eight participants . The Election was a long-drawn-out one , lasting from 25 May to 29 August 1261 . Unable to agree on one of themselves , the Cardinals chose Jacques Pantaléon , the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem , who , since 1255 , was Papal Legate with the Crusade in the Holy Land . He became Pope Urban IV , and was crowned at Viterbo on 4 September 1261 . Cardinal Orsini was named General Inquisitor by Urban IV on November 2 , 1262 , the first known Grand Inquisitor . Cardinal Orsini attended the first Conclave of 1268-1271 , and was one of the cardinals who signed the letter of complaint against the authorities and people of Viterbo for their treatment of the cardinals and the Curia . He was one of the six cardinals who were chosen by the rest of the Sacred College on September 1 , 1271 , to select a compromise candidate for election as pope . He was therefore instrumental in bringing to the papal throne the Archdeacon of Liège , Teobaldo Visconti , who was not a cardinal , and who was not even in Italy , but in the Holy Land on crusade . He traveled with the Curia to France in 1273 , and was present at the Ecumenical Council of Lyons . He was not one of the cardinals in the suite of Pope Gregory X when he left Lyons in 1275 to return to Rome , nor was he at Arezzo where the Pope died on 10 January 1276 , before reaching the City . He did not attend the first conclave which began on 20 January 1276 , and concluded the next day with the election of Peter of Tarantaise , who became Pope Innocent V . Pope Innocent V ( Peter of Tarantaise ) died in Rome at the Lateran , on 22 June 22 , 1276 . The second Conclave of 1276 began , therefore , according to the rules set down by Pope Gregory X , on July 2 . Thirteen cardinals were present , including Giovanni Gaetano Orsini . King Charles I of Sicily acted as the Governor of the Conclave , in which position he is said to have been rigorous , but understandably partisan in favor of the French faction . Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi of Genoa was elected on July 11 and chose the name Pope Adrian V . He lived only thirty-nine days longer , dying at Viterbo , where he had gone to meet King Rudolf and avoid the summer heat of Rome . According to Bernardus Guidonis , he was never ordained priest , consecrated bishop or crowned pope ( nondum promotus in sacerdotem nec coronatus nec consecratus ) . His one memorable act was to suspend the Constitution of Gregory X Ubi periculum which regulated conclaves . He intended , on the advice of his cardinals , to improve Gregorys regulations . Cardinal Orsini was present at the discussion and decision . Shortly after his accession , moreover , Pope Adrian V had wanted King Charles I of Sicily to come to Viterbo to carry out the usual fealty , and sent the Suburbicarian Bishop of Sabina ( Bertrand de Saint Martin ) ; Cardinal Giovanni ( Orsini ) , Cardinal Deacon of Saint Nicholas in Carcere Tulliano ; and Cardinal Giacomo ( Savelli ) , Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin , to effect his wishes . Charles arrived in Viterbo from Rome on July 24 . Unfortunately , Pope Adrian died , on August 18 , leaving his negotiations with King Charles unfinished . The third Conclave of 1276 began at the beginning of September in Viterbo , where Adrian V had died . The opening ceremonies , which should have taken place on August 29 , had to be delayed for several days because of the riotous behavior of the people of Viterbo . Since Pope Adrian had created no new cardinals , the number of cardinals was twelve ; Cardinal Simon de Brion was still in France , serving as Papal Legate . Once the tumults had been put down , however , the cardinals did their business quickly . On September 8 , 1276 , the senior Cardinal-Bishop , Peter Julian of Lisbon , was elected on the first ballot . He chose to be called John XXI , and on September 20 he was crowned at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Viterbo by Cardinal Giovanni Caetano Orsini . Since John XXI was already a bishop , there was no ordination or consecration necessary . He was the fourth pope of 1276 . On 18 October , Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was appointed Archpriest of St . Peters , in place of Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi , who had recently died , and who may have been too ill to participate in the Conclave or the Coronation . Pope Adrian Vs suspension of the regulations of Gregory X , however imperfect they may have been , was under attack . Some critics even claimed that the cardinals who vouched for the truth of the suspension , including Cardinal Peter Julian , were liars , or that the revocation was uncanonical . These were probably the same troublemakers in the Curia who had instigated the disturbances that delayed the Conclave . John XXI immediately struck back , on 30 September 1276 , making it perfectly clear that the suspension had taken place and that it was valid . Ptolemy of Lucca states that the issue of this bull of revocation by John XXI was made at the suggestion of Cardinal Giovanni Caetano Orsini . The negotiations which Cardinal Giovanni Caetano had been engaged in with King Charles I were brought to a completion , and Charles swore his oath of fealty to Pope John on 7 October 1276 . It appeared that his reign was going to be a successful one , when one day in mid-May 1277 , while the Pope was in a new room which he had just had built in the Episcopal Palace in Viterbo , suddenly the roof caved in . There was nothing suspicious about this , since the palace had been under construction since 1268 and was still being worked on . The Pope was severely injured from the falling stones and timber . He lingered in pain for several days ( three , or six ) , and died on 20 May 1277 , exactly eight months after his coronation . He had named no cardinals . Yet another Conclave took place in Viterbo , therefore , with seven cardinals in attendance . Cardinal Simon de Brion was still in France as papal legate . But this was not an easy conclave . Three of the electors belonged to the Angevin faction , and three opposed it . The only surviving Cardinal-Bishop , the Benedictine Bertrand de Saint Martin , wavered back and forth , providing little leadership . The Conclave therefore went on for more than five and a half months . Finally , on the Feast of S . Catherine , 25 November 1277 , Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was elected . He chose the name Nicholas III . The new pope set out immediately for Rome . He was ordained a priest on December 18 , consecrated a bishop on December 19 , and crowned on the Feast of S . Stephen , 26 December . His election portended serious difficulties , for he was not a candidate of King Charles of Sicily . Quite the contrary , he believed that King Charles had entirely too much influence in church affairs and in the operation of the Papal States . Activities as pope . Politics . The lands under direct papal rule were threatened by surrounding powers . In the second quarter of the 13th century , they were threatened by the expansionist policies of the Emperor Frederick II , who aimed to unite his inheritance in the south ( Sicily and southern Italy ) with his acquisition of the Holy Roman Empire in northern Italy . He spent a great deal of time and energy attempting to gain control over Lombardy and Tuscany , which brought him into direct conflict with the Papacy . Frederick was repeatedly excommunicated by one pope after another . In order to drive off the Hohenstaufen , the Papacy contrived a deal with the brother of Louis IX of France , Charles of Anjou , Count of Provence , who was invited to Italy to assume the crown of Sicily and be a counterweight against the Empire . He was too successful , however , and the Papacy found itself in the deadly embrace of the Angevins . Nicholas prime goal was to loosen Charles Is grip on the Papacy , Rome , and the lands of the Church . Nicholas pontificate , though brief , was marked by several important events . He greatly strengthened the papal position in Italy . On 1 October 1273 , Rudolph I of Habsburg , the godson of Frederick II , had been elected King of Germany and King of the Romans . Pope Gregory X had recognized him as King , after some hard negotiation , but the imperial title and coronation were withheld . Pope Nicholas was willing to negotiate , but he refused to crown Rudolf as Emperor until Rudolph had acknowledged all the claims of the Church , including many that were quite dubious . The concordat with Rudolph I of Habsburg was concluded in May 1278 . In it the city of Bologna , the Romagna , and the exarchate of Ravenna were guaranteed to the papacy . According to the chronographer Bartholomew of Lucca ( Ptolemy of Lucca ) , he discussed with Rudolph , in general terms at least , the splitting the Holy Roman Empire into four separate kingdoms – Lombardy , Burgundy , Tuscia and Germany – where Rudolphs kingdom would be made hereditary and he himself would be recognized as Holy Roman Emperor . Nicholas III was even able to persuade King Charles I of Naples and Sicily to give up his position as Roman Senator in 1278 , at the conclusion of ten years of tenure , as well as the position of Papal Vicar for Tuscany . In July 1278 , Nicholas III issued an epoch-making constitution for the government of Rome , Fundamenta militantis which forbade foreigners from taking civil office . It depends for its justification not only on the biblical phrase , Tu es Petrus , et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam ( Matthew 16:18 ) , but also on the forged Donations of Constantine . Ecclesiastical . Nicholas father had been a personal friend of Francis of Assisi , and he himself had to focus much of his attention on the Franciscan order . More than 165 of his bulls and letters address the subject . Most importantly , he issued the papal bull Exiit qui seminat on 14 August 1279 , to settle the strife within the order between the parties of strict and relaxed observance . He repaired the Lateran Palace and the Vatican at enormous cost , and erected a beautiful country house at Soriano nel Cimino near Viterbo , where he died of a cardiovascular event ( sources differ on whether it was a heart-attack or a stroke ) . Nepotism . Nicholas III , though a man of learning noted for his strength of character , was known for his excessive nepotism . He elevated three of his closest relatives to the cardinalate and gave others important positions . This nepotism was lampooned both by Dante and in contemporary cartoons , depicting him in his fine robes with three little bears ( orsetti , a pun on the family name ) hanging on below . After the death of Nicholas III , in December , 1316 , his namesake Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was appointed a cardinal by Pope John XXII . This was not , of course , a case of nepotism . John XXII , was nonetheless a nepotist , having appointed five of his nephews to the cardinalate . Cardinals . Nicholas III created nine cardinals in one consistory celebrated on 12 March 1278 : - Ordonho Alvares , Archbishop of Braga – named Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati , † 21 December 1285 . - Bentivenga da Bentivengi , O.F.M. , Bishop of Todi – named Cardinal-Bishop of Albano , † 25 March 1289 . - Latino Malabranca Orsini , O.P. , nephew of Nicholas – named Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia e Velletri,† 10 August 1294 - Robert Kilwardby , O.P. , Archbishop of Canterbury – named Cardinal-Bishop of Porto and S . Rufina , † 12 September 1279 . - Gerard de Lessines , Bishop of Auxerre – named cardinal-bishop of Palestrina , † 18 July 1278 . - Gerardo Bianchi – named Cardinal-Priest of SS . XII Apostoli , then cardinal-bishop of Sabina ( 12 April 1281 ) , † 1 March 1302 . - Girolamo Masci , O.Min . – Minister General of the Franciscans . Named Cardinal-Priest of S . Pudenziana , then cardinal-bishop of Palestrina ( 12 April 1281 ) and Pope Nicholas IV ( 22 February 1288 ) , † 4 April 1292 - Giordano Orsini , brother of Pope Nicholas III – named Cardinal-Deacon of S . Eustachio , † 8 September 1287 . - Giacomo Colonna – named Cardinal-Deacon of S . Maria in Via Lata ; excommunicated and deposed on 10 May 1297 , restored as Cardinal-Deacon without a title on 15 December 1305 , † 14 August 1318 . Most of these new Cardinals were not of the French party , and among them were five members of religious orders . Two died before the next Conclave , which was to take place on the death of Nicholas III in 1280 , and the rest had to be terrorized into voting for a candidate of Charles I of Sicily . Death . Pope Nicholas III was stricken ill quite unexpectedly . The Curia was residing at the time in the city of Viterbo . Pope Nicholas was at his country retreat at Castro Soriano . According to the Chronicon Parmense he was suddenly deprived of consciousness and movement ( privatus subito omni sensu et motu ) . Bartholomeus ( Ptolemy ) of Lucca says , subito factus apoplecticus , sine loquela moritur ( suddenly stricken with apoplexy , he died without speaking ) . Nicholas was unable to make his confession , and died at his palace at Castro Soriano , in the diocese of Viterbo , on 22 August 1280 . He had been pope for two years , eight months , and twenty-eight days . His remains were taken to Rome , where he was buried in the Vatican Basilica , in the Chapel of S . Nicholas . There was an alternative story circulating , as was frequently the case in the sudden deaths of medieval and renaissance popes—that the pope had been poisoned . Portrayal in The Inferno . Dante , in The Inferno ( of the Divine Comedy ) , talks briefly to Nicholas III , who was condemned to spend eternity in the Third Bolgia of the Eighth Circle of Hell , reserved for those who committed simony , the ecclesiastical crime of paying for offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church . In Dantes story , the Simoniacs are placed head-first in holes , flames burning on the soles of their feet ( Canto XIX ) . Nicholas was the chief sinner in these pits , which is demonstrated by the height of the flames on his feet . At first he mistakes Dante for Pope Boniface VIII . When the confusion is cleared up , Nicholas informs Dante that he foresees the damnation ( for simony ) not only of Boniface VIII , but also Clement V , an even more corrupt pope .