“to Homer and Plato.” Nicholas preached a crusade, and endeavoured to reconcile the mutual animosities of the Italian states, but without much success.
Nicholas conceived great plans for beautifying and developing Rome. He restored the walls and numerous churches, and began the rebuilding of the Vatican and St Peter’s. In undertaking these works Nicholas was moved by no vulgar motives, his idea being “to strengthen the weak faith of the people by the greatness of that which it sees.” The Romans, however, appreciated neither his motives nor their results, and in 1452 a formidable conspiracy for the overthrow of the papal government, under the leadership of Stefano Porcaro, was discovered and crushed. This revelation of disaffection, together with the fall of Constantinople, darkened the last years of Nicholas; “As Thomas of Sarzana,” he said, “I had more happiness in a day than now in a whole year.” He died on the 24th of March 1485.
See Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, vol. xiv. (1904), with full references; Cambridge Modern History, i. 76-78; and M. Creighton, History of the Papacy (London, 1882), vol. ii.
Nicholas V. (Pietro Rainalducci), antipope in Italy from 1328 to 1330 during the pontificate of John XXII. at Avignon, was a native of Corbara in the Abruzzi. He joined the Franciscan order after separating from his wife in 1310, and became famous as a preacher. He was elected through the influence of the excommunicated emperor, Louis the Bavarian, by an assembly of priests and laymen, and consecrated at St Peter’s on the 12th of May 1328 by the bishop of Venice. After spending four months in Rome, he withdrew with Louis to Viterbo and thence to Pisa, where he was guarded by the imperial vicar. He was excommunicated by John XXII. in April 1329, and sought refuge with Count Boniface of Donoratico near Piombino. Having obtained assurance of pardon, he presented a confession of his sins first to the archbishop of Pisa, and then (25th of August 1330) to the pope at Avignon. He remained in honourable imprisonment in the papal palace until his death in October 1333.
See F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 6, trans. by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900–1902); Baluzius, Vitae paparum Avenionensium, vol. 1 (Paris, 1693); J. B. Christophe, Histoire de la papauté pendant le XIV ième siècle, vol. 1 (Paris, 1853); E. Marcour, Anteil der Minoriten am Kampfe zwischen König Ludwig IV. von Bayern und Papst Johann XXII. (Emmerich, 1874); Eubel, “Der Gegenpapst Nicolaus V. u. seine Hierarchie,” in Hist. Jahrbuch, vol. 12 (1891). (C. H. Ha.)
NICHOLAS (1841–), King of Montenegro and the Berda, was born at the village of Niegush, the ancient home of the reigning family of Petrovitch-Niegush, on the 25th of September 1841. His father, Mirko Petrovitch, a celebrated Montenegrin
warrior, was elder brother to Danilo II., who left no male offspring.
After 1696, when the dignity of vladika, or prince-bishop,
became hereditary in the Petrovitch family, the sovereign
power had descended from uncle to nephew, the vladikas belonging
to the order of the “black clergy” who are forbidden to
marry. A change was introduced by Danilo II., who declined the
episcopal office, married and declared the principality hereditary
in the direct male line. Mirko Petrovitch having resigned his
claim to the throne, his son was nominated heir, and the old
system of succession was thus accidentally continued. Prince
Nicholas, who had been trained from infancy in martial and
athletic exercises, spent a portion of his early boyhood at Trieste
in the household of the Kuetitch family, to which his aunt, the
princess Darinka, wife of Danilo II., belonged. The princess was
an ardent advocate of French culture, and at her suggestion the
young heir of the vladikas was sent to the academy of Louis
le Grand in Paris. Unlike his contemporary, King Milan of
Servia, Prince Nicholas was little influenced in his tastes and
habits by his Parisian education; the young mountaineer,
whose keen patriotism, capability for leadership and poetic
talents early displayed themselves, showed no inclination for
the pleasures of the French capital, and eagerly looked forward
to returning to his native land. He was still in Paris when,
in consequence of the assassination of his uncle, he succeeded
as prince (August 13, 1860). In 1862 Montenegro was engaged
in an unfortunate struggle with Turkey; the prince distinguished
himself during the campaign, and on one occasion
narrowly escaped with his life. In the period of peace which
followed he carried out a series of military, administrative and
educational reforms. In 1867 he met the emperor Napoleon III.
at Paris, and in 1868 he undertook a journey to Russia, where
he received an affectionate welcome from the tsar, Alexander II.
He afterwards visited the courts of Berlin and Vienna. His
efforts to enlist the sympathies of the Russian imperial family
were productive of important results for Montenegro; considerable
subventions were granted by the tsar and tsaritsa for
educational and other purposes, and supplies of arms and
ammunition were sent to Cettigne. In 1871 Prince Dolgorouki
arrived at Montenegro on a special mission from the tsar, and
distributed large sums of money among the people. In 1869
Prince Nicholas, whose authority was now firmly established,
succeeded in preventing the impetuous mountaineers from
aiding the Krivoshians in their revolt against the Austrian
government (see Cattaro); similarly in 1897 he checked the
martial excitement caused by the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish
War. In 1876 he declared war against Turkey; his military
reputation was enhanced by the ensuing campaign, and still
more by that of 1877–78, during which he captured Nikshitch,
Antivari and Dulcigno. The war resulted in a considerable
extension of the Montenegrin frontier and the acquisition of
a seaboard on the Adriatic. In 1883 Prince Nicholas visited
the sultan, with whom he subsequently maintained the most
cordial relations; in 1896 he celebrated the bicentenary of the
Petrovitch dynasty, and in the same year he attended the
coronation of the tsar Nicholas II.; in May 1898 he visited Queen
Victoria at Windsor. In 1900 he assumed the title of “Royal
Highness.” On the 28th of August 1910, during the celebration
of his jubilee, he assumed the title of king, in accordance with
a petition from the Skupshtina. He was at the same time
gazetted field-marshal in the Russian army, an honour never
previously conferred on any foreigner except the great duke of
Wellington. The descendant of a long line of warriors, gifted
with a fine physique and a commanding presence, a successful
military leader and a graceful poet, King Nicholas possessed
many characteristics which awoke the enthusiasm of the impressionable
Servian race, while his merits as a statesman
received general recognition. His system of government, which
may be described as a benevolent despotism, was perhaps that
best suited to the character of his subjects. His historical
dramas, poems and ballads hold a recognized place in contemporary
Slavonic literature; among them are—Balkanska Tzaritza
and Kniaz Arvaniti (dramas); Haïdana, Potini Abenserage and
Pesnik i Vila (poems); Skupliene Pesme and Nova Kola (miscellaneous
songs). In November 1860 Prince Nicholas married
Milena, daughter of the voievode Petar Vukotitch. Of his three
sons, the eldest, Prince Danilo, married (July 27, 1899) Duchess
Jutta (Militza) of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; of his six daughters,
Princess Militza married the Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch,
Princess Stana, Duke George of Leuchtenberg, Princess Helena,
King Victor Emmanuel III. of Italy, and Princess Anka,
Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg.
(J. D. B.)
NICHOLAS I. [Nikolai Pavlovich], emperor of Russia (1796–1855),
eighth child of the emperor Paul I. and his wife Maria
Feodorovna, was born at Tsarskoe-Selo on the 25th of June
(July 6, N.S.) 1796. He was only five years old when his
father’s murder brought his brother Alexander I. to the throne
(1801). In the following year his education was entrusted to
M. von Lambsdorff, director of the 1st cadet corps and ex-governor
of Courland, a man of character and wide knowledge,
who superintended it for the next fifteen years. But Nicholas
had as little taste for learning as his brother Constantine. The
royal pupils spent their lesson hours, as Nicholas afterwards
confessed, “partly in dreaming, partly in drawing all sorts of
nonsense,” in the end “cramming” just enough to scrape
through their examinations without discredit. Their chief bent
was in the direction of everything connected with military
