NICHOLAS

born , Corvaro, Rieti, Papal States died Oct. 16, 1333, Avignon, Provence original name Pietro Rainalducci, or Rainallucci last imperial antipope, whose reign (May 1328 to August 1330) in Rome rivalled the pontificate of Pope John XXII at Avignon. An assembly of priests and laymen in Rome under the influence of the Holy Roman emperor Louis IV the Bavarian, whom John had excommunicated, elected the Franciscan monk Pietro Rainalducci as the antipope Nicholas V. Having little support, Nicholas' cause proved fruitless. After John excommunicated him in April 1329, Nicholas, having been assured a pardon, renounced at Avignon his illegal claim to the papacy on Aug. 25, 1330. He remained in honourable imprisonment in the papal palace until his death. Additional reading Vespasiano da Bisticci, The Vespasiano Memoirs: Lives of Illustrious Men of the XVth Century (Eng. trans. 1926), written by a Florentine closely involved in the Humanistic circles of the city; G. Manetti, Vita Nicolai V summi pontificis ex manuscripto codice Florentino, in L.A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptures, 3.2:907960 (1734), written by a Florentine Humanist and politician who became apostolic secretary in the court of Nicholas V; L. Pastor, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages, vol. 2, pp. 3314 (1899), a classic work; E. Mntz, Les Arts la cour des papes pendant le XVe et XVIe sicle, vol. 1, pp. 68189 (1878); E. Mntz and P. Fabre (eds.), La Bibliothque du Vatican au XVe sicle (1887), authoritative books based on close study of Vatican registers and accounts.