Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V (Latin: Nicholaus V) (15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from 6 March 1447 until his death in 1455. The Pontificate of Nicholas saw the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. He is the most recent pope to take the name "Nicholas" upon his election.

Biography

Early life

His mother, Andreola Bosi of Fivizzano, married Bartolomeo Parentucelli, a physician who practiced medicine in Sarzana, an important town in Lunigiana. The Lunigiana region had long been fought over by competing Tuscan and Ligurian forces. While Fivizzano would remain a key center of Florentine power in Tuscan Lunigiana, Tommaso Parentucelli, was born in Sarzana in 1397, just three years after the town was taken back from the Florentines by the Genoese Republic. His father died while he was young. Parentucelli later became a tutor, in Florence, to the families of the Strozzi and Albizzi, where he met the leading humanist scholars.

He studied at Bologna and Florence, gaining a degree in theology in 1422. Bishop Niccolò Albergati was so awe-struck with his capabilities that he took him into his service and gave him the chance to pursue his studies further by sending him on a tour through Germany, France and England. He was able to collect books, for which he had an intellectual's passion, wherever he went. Some of them survive with his marginal annotations.

Pope Nicholas

Pope Nicholas could refer to:

Nicholas V (disambiguation)

Nicholas V may refer to: