Talk:Pope Nicholas III

"Our" sources??? Whose sources? Is the catholic church editing this article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.197.235.155 (talk) 06:55, 20 December 2007 (UTC) Reply

This does seem like a problem: not only does "our sources" sound very odd, but the sources are never actually named. I'm deleting that usage to make it more neutral/less weasely. I'll give the assertion a citation needed tag. dcd139 (talk) 06:04, 9 January 2008 (UTC) Reply

Come on be serious, not to defend Simony but we know nothing about the actual afterlife of Pope Nicholas III.

If I see no objections within a day or so I'll edit this section title to "Culture" or "Cultural Representations" bringing it into line with a similar section in the article on Pope_Boniface_VIII —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.4.214.91 (talk) 23:20, 3 November 2009 (UTC) Reply

Done. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.4.214.91 (talk) 00:15, 7 November 2009 (UTC) Reply

From the article:

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.

Is the Exarchate of Ravenna really guaranteed to the papacy after not having existed for over 500 years? I find that somehow hard to believe... - Andre Engels (talk) 21:56, 17 June 2017 (UTC) Reply

This article links the Colonna that Nicholas hatted to Sciarra Colonna, who I think might have been the Cardinal's nephew, or near relation. It would be good if there was an article about the real Cardinal Colonna, who opposed and was sacked by Boniface VIII, but I can't find much information about him.1f2 (talk) 01:48, 18 June 2020 (UTC) Reply

Do we have a source on Nicholas III being the eldest son of Matteo Rosso Orsini? Not only would it be somewhat unusual for the first son of a noble family to go into the priesthood, but the dates fundamentally don't work.

His birth date of circa 1225 is certainly far too late, sources I've seen are saying probably 1210-1216, but if he were the eldest brother, he would have needed to have been born before his brother Gentile I Orsini, whose son Bertoldo Orsini was born in around 1225-1230 (i.e. even taking the more reliable early dates, when Nicholas III was ten-fifteen years old, which would be extraordinary given how young his younger brother would have been). On a circa 1225 birthdate for Nicholas III it becomes completely ridiculous.

Nor can we move Bertoldo too far into the future, because Bertoldo had a son in approximately 1250, Gentile II, and Gentile II had a son, Romano, in around 1268. Romano became Royal Vicar of Rome in 1326. Is it possible that all of these dates, except Romano becoming Royal Vicar of Rome, should be moved forwards? Sure, but then we're looking at Matteo Rosso Orsini having his first son at (best case) 32 then going on to have ten more children, and we're adding at least 5 years to birthdates everywhere.

Obviously everything this long ago is going to be somewhat approximate but it's a matter of whether the exercise of revising estimates should be happening at all. If there's a reliable source saying that Nicholas III was indeed older than his brothers Giordano, Gentile, Matteo Rosso the Younger and seven other siblings then those dates will need changing. If there isn't then it's sufficient to say that Pope Nicholas III was born circa 1210-1216 and that he was one of the sons of Matteo Rosso Orsini the Elder and Perna Caetani. Firesoul777 (talk) 14:29, 22 February 2026 (UTC) Reply

PS Sources on the 1210-1216 dates: Here^[1] and here^[2] admittedly these too are essentially guesswork — Preceding unsigned comment added by Firesoul777 (talk • contribs) 14:35, 22 February 2026 (UTC) Reply