Pope Nicholas I

Pope

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Lived 820–867, aged 47Italy

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Wikipedia
71 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
820–867
Aged 47

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

The last pope the Church calls "the Great." In the 860s, Nicholas I told emperors and kings they answered to him in matters of faith — then proved it by defying a royal annulment, weathering a siege of Rome, and holding his ground until the Carolingians blinked.

Biography

About

Born around 800, Nicholas became bishop of Rome in April 858 and spent the next nine years turning papal authority from theory into fact. When Lothair II of Lotharingia wanted out of his marriage to Teutberga, a council blessed the annulment; Nicholas declared the council deposed, its envoys excommunicated, and its ruling void. The Carolingians besieged Rome. He didn't budge. His support for the ousted Patriarch Ignatios of Constantinople over his replacement Photius I soured relations with Byzantium, and his insistence that Bulgaria stay under Roman rule — along with disputes over creed and j…

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