Pope Nicholas II
Pope · France · Religious Figures · Lived 990 to 1061 · aged 71
Pope Nicholas II is read about 168 times a day, in 68 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
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Something wrong?The pope who rewrote the rules for choosing popes. Nicholas II pulled the election of the Church's leader away from the Roman nobility and clergy, handing it to the cardinals - a shift that still shapes how pontiffs are chosen nearly a thousand years later.
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About this person
Gerard of Burgundy was bishop of Florence when he was elected to the papacy on 24 January 1059. He took the name Nicholas II and immediately set about consolidating papal power in Milan and the kingdom of southern Italy, expanding influence beyond Rome's traditional reach. His most enduring act came through electoral reform: he restricted the selection of future popes to the Cardinal Bishops, cutting the lesser clergy and the Roman nobility out of a process they had long controlled and often corrupted. It was a bureaucratic maneuver that permanently altered the structure of Church governance. He died in office on 27 July 1061, less than three years into his papacy.
Religious Figures from France 6
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