RAINALLUCCI (Rainalducci), Pietro, Antipope. - Friar Minor, reckless supporter of Louis IV of Bavaria (v.) and antipope under the name Nicholas V, b. of a humble family at Corvaro (Rieti) in the second half of the 13th century, d. at Avignon on 16 Oct. 1333.
Having abandoned his wife, Giovanna Mattei (a fact later exploited by his adversaries), he entered the Franciscan Order and lived for a long time in the convent of Aracoeli. Among contemporary writers, some make him a holy religious and a genuine apostle, while others on the contrary present him as a perfect hypocrite of dubious reputation. Be that as it may, R. had the grave fault of accepting the supreme pontificate from Louis of Bavaria in opposition to John XXII (v.). He was elected by a college of 13 electors chosen by the Roman clergy, without the participation of any cardinal, on 12 May 1328, and received from Louis the name Nicholas V. On 15 May, before being crowned (22 May), he created six cardinals, then set to work to form a curia and a court for himself which were far from practicing that perfect poverty of which R. had previously been an advocate. Nicholas V created in all 9 cardinals (Eubel, I, pp. 16-17) and about twenty bishops chosen mainly from among the Hermits of St. Augustine and the Friars Minor, the latter in agitation against John XXII (v. MICHELE DA CESENA). The schism spread from Rome to Milan and everywhere the German party was active, thanks to the fanatical preaching of religious belonging to the two Orders already mentioned and to the Dominican one; it was accepted even in Sicily.
On the day when Louis of Bavaria was driven out of Rome (4 Aug. 1328), Nicholas V had to follow him; after staying some months at Viterbo and wandering through the Patrimony of St. Peter, he reached Louis at Pisa on 2 Jan. 1329. There, on 8 Jan., he granted an indulgence to the enemies of John XXII, confirming the sentence of deposition already decreed on 18 Apr. and 13 Dec. of the previous year by Louis of Bavaria, and on 19 Feb. he lent himself to carrying out in the Pisan Cathedral the disgusting ceremony of the condemnation, as a heretic, and the degradation of John XXII, represented by a dummy dressed pontifically. The defection of Azzone Visconti having forced Louis to hasten to Upper Italy (11 Apr. 1329), Nicholas V found himself alone at Pisa, abandoned by all his supporters except Card. Paolo di Viterbo; to save him Count Bonifacio di Donoratico hid him in his castle of Burgaro, but from there he brought him back to Pisa at the approach of a Florentine army. Having learned the news of the presence of Nicholas V at Pisa, John XXII asked the count for his surrender (10 May 1330). Negotiations were immediately opened: the Pope undertook to guarantee his life and to grant him pardon and a pension. After the abjuration made in the presence of the archbishop of Pisa and the bishop of Lucca (25 July), on 4 Aug. R. sailed for Marseilles and on the 24th reached Avignon. On the 25th he appeared at the Consistory dressed as a Friar Minor with a rope around his neck: having renewed the abjuration (R. calls himself "antipope": Balazius, I, p. 148), the Pope pardoned him and afterwards treated him with much liberality. He spent the last three years of his life, in penance, in an apartment of the same papal palace. He was buried in the church of the Franciscans at Avignon.
Bibliography11 works
A. Pietro Frutaz