522 Nicolaitism
Nicolaitism (Nicolaism) The name and concept of
Nicolaitism refer to Nicolaus of ANTIOCH, one of the
seven deacons mentioned in the New Testament. His
principal HERESYor SIN was the idea that priests can
marry, a practice that was considered a return to PAGAN-
ISMor GNOSTICISM. There seems to have been a sect, the
Nicolaitans, advocating this in the first century or two of
Christianity. They were also accused of eating meat
offered to the gods and of practicing sexual immorality.
Clerical CELIBACYwas promoted in the church from the
fourth century, especially after the rise of MONASTICISM.
During the Middle Ages, as the popes condemned
the practice, clerical marriage became a heresy for its
obdurate disobedience to the authority of the Holy See.
There was always some tolerance for priests who were
unable to leave their concubines. Their sin was catego-
rized with SIMONYand the passage of ecclesiastical prop-
erty to the families of priests. It was, and remained, an
issue in the reconciliation of the Catholic and Orthodox
Churches.
See alsoDAMIAN,PETER;NICHOLASII, POPE.
Further reading:James A. Brundage, Law, Sex and
Christian Society in Medieval Europe(Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1987); Michael Frassetto, ed., Medieval
Purity and Piety: Essays on Medieval Clerical Celibacy and
Religious Reform(New York: Garland, 1998), especially
Uta-Renate Blumenthal, “Pope Gregory VII and the Pro-
hibition of Nicolaitism,” 239–267.
Nicopolis, Crusade and Battle of (Nikopolis) The
town was founded by the Roman emperor Trajan (r.
98–117) on the Danube in BULGARIA. By the late 14th
century, it had become an Ottoman fortress, near which
an important defeat of a Western Christian army by the
OTTOMANTURKStook place on September 25, 1396. After
the defeat of the Balkan princes by the armies of MURADI
at KOSOVO Polje on June 15, 1389, SIGISMUND OF
HUNGARY(r. 1387–1437) mounted a CRUSADEagainst the
Ottomans. Sigismund appealed to the West. An army
composed mostly of Burgundian knights under the com-
mand of several important French nobles, Jean de Nevers,
Jean Boucicaut, Philippe d’ Artois, Jacques de Bourbon,
and Enguerrand de Coucy, joined the Hungarian armies
at BUDAat the end of July.
Rather than await an attack from the Ottomans now
under the sultan BAYAZIDI, the Western KNIGHTSdrove
into Bulgaria and laid siege to the Ottoman fortress at
Nicopolis. The two armies, each of about 20,000 men,
met on September 25, 1396. The Western knights
exhausted themselves against Turkish infantry and were
then massacred by the Turkish cavalry, while the VLACH
and Transylvanian auxiliaries of the king of Hungary
deserted. The principal crusader leaders were taken pris-
oner, and only Sigismund escaped. The Turks demanded
the payment of heavy ransoms and the kings from
FRANCEand ENGLANDbecame even more reluctant to go
on crusade. The Ottomans were enabled to continue their
advance into the Balkans.
See alsoFROISSART,JEAN.
Further reading:Aziz Suryal Atiya, The Crusade of
Nicopolis (London: Methuen, 1934); Norman Housley,
The Later Crusades, from Lyons to Alcazar 1274–1580
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 73–79.Nika revolt SeeJUSTINIANI.Nile River SeeEGYPT.Nithard(790/800–844)Charlemagne’s illegitimate grand-
son or nephew, soldier, court official, historian
Nithard was born about 790, the son of Charlemagne’s
daughter, Bertha, and a member of his household,
Angilbert. He was raised in the northern abbey of Saint
Riquier and at the court. He was an adviser and soldier
for CHARLES THEBALD, the future emperor. He wrote an
almost unique four-volume history or chronicle of the
struggles among the sons of LOUISI THEPIOUSto succeed
to the Crown. He admired CHARLEMAGNE, who Nithard
believed knew how to tame both the FRANKSand the BAR-
BARIANS. As court historian Nithard especially approved
of Charlemagne’s success in compelling the unruly
Frankish aristocracy to participate in his government.
After being appointed, as his father had been, a lay abbot
of Saint Requier in Picard in 843, Nithard probably died
in the battle of Angoumois against Pépin II of AQUITAINE
on June 14, 844.
See alsoFONTENAY,BATTLE OF.
Further reading:Bernhard Scholz, trans., Carolingian
Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard’s Histories
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1970); Janet L.
Nelson, Charles the Bald(New York: Longman, 1992).nobility and nobles Medieval societies tended to be
aristocratic societies in which wealth, power, and prestige
belonged to a nobility. This was a small group that tried
to reproduce itself from generation to generation. Some-
times these people were called nobles and possessed great
landed wealth and some variety of legal status. A com-
mon feature of the nobility, however, were their military,
legal, and administrative duties; they usually owned or
were given land to support these functions. If these privi-
leges were not initially inheritable, they tended to
become so.
These aristocrats usually depended on a prince or
ruler, and their membership could be open to new blood
on the basis of wealth or talent. Access to their ranks var-
ied over the course of the Middle Ages but tended to
become more restricted. Considerable tension, however,
was provoked, along with opposition, when newcomers