Editing Pope Nicholas IV (section)

===Actions===
{{further|Rabban Bar Sauma|Franco-Mongol alliance|Europeans in Medieval China#Diplomatic missions to Europe}}
In regard to the question of the Sicilian succession, as feudal suzerain of the kingdom, Nicholas annulled the treaty, concluded in 1288 through the mediation of [[Edward I of England]], which confirmed [[James II of Aragon]] in the possession of the island of [[Sicily]].  This treaty had not properly seen to papal interests. In May 1289 he crowned [[Charles II of Naples|Charles II]] as [[king of Sicily]] after the latter had expressly recognized papal [[suzerainty]], and in February 1291 concluded a treaty with Kings [[Alfonso III of Aragon]] and [[Philip IV of France]] looking toward the expulsion of James from Sicily.<ref name=Weber/>

In 1288 Nicholas met with the Nestorian Christian [[Rabban Bar Sauma]] from China.

In August 1290 he granted the status of ''[[studium generale]]'' to the [[University of Coimbra|university]] that King [[Denis of Portugal]] has just founded a few months earlier in the city of [[Lisbon]].<ref>''The Papacy and the Rise of the Universities'', Gaines Post, ''Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'', Vol. 54, ed. William J. Courtney, Jurgen Miethke, Frank Rexroth and Jacques Verger, (Brill, 2017), 188.</ref>

The loss of [[Akko|Acre]] in 1291 stirred Nicholas IV to renewed enthusiasm for a [[crusade]].  He sent missionaries, among them the Franciscan [[John of Monte Corvino]],<ref name=McBrien/> to labour among the [[Bulgaria]]ns, [[Ethiopia]]ns, [[Mongols]], [[Tatars]] and [[China|Chinese]].