unknown. As a professed brother he served in the responsible position as a lecturer in the studium in Venice, that is to say, he was in charge of the elementary education of the brothers in his convent. Each convent had its lector. He served as lector for fourteen years, from 1268 to 1282, according to Bernardus Guidonis. In 1276 he is attested as being lector at the Dominican convent in his native Treviso, a post he was still holding in 1280. In February 1282 he is found at Genoa, again as lector. He was not a professor, since he had never taken a university degree, being one of the last popes who was not a university graduate. Office and responsibility In 1286, at the meeting of the Provincial Chapter, which took place that year in Brescia, Fr. Niccolò was elected Provincial Prior of Lombardy. As Provincial of Lombardy, Fr. Niccolò's lifestyle changed considerably. Instead of being firmly attached to a single convent for years, he instead became peripatetic, moving from one convent to another on visits of inspection, encouragement and correction. In Lombardy at the time there were some fifty-one convents. He had responsibility as an Inquisitor, a task for which popes considered Franciscans and Dominicans especially suited. He had the responsibility of convening the Provincial Chapters. In 1287, the Chapter was at Venice; in 1288, it was at Rimini; in 1289 at the General Chapter, which was held at Trier, Fr. Niccolò was released from the office of Provincial of Lombardy, having completed his three-year term. It is probable that, without office, he returned to a convent, possibly that of Treviso—though the evidence is scanty and based on wills and codicils. He was elected Provincial Prior of Lombardy again, however, at the Provincial Chapter held at Brescia in 1293. In 1294 it was held at Faventia, in 1295 at Verona, and in 1296 at Ferrara, where Fr. Niccolò's successor was elected, since he had a new assignment. Master General of the Order of Preachers At the Capitulum Generale of the Order of Preachers, which was held at Strasbourg in 1296, Frater Niccolò of Treviso was elected Master of the Order of Preachers, and issued ordinances that forbade public questioning of the legitimacy of Pope Boniface VIII's papal election (which had taken place on Christmas Eve, 1295) on the part of any Dominican. Cardinalate Boccasini was elevated to the cardinalate