et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam" (Matthew 16:18), but also on the forged Donations of Constantine. Ecclesiastical Nicholas' father had been a personal friend of Francis of Assisi, and he himself had to focus much of his attention on the Franciscan order. More than 165 of his bulls and letters address the subject. Most importantly, he issued the papal bull Exiit qui seminat on 14 August 1279, to settle the strife within the order between the parties of strict and relaxed observance. He repaired the Lateran Palace and the Vatican at enormous cost, and erected a beautiful country house at Soriano nel Cimino near Viterbo, where he died of a cardiovascular event (sources differ on whether it was a heart attack or a stroke). Nepotism Nicholas III, though a man of learning noted for his strength of character, was known for his excessive nepotism. He elevated three of his closest relatives to the cardinalate and gave others important positions. This nepotism was lampooned both by Dante and in contemporary cartoons, depicting him in his fine robes with three "little bears" (orsetti, a pun on the family name) hanging on below. Cardinals Nicholas III created nine cardinals in one consistory celebrated on 12 March 1278: Ordonho Alvares, Archbishop of Braga – named Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati, † 21 December 1285. Bentivenga dei Bentivenghi, O.F.M., Bishop of Todi – named Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, † 25 March 1289. Latino Malabranca Orsini, O.P., nephew of Nicholas – named Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia e Velletri,† 10 August 1294 Robert Kilwardby, O.P., Archbishop of Canterbury – named Cardinal-Bishop of Porto and S. Rufina, † 12 September 1279. Gerard de Lessines, Bishop of Auxerre – named cardinal-bishop of Palestrina, † 18 July 1278. Gerardo Bianchi – named Cardinal-Priest of SS. XII Apostoli, then cardinal-bishop of Sabina (12 April 1281), † 1 March 1302. Girolamo Masci, O.Min. – Minister General of the Franciscans. Named Cardinal-Priest of S. Pudenziana, then cardinal-bishop of Palestrina (12 April 1281) and Pope Nicholas IV (22 February 1288), † 4 April 1292 Giordano Orsini, brother of Pope Nicholas III – named Cardinal-Deacon of S. Eustachio, † 8 September 1287. Giacomo Colonna – named Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata; excommunicated and deposed on 10 May 1297, restored as Cardinal-Deacon without a title on 15 December 1305, † 14 August 1318. Most of these new Cardinals were not of the French party, and among them