He was a pious, peace-loving monk with no ambition save for the
Church, the crusades and the extirpation of heresy. He steered a
middle course between the factions at Rome, and sought a
settlement of the Sicilian question. In May 1289 he crowned King
Charles II of Naples and Sicily after the latter had expressly
recognized papal suzerainty, and in February 1291 concluded a
treaty with Alfonso III of Aragon and Philip IV of France
looking toward the expulsion of James II of Aragon from Sicily.
The loss of Acre in 1291 stirred the pope to renewed enthusiasm
for a crusade. He sent missionaries, among them the celebrated
Franciscan missionary, John of Monte Corvino, to labour among
the Bulgarians, Ethiopians, Tatars and Chinese. He issued an
important constitution on July 18, 1289, which granted to the
cardinals one-half of all income accruing to the Roman see and a
share in the financial management, and thereby paved the way for
that independence of the college of cardinals which, in the
following century, was t