Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl was an Austrian Roman Catholic clergyman, pulpit orator and theologian.

Biography

He was born c. 1360, in Dinkelsbühl. He studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

where he is mentioned as baccalaureus in the

faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

in 1385. Magister in 1390, he lectured in philosophy, mathematics and physics until 1397, and from 1402 to 1405. From 1397 he was dean of the faculty; he studied theology, lecturing until 1402 on theological subjects, first as ''cursor biblicus'', and later on the '' Sentences'' of Peter Lombard. In 1405 he became bachelor of Divinity, in 1408 licentiate and in 1409 doctor and member of the theological faculty. Rector of the university, 1405–6, he declined the honor of a re-election in 1409. From 1405 he was also canon at the Viennese cathedral of St. Stephen. The supposition of several early authors that he was a member of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine is incorrect, for he could not have been rector of the university had he been a member of any order. Eminent as teacher and pulpit orator, Nikolaus possessed great business acumen and was frequently chosen as ambassador both by the university and the reigning prince. He represented Duke

Albert V of Austria Albert the Magnanimous KG, elected King of the Romans as Albert II (10 August 139727 October 1439) was king of the Holy Roman Empire and a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife ('' ...

at the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...

(1414–18) and the University of Vienna in the trial of Thiem, dean of the

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

cathedral. When

Emperor Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia ('' jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in ...

came to Constance, Nikolaus delivered an address on the abolition of the schism ("Sermo de unione Ecclesiae in Concilium Constantiense," II, 7, Frankfort, 1697, 182–7). He took part in the election of Martin V, and delivered an address to the new pope (Sommerfeldt, "Historisches Jahrbuch", XXVI, 1905, 323–7). Together with John, Patriarch of Constantinople, he was charged with the examination of witnesses in the proceedings against Hieronymus of Prague. Returning to Vienna in 1418, he again took up his teaching duties at the university, and in 1423 directed the theological promotions as representative of the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. Duke Albert V having chosen him as his confessor in 1425, wished to make him Bishop of Passau, but Nikolaus declined the appointment. During the preparations for the

Council of Basle The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...

, he was one of the committee to draw up the reform proposals which were to be presented to the council. His name does not appear thereafter in the records of the university. He died on 17 March 1433, at Mariazell in

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

Writings

His published works include "Postilla cum sermonibus evangeliorum dominicalium" (Strasburg, 1496) and a collection of "Sermones" with tracts (Strasburg, 1516). Among his numerous unpublished works, the manuscripts of which are chiefly kept in the Court library at Vienna and in the Court and State library at Munich, are to be mentioned his commentaries on the Psalms,

Isaias Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

, the Gospel of St. Matthew, some of the

Epistles of St. Paul The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...

, the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard and "Questiones Sententiarum"; a commentary on the "Physics" of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

, numerous sermons, lectures and moral and ascetic tracts.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolaus von Dinkelsbuhl People from Dinkelsbühl Dinkelsbuhl, Nikolaus von 14th-century Roman Catholic theologians 15th-century Roman Catholic theologians