Nicholas of Cusa vs. Sigmund of Habsburg: an Attempt at Post-Conciliar Church Reform

Abstract

During the past decade, interest has been steadily growing in Nicholas of Cusa, but recent research has been more devoted to his ideas than to his life. As a mature and very successful man, he displayed a curious mixture of ability and obtuseness, utter and selfless devotion to the highest ideals and extreme pettiness. This paper will deal with his period as Bishop of Brixen, from his arrival in the diocese in 1452 to his departure in 1460. It was an episcopate undertaken with high hopes of far-reaching church reform, and almost everything in it went wrong. I shall try to show just what it was that went awry.