Nieheim (Niem), Dietrich of

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NIEHEIM (NIEM), DIETRICH OF

Chancery official in the Roman Curia, publicist of the western schism; b. Brakel, Westphalia, c. 1340; d. Maastricht, Netherlands, end of March 1418. Supported by william of ockham, marsilius of padua, and Alexander of Roes, he gave the first comprehensive presentation of conciliarism in his Dialogus de schismate (1410), in which he called for the reunion and reform of the Church. His Avisamenta (1414) contains the program for the Council of constance. As a representative of the historically conservative approach to the empire, he stressed the right of the German emperors to call a general council of the Church. He was an intimate of several Roman popes; in 1395 boniface ix tried in vain to bestow upon him the bishopric of Verden (Germany). The Anima, the German hospital in Rome, claims him as its founder.

Bibliography: k. pivec and h. heimpel, "Neue Forschungen zu Dietrich von Niem," Nachrichten der Akademie d. Wissenschaften in Göttingen (1951) H.4. h. heimpel, Dietrich von Niem, c. 13401418 (Münster 1932). Neue deutsche Biographie 3:691692. j. leuschner, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 195765) 3:386. e. f. jacob, Essays in the Conciliar Epoch (3d ed. Notre Dame, Ind.1963) 2443.

[h. wolfram]

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