Medieval · 1401–1464
Who influenced Nicholas of Cusa?
Influences and legacy
Learned ignorance: God as the coincidence of opposites, glimpsed by a mathematician-bishop.
Nicholas of Cusa was influenced by John Scotus Eriugena, Ramon Llull and Meister Eckhart, and went on to influence Giordano Bruno. That is 4 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Master of the Life of the Virgin, Public domain See the whole map
Who was Nicholas of Cusa?
Nicholas of Cusa was a German bishop, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician and astronomer, and one of the first German supporters of Renaissance humanism. He is known for his mystical writings on "learned ignorance".
He became papal legate to Germany in 1446, a cardinal in 1448 and Prince-Bishop of Brixen two years later, and was drawn into the power struggles between Rome and the German states. In 1459 he became vicar general of the Papal States.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Nicholas of Cusa?
3 direct influences on this map, earliest first.
- John Scotus Eriugena c. 815–877
- Ramon Llull c. 1232–1315
- Meister Eckhart c. 1260–1328
Who did Nicholas of Cusa influence?
1 thinker on this map draws directly on Nicholas of Cusa.
- Giordano Bruno 1548–1600
The line of teachers behind Nicholas of Cusa
The longest documented line of influence ending at Nicholas of Cusa runs 13 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from Nicholas of Cusa
Indirect influences
- Through John Scotus Eriugena: Augustine of Hippo, Pseudo-Dionysius
- Through Meister Eckhart: Hildegard of Bingen, Dietrich von Freiberg
The second generation
- Through Giordano Bruno: Baruch Spinoza
Contemporaries of Nicholas of Cusa
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Nicholas of Cusa, with no direct line between them.
- Lorenzo Valla c. 1407–1457
Nicholas of Cusa by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 3
- Direct followers
- 1
- Thinkers upstream
- 37
- Thinkers downstream
- 111
- Wikipedia languages
- 67 — #23 of 58 among medieval philosophers
- Card rarity
- Epic
Questions about Nicholas of Cusa
- Who influenced Nicholas of Cusa?
- John Scotus Eriugena, Ramon Llull and Meister Eckhart.
- Who did Nicholas of Cusa influence?
- Giordano Bruno.
- When did Nicholas of Cusa live?
- 1401–1464. The map files Nicholas of Cusa under the medieval period.
- How rare is the Nicholas of Cusa card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Nicholas of Cusa in 67 languages, which makes it an Epic card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More medieval philosophers
- Augustine of Hippo AD 354–430
- Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
- Avicenna 980–1037
- Ibn Khaldun 1332–1406
- Al-Ghazali c. 1058–1111
- Averroes 1126–1198
- Erasmus 1466–1536
- Hypatia c. 355–415