BREVICOXA. - This is the Latinized name of Giovanni Courtecuisse. Theologian, statesman, and orator of the University of Paris during the Western Schism, born at Haleine (Orne) around the middle of the fourteenth century, died at Geneva on 4 March 1423. He studied at the Navarra College in Paris, where he subsequently taught theology with such success as to earn the title Doctor sublimis. Protected by the court, he obtained many benefices and ecclesiastical offices and took an active part in all initiatives for the abolition of the schism. Appointed bishop of Paris on 27 Dec. 1420 by the will of Carlo VI, he was unable to remain there because of the opposition of Enrico V of England; he was therefore transferred by the Pope to the cathedral of Geneva.
Several theological works and various manuscript sermons by him are preserved. Only the Tractatus de fide et Ecclesia, de Romano pontifice et concilio generali (Paris 1706) has been printed, in which B. denies the infallibility of the Pope and defends the superiority of the ecumenical council.