NICHOLAS (PRUNTZLEIN) OF DINKELSBÜHL. – Theologian, b. at Dinkelsbühl c. 1360, d. at Vienna 17 March 1433. Master of Theology in 1409, he was three times dean of the Faculty of Theology and in 1405–1406 rector of the University of Vienna, of which he was considered a second founder, since through his philosophical and juridical teaching (until 1431) he made it an authority on juridical and political matters.
He was canon of the cathedral of St Stephen and was buried there before the altar of St John the Evangelist. From 1406 to 1414 he was instructor to Duke Albert V of Austria and until his death his confessor. In 1405 he was sent as legate to the antipope Innocent VII in Rome. He took part (1414–18) in the Council of Constance as legate of Duke Albert V and there delivered a celebrated address before Emperor Sigismund for the end of the schism. He was a member of the commission that elected Martin V (8 Nov. 1417) and addressed a solemn allocution to the newly elected pope. He presided over the interrogation of Jerome of Prague; in 1422–24 he taught in the monastery of Melk, but
then returned to Vienna. He energetically combated the heresies of Wycliffe and Hus. His fame as a preacher endured for a long time and he was hailed by his contemporaries as the “Light of Swabia.”
Of his numerous works (manuscripts in Vienna, Munich, Melk, Subiaco) few were printed, among them: Postilla evangeliorum dominicalium (Strasbourg 1496); Collecta et praedicta de Passione D. N. Iesu Christi (Speyer 1473).
Hermine Hühn-Steinhausen