TEODORICO of NYEM. - German conciliar canonist, born around 1340 in Brakel in Westphalia, died in Maastricht on March 22, 1418.
From 1370 he was a notary at the papal Curia in Avignon, followed Gregory XI to Rome (1377), and was a witness to the rise of the Great Schism, remaining faithful to Urban VI. In 1395 he was appointed by Boniface IX bishop of Verden but was neither consecrated nor took possession of the see, remaining instead an abbreviator and writer in the papal Chancery. He sided with Alexander V and John XXIII, with whom he participated in the Council of Constance, but after John’s flight he definitively separated from him and composed a violent pamphlet: *Invectiva in fugientem e Concilio Constantiensi Joannem XXIII*, which greatly contributed to the measures taken by the Assembly against the Pope and, along with his other writings, to the development of conciliar ideas.
Theodoric’s output is copious: *Liber Cancellariae apostolicae* and *Stilus Palatii abbreviatus*, collections of formularies for use by the Rota and the papal Chancery; *De schismate libri tres*, a history of the Great Schism rich in important details, though written with partisan concerns. On the Council and reform: *De modis unendi ac reformandi Ecclesiam* and *Avisamenta de unione et reformatione membrorum et capitis fienda*.
For him, the superiority of the council over the pope is incontestable, because only the general council represents the universal Church and can issue irrevocable decisions. The council is superior to the pope in authority, dignity, and function; it can elect the pope, limit his powers, strip him of his title, and even depose him. Originally, the authority of bishops was equal to that of the popes, and the current papal primacy must be considered as a delegation granted by the Church and which could be revoked.