Nider, Nieder, or Nyder, John

Nider, Nieder, Or Nyder, John a distinguished German Roman Catholic theologian, was born towards the close of the 14th century. He joined the Dominicans at Colmar in 1400, then went to .study philosophy and theology at Vienna, in Austria, and was ordained at Cologne. He afterwards returned to Vienna, and became prior of the Dominican convents of Nuremberg and Basle. In 1428 he accompanied the general of the Dominicans on a tour through Franconia, and attracted such attention by his preaching that he was sent as delegate to the Council of Basle in 1431, of which he was one of the most distinguished theologians. Appointed by that assembly to convert the Hussites, he at first undertook to do so by mildness and persuasion: he wrote them letters full of encouragement and of good advice, went himself to see them at Egra, and induced them to present their complaints to the council. The conferences, opened with the representatives of Bohemia, led, however, to no result. But in a second mission, in -which Nider took part with ten other nuncios, he showed none of his former moderation. He was one of the ecclesiastical leaders of the crusade which desolated Bohemia, burning towns and villages, destroying the country, and murdering thousands of people. After his return to Basle he broke off his connection with the council, and even refused to have anything more to do with it. Nider died in 1438, according to Cave, and in 1440, according to Echard. Among his numerous works we notice Praeceptorium divine legi., seu de decem prceceptis (Cologne, 1472, fol.; Strasb. 1476; Paris, 1507, 1515, etc.): — Manuale confessorum CParis, 1473, fol.; 1489, 1513, 4to): — ,Tractatus de lepra morali (Paris, 1473, fol.; 1489, 4to; 1514, 8vo):Contra perfidos Judceos (Essling, 1475, fol.): — Consolatorium timoratce conscientiae (Paris, 1478, 4to; Rome, 1604, 8vo):: — Aurei sermones totius anni (Spire, 1479, fol.): — Alphabetum divini amo-is (Alost, 1487, 8vo; Paris, 1515, 1526, 4to); this work was sometimes attributed erroneously to Gerson: — Sermones (Strasb. 1489, fol.): — Dispositorium moriendi (no date nor name of place, 4to): — De modo bene vivendi (Paris, 1494,16mo): — De rebormatione religiosorum (ibid. 1512, 12mo): — De contractibus mercatorum (ibid. 1514, 8vo): — Formicarium, seu Dialogus ad vitam Christianam exemplo conditionum formicce incitativus' (Strasb. 1517, 4to; Paris, 1519, 4to; Douai. 1602, 8vo, etc.): the author confesses that all he says on sorcerers and magic in'the Formicarium he had learned from a judge at Berne and from a Benedictine monk. Lenfant considers Nider as the author of De visionibus et revelationibus (Strasb. 1517). See Bzovius, Annales eccles.; .Echard et Quetif, Bibl. Scriptor. ord. Pradicat. 1:792; Touron, Hist. des hommes ill. de l'ordre de St. Dominique; Dupin, Bibl. des autturs eccles. X Ve siecle; Lenfant, Hist. du concile de Constance, lib. v; Quicherat, Proces de Jeanne d'Ar, 4:502; Wessenberg, Gesch. der Kirchenversammlungen, 2:100, 507; Neander, Ch. Hist. v. 381. (J. N. P.)