11330 0 CCyyrriiaacc ooff AAnnccoonnaaand was entrusted with several important diplomatic mis-
sions, eventually becoming papal legate in Germany
(1440–47). Nicholas V made him a cardinal (1448) and
bishop of Brixen (1450). In 1451 he was sent to Germany
to reform the monasteries but came into conflict with his
secular lord, Archduke Sigismund, and was for a time im-
prisoned. He retired to Umbria where he died. His valu-
able library was left to the hospital he founded in Kues.
Cusanus was important both as a philosopher and as
a Church reformer. He rejected scholasticism and in De
docta ignorantia (1440) he maintained that humans could
gain no certain knowledge and that God can only be ap-
prehended by intuition. This idea was basic to the mysti-
cism of Giordano BRUNO. Cusanus was also a scientist and
mathematician. He proposed reforms of the CALENDAR
similar to those later undertaken by Pope GREGORY XIII,
anticipated part of the Copernican theory by claiming that
the earth rotated and was not the center of the universe,
and professed in De quadratura circuli to have squared the
circle.
Cyriac of Ancona (Ciriaco de’ Pizzicolli) (1391–1452)
Italian merchant and antiquarian with a particular interest in
classical Greece
He traveled in Italy, Egypt, Greece, and the Near East,
drawing monuments, copying inscriptions, and collecting
manuscripts, statuettes, and medallions. His notebooks
(Commentaries) and collection, although not published
until the mid-18th century, have proved of immense value
to archaeologists and classical scholars, particularly in the
case of important monuments that have been destroyed
since his day and to which his description is the only sur-
viving witness.Czech Brethren (Bohemian Brethren) A group repre-
senting a radical but pacific tendency within the HUSSITE
movement of Bohemia. After the suppression of the mili-
tant Taborites in 1434, the Czech Brethren became the
group most closely associated with the evangelical and so-
cial views of the early Hussites. Although possessing a sec-
tarian tendency in their discipline and organization, they
did demonstrate a desire for Protestant unity. Connections
were established with LUTHER’s Wittenberg and it was for
them that Luther wrote his Adoration of the Sacrament
(1523). Under the leadership of Jan Augusta, they en-
deavored (1532) to create greater unity through negotia-
tion with Luther, Calvin, and Bucer, but this bore little
fruit. The Brethren suffered persecution between 1548 and
1552 and many fled to Poland and Prussia. MAXIMILIAN II
granted the Czech Brethren freedom to practice their reli-
gion (1575), and under RUDOLF IIthey played a leading
role in education; however, after the battle of the WHITE
MOUNTAIN (1620) they were dispersed and eventually
merged with other groups.
See also: BLAHOSLAV, JAN