# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/nicholas-of-cusa
# Generated: 2026-09-01T05:04:34.499Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/nicholas-of-cusa"
name: "Nicholas of Cusa"
slug: "nicholas-of-cusa"
description: "A German bishop who argued that true wisdom begins with knowing you cannot know — and then kept going anyway, into astronomy, math, church reform, and the gritty politics of Rome versus the Holy Roman Empire."
tagline: "German philosopher (1401 – 1464)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nicholas_of_Cusa.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Germany"
  isoCode: "DE"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1401"
deathDate: "1464-08-11"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           65
  momentum:             15
  historical:           24.575388
  currentAttention:     4.67857142857143
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Mathematics"
    slug: "mathematics"
  - name: "Astronomy"
    slug: "astronomy"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "News Broadcasting"
    slug: "news-broadcasting"
  - name: "Law"
    slug: "law"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Nicholas%20of%20Cusa"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D9%83%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%89"
    title: "نكولاس الكوزانى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col%C3%A1s_de_Cusa"
    title: "Colás de Cusa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "نیکلاس کوسا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Kuzal%C4%B1"
    title: "Nikolay Kuzalı"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0_%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8"
    title: "কুসের নিকোলাস"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Kuzanski"
    title: "Nikola Kuzanski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolau_de_Cusa"
    title: "Nicolau de Cusa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikul%C3%A1%C5%A1_Kus%C3%A1nsk%C3%BD"
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    title: "Nikolaus von Kues"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Nikolaus von Kues"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Νικόλαος Κουζάνος"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Nikolao de Kuzo"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_de_Cusa"
    title: "Nicolás de Cusa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Cusanus"
    title: "Nicolaus Cusanus"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolas_Cusakoa"
    title: "Nikolas Cusakoa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3_%DA%A9%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7"
    title: "نیکلاس کوسا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Nicolaus Cusanus"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Nicolas de Cues"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaas_fan_Kues"
    title: "Nikolaas fan Kues"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niocl%C3%A1s_as_Kues"
    title: "Nioclás as Kues"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://de.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikolaus_von_Kues"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_of_Cusa"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_de_Cusa"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicola_Cusano"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Nicholas of Cusa was born in 1401 in what would become Germany, and became one of the first German voices of Renaissance humanism. He trained as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer — a polymath in an age that rewarded range. His mystical writings on "learned ignorance" explored the idea that recognizing the limits of human knowledge was itself a form of enlightenment. In 1446 he was dispatched as papal legate to Germany, navigating the power struggles between Rome and the German states. Pope Nicholas V made him cardinal in 1448 for his service, then Prince-Bishop of Brixen two years later. In 1459 he rose to vicar general in the Papal States. He died on 11 August 1464, but the intellectual and political currents he stirred kept moving: in 2001, six hundred years after his birth, scholars on four continents marked the anniversary with conferences and books.