Consensus y representatio en el de Concordantia Catholica de Nicolás de Cusa

Abstract

This article places Nicholas of Cuse's work, De concordantia catholica, within the frame of the councilistic tradition of the Low Middle Ages. The author shows how Cusa finds the possibility of a concordance -by definition always provisory and 'conjectural'- among the members of the Christian society (unitas fidelium). In that sense, the author reconstructs the articulation between a theocratic or descendent scheme of temporal power and the doctrine of consent. The article also illustrates the fact that, having that combination as its source, a particular conception of representation results: Council and Empire, ultimate organisers of the spiritual and social needs of the unitas fidelium are, respectively, the representatives of God and popular consent.