A History of the University in Europe Volume 2, Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800) 9780521541145

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A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY IN EUROPE GENERAL EDITOR

WALTER RÜEGG

VOLUME II UNIVERSITIES IN EARL Y MODERN EUROPE

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(1500-1800)

EDIT OR HILDE DE RIDDER-SYMOENS

0� . CAMBRIDGE :::

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 1oon-42n, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1996 First published 1996 Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Universities in early modern Europe, 1500-1800/editor, Hilde de Ridder-Symoens. p. cm. - (A history of the university in Europe; v. 2) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN O 521 36106 0 r. Universities and colleges - Europe - History. 2 Education. Higher - Europe - History. I. Ridder-Symoens. Hilde de. rr. Series. LA179.u5 5 1996 . 378.4'09'03 - dc20 94-1270 CIP ISBN o 521 36106 o hardback

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CONTENTS

List of maps Contributors and editors Reader's guide Bibliographical abbreviations used in notes

page xi Xll XV XVI

FOREWORD (General Editor) Acknowledgements

XIX

WALTER ROEGG

XXIV

PART I: THEM.ES AND PATTERNS CHAPTER 1: THEMESwALTER RÜEGG

Introduction Historical turning points Desire for and openness to discoveries Science as a means of control over nature The beginnings of cosmography Human rights and international law New objectives of university education International and national academic communication The age of eloquence The new collective self-consciousness Humanism and the universities Select bibliography

V

3 8 I4 17 18 22 24

26 28 29 33 41

Contents

CHAPTER 2: PATTERNS WILLEM FRIJHOFF

The purposes of universities What was a university in the early modern period? The status of higher education The university and its competitors Typologies The pace of university foundation North and south: full and empty spaces on the map List of European universities in the early modern period Maps Select bibliography

43 47 52 57 64 70

74 80 90

106

PART Il: STRUCTURES CHAPTER 3: RELATIONS WITH AUTHORITY NOTKER HAMMERSTEIN

The development of the early modern state Humanism - Reformation - Counter-Reformation Absolutism and Enlightenment French universities Universities in the Iberian peninsula Universities in the British Isles Universities in the Holy Roman Empire Confederate universities Universities in the Low Countries Polish universities Universities in the northern European countries Italian universities Select bibliography

II4 115 122

124 129

134 140 143 144 146 147 148 152

CHAPTER 4: MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES HILDE DE RIDDER-SYMOENS

General university structure Colleges and nations Internai government External government Finance Academic buildings Libraries, archives and university presses Academic insignia Select bibliography

VI

155 158 164 179

183 190

195 205 208

Contents CHAPTER 5: TEACHERS PETER A. VANDERMEERSCH

Kinds of-teachers and teaching systems Teaching as a profession Appointments Sorne general characteristics of the professoriate University teaching, a well-paid profession? Careers and mobility Professors, a distinct and distinguished social class? Table: Individual taxes levied in the duchy of Brabant in 1631 Select bibliography

210 214 219 223 232 239 244 252 2 55

CHAPTER 6: EXPORTING MODELS JOHN ROBERTS,

ÀGUEDA MARIA RODR!GUEZ

CRUZ

AND

JURGEN HERBST

Prefatory note The New World setting The models available The foundation of colonial universities The working of colonial higher education The achievement of the European university model in the Americas Select bibliography

2 56

256 259 262 267 280 282

PART Ill : STUDENTS CHAPTER 7: ADMISSION MARIA ROSA DI SIMONE

285 289 293 297 302 311 324

Admission to the university Intellectual prerequisites Academic restrictions Attendance trends Numbers The social origin of students Select bibliography CHAPTER 8: STUDENT EDUCATION , STUDENT LIFE RAINER A. MÜLLER

Professionalization and secularization Two systems of study: modus Parisiensis - modus Bononiensis vu

32.6 329

Contents Academic privileges The collegiate system The academic day Teaching forms and teaching practice Board and lodging Student ceremonies Holidays and free time Select bibliography

33! 333 339 3 43 345 349 351 353

CHAPTER 9: GRADUATION AND CAREERS WILLEM FRIJHOFF

Degrees: symbols and realities Costs and benefits Degrees as qualifications for professional practice Numbers Social fonctions The alienated intellectuals Professions and professionalization Careers and social mobility Select bibliography

355 363 370 377 386 393 397 406 415

CHAPTER 10: MOBILITY HILDE DE RIDDER - 5 Y MO EN S.

Humanism and the Renaissance The Reformation and Counter-Reformation Protestant universities Catholic universities Tolerant universities The universities as places of refuge The Grand Tour The Enlightenment General trends Select bibliography PART IV : LEARNING CHAPTER 11: TRADITION AND INNOVATION OLAF PEDERSEN

The The The The

faculty faculty faculty faculty

of of of of

medicine laws arts: the impact of humanism arts: the challenge of technology Vlll

416 419 421 424 426 428 43! 436 439 447

Contents

The exodus of the scientists Theology Minority problems The rise of the academies Select bibliography CHAPTER 12: NEW STRUCTURES OF KNOWLEDGE WILHELM SCHMIDT-BIGGEMANN

Scholarship and science at the universities Types of science Theology: leading science in the sixteenth century Jurisprudence: leading science in the Baroque period Reorganization of the sciences and the primacy of philosophy in the Enlightenment Select bibliography

489 491 500 509 5 17 5 29

CHAPTER 1 3: THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND UNIVERSITIES ROY PORTER

The university in the dock The Scientific Revolution Examining the evidence The universities and scientific thought Science moves out The New Science and the universities Select bibliography

53l 536 542 548 553 559 561

CHAPTER 14: CURRICULA LAURENCE BROCKLISS

565 570 593 599 609 619

Methods of teaching The faculty of arts The faculty of theology The faculty of law The faculty of medicine Select bibliography EPILOGUE : THE ENLIGHTENMENT NOTKER HAMMERSTEIN

The Enlightenment Nationalization of science Educational pragmatism Secularization IX

Contents

Status of the disciplines Differentiation of university patterns and academic reforms Select bibliography

629 630 639

Editor's note on the indexes

641

Name index

642

Subject index

663

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MAPS

I

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II

page Universities active in 1500 Foundations 1501-1550 Foundations 1551-1600 Foundations 1601-1650 Foundations 1651-1700 Foundations 1701-1750 Foundations 1751-1800 Universities stricto sensu active in 1790 Universities stricto sensu abolished, transferred or permanently merged with other universities 1500-1790 The Jesuits' university offensive The non-Catholic universities in the eighteenth century

Xl

95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105

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CONTRIBUTORS AND EDITORS

As A s RI G Gs (United Kingdom) was barn in Yorkshire in 1921. Lord Briggs, who is now retired, is former provost of Worcester College Oxford (1976-92), former vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex (1967-76), president of the British Social History Society, and former chairman (1974-90) of the European lnstitute of Education and Social Policy in Paris. From 1978 to 1994 he was chancellor of the Open University. LA u RENc E s Roc KLIs s (United Kingdom) was barn in Beckenham (Kent) in 19 50. Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he is tutor in modern history, he was the editor of History of Universities frori-i 1986 to 1993. He is the author of a number of books and articles on the teaching of philosophy and medicine in French universities and the intellectual role of the college and university in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France. WILLEM FRIJHOFF (The Netherlands) was barn in Zutphen in 1942. Professor of the history of early modern culture and mentalities at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, his current research concerns reading culture, the intellectual professions, and informai ways of culture trans­ fer in early modern Europe. He is a member of the editorial board of History of Universities and a member of the Royal Netherlands Acad­ emy of Arts and Sciences. ALEKSANDER GIEYSZTOR (Poland) was barn in Moscow in 1916. Former president of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1980-4 and 19904) and director of the Royal Castle in Warsaw (1980-92), he is emeritus professor of history at the University of Warsaw. NOTKER HAMMERSTEIN (Germany) was barn in Offenbach am Main in 1930. Professor of early modern history at the University of FrankXll

Contributors and editors

furt-on-Main, he has published several works on the history of German universities and the history of learning. He is a member of the editorial board of History of Universities. s s T (United States of America) was born in Braunschweig in 1928. Professor emeritus of educational policy studies and of history at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, he is a member of the National Academy of Education. From 1988 to 1991 he served as chairman of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education. His publications and teaching focus primarily on the history of American education, and on American history and civilization.

JuRGEN HER

(Germany) was born in Bleche/Olpe (NRW) in 1944. Having worked as an assistant at the Institute for Medieval His­ tory of the University of Munich, followed by a period as scientific adviser at the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, he was appointed pro­ fessor of history at the Catholic University of Eichstatt.

RAINER A. MÜLLER

o LA F r EDER s EN (Denmark) was born in 1920. He is emeritus professor of the history of science at the University of Aarhus and a visiting fellow of St Edmund's House, Cambridge. He is vice-president of the Inter­ national Union for the History and Philosophy of Science and president of the Historical Commission of the International Astronomical Union. (United Kingdom) was born in Hitchin (Herts.) in 1946. Following a teaching and research career in history at the University of Cambridge, he was appointed professor in the social history of medicine at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London, in 1982. He has published extensively and edits the journal History of Science.

ROY PORTER

(Belgium) was born in Sint-Jans­ Molenbeek (Brussels) in 1943. Professor of medieval history at the Free University of Amsterdam, she is also a research associate for the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research at the University of Ghent. Since 198 5, she has been secretary general of the International Commission for the History of Universities.

HILDE DE RIDDER-SYMOENS

(United Kingdom) was born in Bath in 1928. Warden of Merton College, Oxford (1983-94), where he was previously fellow and tutor in modern history, he was also vice-chancellor of the Univer­ sity of Southampton for a number of years. From 1967 to 1976 he was joint editor of the English Historical Review.

JOHN ROBERTS

(Spain) was born in Tazacorte in the Canary Islands (Isla de la Palma) in 1933. She was educated in Spain, Venezuela and Columbia and is a member of the Dominican Order. Full

ÂGUEDA MARi A RODRiGuEz CRUZ

Xlll

Contributors and editors professor at the University of Salamanca since 198 5 (where she pre­ viously held a temporary professorship), she is a specialist in the history of Latin American education and has published extensively in this field. WALTER ROEGG (Switzerland) was born in Zurich in r918. Emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Berne, and former professor of sociology at the University of Frankfort, he was rector of the latter institution from 1965 until 1970. He is the general editor of this History of the University in Europe. WILHELM scHMIDT-BIGGEMANN (Germany) was born in Olpe (NRW) in 1946. Professor of philosophy at the Free University of Berlin, his research concerns primarily the history of philosophy and the humanities in medieval and early modern times. E o w AR o sHILs (United States of America) was born in Springfield, Mas­ sachusetts, in 1910, and died in Chicago in 1995. Founder and editor of Minerva, he was professor of social thought and sociology at the University of Chicago. He was also a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, as well as of the London School of Economies. MARIA ROSA DI SIMONE (Italy) was born in Rome in 1949. After teach­ ing the history of Italian law at the University of Rome, as an associate professor, she was appointed professor at the University of Trieste in 1986. She has published several works on the teaching of law and on the history of political and social institutions, as well as on the history of the university. PETER VANDERMEERSCH (Belgium) was born in Torhout in r961 and studied history at the University of Ghent. After a period as a researcher at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research and as an assistant at the University of Antwerp, he is now working as a journalist for the Belgian daily newspaper, De Standaard. J Ac Qu Es v ERGER (France) was born in Talence, near Bordeaux, in 1943. He is maître de conférences in medieval history at the Ecole Nor­ male Supérieure in Paris and vice-president of the International Com­ mission for the History of Universities.

XIV

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READER'S GUIDE

This series, although compiled by specialists, is destined for the general reader. The notes and bibliographies accompanying the different chap­ ters have therefore been kept to a minimum. The notes are either biblio­ graphical references to specific sources, generally the most important or recent works relating to the subject, or they have been introduced to justify quantitative data or explain any significant difference between two interpretations of a particular point. A select bibliography follows each chapter. These bibliographies are designed to stimulate further reading and are not exhaustive. The reader will find more complete bibliographical references in the works indicated. As a number of well­ known works for the period are quoted in several chapters, abbrevi­ ations of the titles of these works have been used in the notes. A list of bibliographical abbreviations is included. Furthermore, the reader will find a more general bibliography and some maps at the end of chapter 2 ('Patterns'), as this chapter locates the presence and nature of universities during the early modern period. In order to avoid too many overlaps between the various chapters, the editors have made cross-references to other chapters in the text as well as in the notes, thereby informing the reader that more ample information on the subject can be found else­ where in the volume (see also the geographical and subject index). The standard English version of proper names has been used throughout; when necessary, a form more commonly used in continental Europe is indicated by means of a cross-reference in- the name index.

XV

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NOTES

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Ajo Gonzalez, Universidades hispanicas C. M. Ajo Gonzalez de Rapariegos y Sainz de Zufiiga, Historia de las universi­ dades hispanicas. Origenes y desarrollo desde su aparici6n a nuestros dias, II vols. (Madrid, 1957-77). Brockliss, French Higher Education L. W. B. Brockliss, French Higher Education in the Seventeenth and Eight­ eenth Centuries. A Cultural History (Oxford, 1987). Chartier, Education en France R. Chartier, M.-M. Compère and D. Julia, L'Education en France du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1976). Coing, Handbuch I H. Coing (ed.), Handbuch der Quellen und Literatur der neueren euro­ piiischen Privatrechtsgeschichte, vol. r (Munich, 1973). Coing, Handbuch II H. Coing (ed.), Handbuch der Quellen und Literatur der neueren euro­ piiischen Privatrechtsgeschichte, vol. II (Munich, 1977). Conrads, Ritterakademien N. Conrads, Ritterakademien der frühen Neuzeit. Bildung ais Standesprivileg im r6. und 17. Jahrhundert (Gôttingen, 1982). Frijhoff, Gradués W. Frijhoff, La Société néerlandaise et ses gradués, r575-r8r4. Une recherche sérielle sur le statut des intellectuels à partir des registres universitaires (Amsterdam/Maarssen, 1981). Hengst, Jesuiten K. Hengst, Jesuiten an Universitiiten und Jesuitenuniversitiiten (Paderborn/ MunichNienna/Zurich, 1981). History of Oxford III J. McConica (ed.), The History of the University of Oxford, vol. III: The Col­ legiate 'University (general editor: T. H. Aston) (Oxford, 1986).

XVl

Bibliographical abbreviations used in notes History of Oxford V L. S. Sutherland and L. E. Mitchell (eds.), The History of the University of Oxford, vol. v: The Eighteenth Century (general editor: T. H. Aston) (Oxford, 1986). I collegi universitari D. Maffei and H. de Ridder-Symoens (eds.), I collegi universitari in Europa tra il XIV e il XVIII secolo. Atti del Convegno di Studi della Commissione Internazionale per la Storia delle Università, Siena-Bologna 16-19 maggio 1988 (Milan, 1990). Kagan, Students and Society R. L. Kagan, Students and Society in Early Modern Spain (Baltimore/London, 1974). Kearney, Scholars and Gentlemen H. F. Kearney, Scholars and Gentlemen: Universities and Society in Pre­ Industrial Britain, 1500-1700 (London, 1970). Klinge, Kuningliga Akademien M. Klinge, A. Leiloka, R. Knapas and J. Strë>mberg, Kuningliga Akademien i Abo 1640-1808, Helsingfors Universitet 1640-1990, vol. 1 (Helsinki, 1988). McClelland, State, Society and University C. E. McClelland, State, Society and University in Germany 1700-1914 (Cambridge, 1980). Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts F. Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts au( den deutschen Schulen und Universiti:iten: vom Ausgang des Mittelalters bis zur Geg(!nwart mit besonderer Rücksicht aùf den klassischen Unterricht, vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1885; 3rd edn, Leipzig, 1919); vol. 11, 3rd edn (Leipzig/Berlin, 1921). Populations étudiantes D. Julia, J. Revel and R. Chartier (eds.), Les Universités européennes du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle. Histoire sociale des populations étudiantes, 2 vols. (Paris, 1986-9). Roche, Le Siècle des Lumières D. Roche, Le Siècle des Lumières en province. Académies et académiciens provinciaux 1680-1789, 2 vols. (The Hague/Paris, 1978). Stone (ed.), The University in Society L. Stone (ed.), The University in Society, 2 vols. (Princeton, N.J., 1974). Universitat und Gelehrtenstand H. Rë>ssler and G. Franz (eds.), Universiti:it und Gelehrtenstand 1400-1800 (Limburg/Lahn, 1970). Universités européennes Les Universités européennes du XIVe au XVIIIe siècle. Aspects et problèmes (Geneva, 1967). Verger (ed.), Universités en France J. Verger (ed.), Histoire des universités en France (Toulouse, 1986).

XVll

FOREWORD

WALT E R RÜEGG ( General Editor)

'The history of universities was terra incognita until the early 19 50s, inhabited only by pious hagiographers, myopie chroniclers and that most dangerous of pre-historic animais, the historians of education.This latter creature ...only seems to be concerned with gathering historical justifications for contemporary educational nostrums, or identifying the earliest instance of a pedagogic practice that meets with modern appro­ bation.'1 This judgement taken from an essay on the history of English universities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, contains, despite certain exaggerations and insults, a kernel of truth, and it should serve as a warning for all those who concern themselves with the past of the alma mater studiorum. For, as another historian has written: 'As a gen­ eral rule, the history of a university has been written as a piece of "official" history by specially appointed historians. In such circum­ stances, the portrait normally appears without the warts.'2 The present History of the University in Europe was initiated by the Standing Conference of Rectors, Presidents and Vice-Chancellors of the European Universities (CRE), which has some five hundred universities from eastern and western Europe as members. Nevertheless, it is any­ thing but an 'official ' history of European universities. As was stated in detail in the introduction to the first volume, the CRE, which met regu­ larly for conferences to discuss the current problems and the future tasks of its members, decided at the beginning of the 1980s that it needed to 1

V. Morgan, 'Approaches to the History of the English Universities in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries', in G. Klingenstein, H. Lutz and G. Stourzh (eds.), Bildung, Poli­ tik und Gesellschaft. Studien zur Geschichte des europiiischen Bildungswesens vom I6. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, Wiener Beitrage zur Geschichte der Neuzeit, 5 (Vienna, r978), r42. 2 Kearney, Scholars and Gentlemen, IL XlX

Walter Rüegg have a better knowledge of the history of universities. Since such a work was lacking, it proposed that there should be a meeting of historians and sociologists of universities who would reflect on the feasibility of such a project. ln 1983, after it was decided that such a scheme could be carried out, it gave the responsibility for elaborating it and then carry­ ing it out to an editorial board. The plan for a work in four volumes, the selection of contributors, the coordination and editing of the contributions were and are entirely the responsibility of the editorial board. That board had as its only guid­ ing principle the aim to produce a comparative and comprehensive analysis, taking into account the most recent research on the social set­ ting and tasks, the distinctive intellectual and institutional features, the structures and the main pro',!Mns of the European university from the Middle Ages to the present. lt was to deal with the fondamental and enduring characteristics of the European universities, with what was common to them and with their national and regional variations. Financial support and physical accommodation for editorial meetings, scholarly assistance and translation have been provided by private phil­ anthropie foundations and universities. The general secretariat of the Standing Conference of Rectors has been available to the editorial board for administrative purposes. As the first volume on the medieval universities, which appeared in 1992, showed, many of the studies on medieval universities published before 19 50, even if they were produced on the occasion of jubilees and in justification of present aspirations, have directly and indirectly added considerably to the illumination of the terra incognita of university his­ tory. This notwithstanding, we repeatedly encountered open questions and subjects which had been left untouched by research. This has proved to be even more true for the period from 1500 to 1800. The only detailed work treating, on the basis of the sources, the development of higher education and universities, curricula and teach­ ing, as well as the economic, political and intellectual setting, did not deal with the whole of Europe but only with the German-speaking areas; the author acknowledged in the foreword that 'it was interest in the future of our higher education which led me to occupy myself with the past'. 3 In fact, the aim of Friedrich Paulsen, professor of philosophy and education at the University of Berlin, in the public discussion before the famous educational conference in Berlin in 1890, was to break the monopoly of the ancient languages of the Gymnasia; for this reason he tried to demonstrate their uselessness for a genuinely humanistic edu­ cation. Nevertheless, he adhered to the old maxim, 'History can teach 3 Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1885; 3rd edn, Leipzig, 1919), xvi. XX

Foreword only those who listen to it, not those who want to tell it something.' The product, which first appeared in two stout volumes in 1888, became the classic work on the history of the Gymnasia and universities in German-speaking countries in the period between 1500 and - in the third edition - 1914.4 As Jacques Verger observed as late as 1981, the universities of early modern times did not enjoy a good reputation. In speaking of them, words like 'sclerosis', 'decadence', 'coma', were used. One of the reasons for this was that the rich documentation which was available had been used only sparingly.5 In 1984, Heiko Oberman cited three causes for this situation: one was that, while the history of universities was a special field for medievalists, modern historians were more interested in other fields in which 'real' life could be studied, and they gave no more than a courteous nod to the universities. A second reason, according to Ober­ man, was that early research in the Renaissance confined itself to the conflict between humanism and scholasticism at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The third reason - the best historians of universities themselves alleged this - was that the universities of the centuries between 1500 and 1800 became less interesting, because they neglected their social fonction and fell into a state of crisis at a time when their respective societies needed them most.6 In the meantime, the study of early modern universities has changed markedly for the better, thereby reducing the persuasiveness of these assertions. During the last decades, there have been important investi­ gations, especially on scientific and educational developments and on the social mobility and vocational orientation of students. These investi­ gations have in many respects corrected the negative image of the decay of the universities. The contrast between humanism and scholasticism has, in recent research on the Renaissance, been made much less sharp, and it is really nowadays relevant only at a few points. The social role of the universities provides the main themes of our four volumes. The present volume shows that the fonctions of the universities did, in fact, change in adaptation to immediate social necessities and demands. Perhaps it was this change in their social fonction from the search for truth to meeting social needs, which stood in the way of a comprehensive history of universities between 1500 and 1800. The survey of the 4

Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, vol. II, 3rd edn (Leipzig/Berlin, I92I). J. Verger, 'Les universités à l'époque moderne', in G. Mialaret andJ. Vial (eds.), Histoire mondiale de l'éducation, vol. II (Paris, I98I), 247-72; M.-M. Compère, 'Les universités: d'une cléricature à l'autre', in Chartier, Education en France, 249;J. Le Goff, 'La concep­ tion française de l'université à l'époque de la Renaissance', in Universités européennes, 96-8. 6 H. A. Oberman, 'University and Society on the Threshold of Modern Times: the German Connection', inJ. M. Kittelson and P.J. Transue (eds.), Rebirth, Reform and Resilience: Universities in Transition I300-I700 (Columbus, Ohio, 1984), 2I-5.

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XXI

Walter Rüegg literature which follows chapter 2 refers, under the heading of 'General works', to two short surveys by our collaborators Frijhoff and Verger, three collections of essays which deal with various aspects of the subject, and three books which deal with the European scene as a whole. The book of Stefan d'Irsay impressively summarized in 168 pages the state of knowledge up to 1933. The Historical Compendium of European Universities, which appeared in 1984 in close connection with our pro­ ject, contains the most important historical dates and bibliography for individual universities. Le università dell'Europa, published in Italy in a luxurious edition with many illustrations, covers the period between 1500 and 1650 in its second volume. The texts, written by excellent scholars, present the history of the universities of the different European countries; its bibliographical references for each chapter are very scanty. The most important historical works on the European universities, like those of Denifle, Kaufmann and Rashdall, begin and end - partly contrary to the authors' own intentions - with the Middle Ages. To avoid such a danger, the editorial board began work on the present volume two years before it started the first volume. That it began to be ready for publication only a year after the publication of the first volume may be taken as evidence of the difficulties which arose in connection with certain chapters and which required repeated revision and even replacement of contributors. Charles B. Schmitt, the great authority on the history of universities of the sixteenth century and the founder of the ground-breaking inter­ national yearbook entitled History of Universities, wrote in 1975: Not only is much basic work left to be clone on the documents themselves of even the most important and influential university centers, but we are sorely in need of synthetic and comparative studies relating several univer­ sities to one another. Nevertheless, even on the basis of materials which have already been published, we are in a position to begin some sort of synthesis.

Our own work can be no more than what Schmitt claimed for his essay: 'In brief, what follows is to be considered merely a preliminary attempt at a general synthesis'. 7 The present volume is parallel in its structure to the first volume with two exceptions. In Part II (Structures) we present an account - as was indicated in the foreword to the first volume - of the transfer of European university models to other continents; in the sixteenth and 7

C. B. Schmitt, 'Philosophy and Science in Sixteenth Century Universities: Sorne Prelimi­ nary Comments', in J. E. Murdoch and E. D. Sylla (eds.), The Cultural Context of Medieval Learning (Dordrecht, 1975), 485-537; quotations: 485 and 486. XXll

Foreword seventeenth centuries the transfer was to Central, South and North America. Although we had at first planned to publish two sub-chapters, we subsequently decided, in view of the European perspective of the work as a whole, to bring the two separate sub-chapters into a single comparative chapter. In Part IV ('Learning'), we did not follow the medi­ eval division of faculties, partly because the development of science in mir period cuts across boundaries of the old faculties, and partly because some parts of the development occurred quite outside the universities. This section is introduced by 'Tradition and Innovation', which is a his­ torical analysis of the sciences as they developed in the Middle Ages and their renewal and growth within and outside the universities. A substan­ tial presentation of the content of what was taught in the four faculties forms the conclusion of the section. Between those two parts, there is a chapter entitled 'Frameworks of Knowledge', which treats the various attempts made to conceptualize and systematize the rapidly expanding stock of knowledge, from theology as the dominant science of the Middle Ages and the period of the Reformation to jurisprudence, which became the dominant science of the seventeenth century, and then phil­ osophy, which attained a similar position in the eighteenth century. The chapter on the growth of science examines the central theme of the his­ tory of science of this period - the Scientific Revolution. It shows that, to a greater extent than was formerly thought, there was a growth of science in the British universities and it deals with the influence of this growth on the universities. The various chapters, as in the first volume, were revised by the editors in full sessions of their board and then by the individual authors. The final version, as in the case of the first volume, was revised by the volume editor, Hilde de Ridder-Symoens.

XXlll

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The preparatory work for A History of the University in Europe has been generously supported by the Max and Else Beer-Brawand Fund of the University of Berne, the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany (Stifterverband für die deutsche Wissenschaft) in Essen, the European Cultural Foundation in Amster­ dam, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bonn, the Ramon Areces Foundation in Madrid, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Higher Edu­ cation, the National Institute for Scientific Research, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, the Antonio de Almeida Foundation in Oporto, the Jubilee Foundation of the ZurichNita/Alpina insurance companies in Zurich, Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. in Basle, Nestlé in Vevey, the Swiss Credit Bank in Zurich, the Volkswagen Foundation in Hanover, and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation in Cologne. We thank these patrons wholeheartedly. We are no less grateful to the universities at which our conferences and discussions have taken place, notably the Universities of Berne, Salamanca, Coimbra, Eichstatt, Oxford, Bochum, Bologna and Ghent. We should also like to express our gratitude to Professors Grete Klingenstein of the University of Graz and W. Roy Nib­ lett, emeritus professor at the University of London; as members of the editorial board in the early stages of the project, they helped to outline the framework of our History. Furthermore, we acknowledge the advice and support of Professor Nikolaus Lobkowicz, former president of the University of Munich and now president of the Catholic University of Eichstatt, who played a key role in defining and launching the whole undertaking. Finally, we wish to thank the national correspondents throughout Europe who gave so generously of their time and knowledge and helped to make this volume more 'European' in its scope: Professor Miquel Batllori of the Gregorian University in Rome; Dr John Fletcher XXlV

Acknowledgements of Aston University in Birmingham; Professor Tore Frangsmyr of Uppsala University; Professor Matti Klinge of Helsinki University; Pro­ fessor Joseph Lee of University College Cork; Mr Michael Moss of Glasgow University; Professor Kamilla Mrozowska of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow; Professor Luis de Oliveira Ramos of Oporto Uni­ versity; Professor Mariano Peset Reig of Valencia University; and Pro­ fessor Grigory Tishkin of the (then) Leningrad State Institute of Culture. But, above all, we thank the secretary general, Andris Barblan, and the deputy secretary general, Alison de Puymège-Browning, of the Standing Conference of Rectors, Presidents, and Vice-Chancellors of the European Universities (CRE); it is they who, with tireless devotion and alertness, made possible the harmonious - indeed friendly - cooperation between so many European scholars.

XXV

PARTI

'

THEMES AND PATTERNS

CHAPTER 1

'

THEMES

WALTER RÜEGG

INTRODUCTION

The first part of each of the volumes of The History of the University in Europe is intended to offer the reader a conspectus - a sort of bird's eye view - of the university landscape for each respective period. Once that is clone, the topical chapters, each with its own particular focus, should serve to give the reader a better understanding of the details. The opening chapter is not intended to anticipate the topical chapters. In this volume, for example, it does not attempt to summarize the historical framework of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation and the move­ ment of the absolute monarchies towards the French Revolution. As in the first volume, it calls attention to certain themes as they emerge in the course of the development of the universities; it aims to lay bare their preconditions, just as in archaeology the aerial photography of a landscape is used to lay bare its deeper configuration before one begins the work of excavation. The second chapter then shows in concrete detail the features of the university landscape in all its institutional mani­ festations; it places in a broad perspective the geographical expansion and distribution of universities between 1500 and 1800. One theme which runs throughout the entire volume is the significance of humanism in the process of differentiation undergone by the universit­ ies; it is visible in the curricula as well as in the various schools of thought which affected the universities; it is related to the emergence of new centres of intellectual gravity, to the relative attractive power of certain universities, and to the migrations of university teachers and stu­ dents. This is followed up in detail in the individual chapters. But what underlay the diverse effects of humanism? Was it only an outcome of the profusion of the newly discovered ancient theological, jurisprudential, medical, philosophical and historical texts which so 3

Walter Rüegg greatly broadened the range of knowledge and which made correspond­ ing demands on higher education? The encyclopaedic view of education, science and scholarship which also pervaded the mathematical and natu­ ral sciences does not, however, explain how the impact of humanistic education led to new discoveries, and indeed to revolution, in the sci­ ences, as in the cases of Copernicus in astronomy and Vesalius in anat­ omy. Did these occur because of or in spite of humanism? There is a second theme which marks the history of universities between 1500 and 1800. This is the fragmentation of the political world along the lines separating ecclesiastical confessions and territorial princi­ palities. This fragmentation brought in its train an unending sequence of persecutions and wars. How was it possible under these circumstances for a European republic of learning to maintain itself and even to extend and deepen itself? It is true that the medieval Occident was far from attaining a perfect intellectual unity. Nevertheless, a certain measure of unity in the aca­ demic world was fostered by papal authority which guaranteed the uni­ versal right to teach - the licentia ubique docendi; it was also fostered by the uniformity of the scholastic methods of teaching and by the effective functioning of the Universities of Paris and Balogna as models for newer and lesser universities. But when these factors ceased to exist, as they did in early modern Europe, what was it that held the European republic of learning together? As indicated in the Foreword, the social role of the university is the fondamental theme of all four volumes of our work. Did the European universities neglect their obligations to their respective societies, and were they crippled by interna! crises at the very moment when their contributions to society were most urgently demanded? This argument, to which earlier reference has been made, of the 'best historians of univ­ ersities', has been out of date for a decade. H. A. Oberman, who cites those views, has pointed out that it is impossible to speak of crises in the universities of the German Empire before the Thirty Years War; he says that, on the contrary, ever since the Councils, 'the new class of civil servants, the doctores, had been riding high'. Following the pattern set by a later opponent, Dr Eck, professor and vice-chancellor of the Univer­ sity of Ingolstadt, Martin Luther claimed the right, as a doctor of the­ ology, to a free discussion of the critical theses about the church; in this daim, he was supported by his University of Wittenberg and its auth­ ority, the Elector Frederick the Wise, not as an individual but as a dis­ tinguished member of the university. 1 1

H. A. Oberman, 'University and Society on the Threshold of Modern Times: the German Connection', in J. M. Kittelson and P.J. Transue (eds.), Rebirth, Reform and Resilience: Universities in Transition r300-r700 (Columbus, Ohio, I984), 30-5.

4

Themes The Reformation, because of the suspension of ecclesiastical privileges and benefits, led at first to a drastic diminution in the numbers of students; there then occurred a striking expansion in attendance at the universities. Why were universities so important for princes and munici­ palities that they created new universities of their own, to the extent that they had sufficient financial resources? What did they expect of the universities, and to what extent did the universities satisfy these expectations? This chapter argues that the three phenomena of humanism, the republic of learning and the social role of the universities can be traced back to a common source. This common source is the changed concep­ tion of time and the world and the parallel change in the image which humanistically educated intellectuals had of their own professional role and of their powers and obligations in society. This change originated in Italian humanism and it influenced the universities throughout Europe in early modern times. The emergence of humanism was treated in the epilogue to the first volume. It is against that background that the humanistic sources of the development of universities in early modern times can be briefly sketched in the present volume. The changed sense of time was manifested first in the belief that a new epoch had begun and that the present was disjunctively different from Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The present ceased to be regarded as the final stage of the history of the world here below, but as a moment of transition between two epochs. This period of transition from one epoch to the next was defined by means of - very variegated - historical facts and dates, such as the poetry of Dante and Petrarch, the invention of printing, the fall of Constantino­ ple in 1453 and the discovery of America in 1492. The past as the locus of human action was subjected to historical criticism. An attempt was made to describe as accurately as possible and to locate by precise dates the biographies of ancient individuals and complex past events. Univer­ sity teachers uncovered forgeries like that of the 'donation of Con­ stantine' of ecclesiastical properties. Last but not least, the sense of transition from one epoch to another made meaningful the idea of a secular future, which individual curiosity and concern could explore horizontally, without regard to the world beyond, and thereby create a wide perspective. History was not yet seen as an embodiment of the idea of progress. Nevertheless, following the discovery of America, 'new' became a crucial term for scientists and scholars, who proudly pointed to the 'newness' of their discoveries and their writings in which the discoveries were described. In referring to these, they distinguished them from 'older' discoveries and works. This 5

Walter Rüegg

represented a change from traditional normative criteria, which were based on the authority of the past as such, to a criterion which was compatible with the possibility of new and valuable discoveries in the future. A desire for novelty, restlessness, a yearning for fame, all of which had not been regarded as virtues by scholastic ethics, were coming to be more highly regarded in the universities than the old virtues of repose, contemplation and self-restraint. lt was not only time as a dimension of human action that acquired a new significance. The world as the scene of human action became an abject of scientific and scholarly curiosity and exertion. This was not something which happened only after the discovery of America. The discovery of America was preceded by other sea-voyages and by the occasional travels of merchants to East Asia. Oral reports on travels were recorded in Latin and were thereby made available to an inter­ national public including the international world of learning. Around the middle of the fifteenth century, humanistic scholars began to bring together geographical and historical facts about the land and inhabitants of neighbouring countries, as well as about those remote countries of which previously only the names had been known. This was clone partly from books and partly from the reports of first-hand observations con­ tained in travel accounts. Cosmographies and descriptions of the world were among the products of the humanistic efforts. Together with car­ tography, these works played a significant role in the preparation and carrying out of voyages of discovery. The voyages of discovery were soon brought to the attention of the universities, and they led no less rapidly to the conclusion that the tra­ ditional views of the shape and inhabitability of the earth had to be discarded. The conquests of the peoples of America and the attempts to convert them to Christianity gave rise to discussions by academics about the rights of whole peoples and of human beings as individuals. The discoveries entered more slowly into the syllabuses of university teach­ ing. But these syllabuses tao expressed some awareness that there was something new to be learned about the world which had hitherto been thought to be exhaustively known. The frontispiece of Francis Bacon's Instauratio magna and its Novum organum shows ships passing through the Pillars of Hercules into the open sea. Beneath the engraving is the epigraph: multi pertransibunt et augebitur scientia ('many will traverse and knowledge will be increased'). 2 The image of the voyage beyond the boundaries of the known expressed the new dynamic understanding of scientific knowledge. In 2

Illustration in: A. Grafton, with A. Shelford and N. Siraisi, New Worlds, Ancient Texts. The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery (Cambridge, Mass., 1992), 199. This work gives the newest survey and bibliography on discoveries.

6

Themes the famous metaphor of Bernard of Chartres (died c. 1130), the medieval scientists and scholars were said to be standing on the shoulders of the ancients, and were thus able to see further than the latter. In their dia­ logue with the ancients and in their discussions among themselves, the humanists introduced a new - personal - element into the process of growth of scientific and scholarly knowledge and, in so doing, they rela­ tivized it somewhat. In the sixteenth century, science and scholarship began to be conducted like a voyage of discovery. For the preparation, the auxiliary procedures and devices, and the general direction of the investigation they were dependent on the current state of technological and scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, it was clearly understood that the increase in scholarly and scientific knowledge lay in the discovery and exploration of new horizons. This new attitude changed the role of the scholar. As early as 1518, a French statesman placed friendship between humanistic scholars above their loyalty to their respective countries, and there was no lack in later years of famous university teachers who accorded a higher place to their obligations to science than to their ecclesiastical attachments. It is certain that their conformity in matters of dogma was closely scrutinized, and heretical scholars were burned in Calvin's Geneva, as they were in papal Rome. Even as late as the eighteenth century, such an illustrious univer­ sity teacher as Immanuel Kant was reproved by the Prussian superin­ tendent for his unorthodox ideas. Nevertheless, the trials of heretics and the actions of the censors could not stop the advance of knowledge. One of the important reasons for this was - as the legend on the frontispieces of Bacon's work said - 'many' were ready to press forward beyond the boundaries of the already known. The scientific investigation of the world became the task and the raison d'être for the republic of learning, which transcended the boundaries of nationalities, principalities and religious communities. The international republic of learning did not, as did the medieval university, rest on the universal authority of the church. It rested rather on a new form of communication, the dialogue through which shared questions could be discussed from diverse standpoints. It penetrated into the mode of teaching in advanced secondary schools and universities, just as it came to predominate in the oral and written communication of the learned with each other and in the interchange of town and gown. In the course of this change, the social role of scientific and scholarly knowledge, · and with it the university as still the most important locus for the discovery and transmission of this new knowledge, also changed. Much more so than during the Middle Ages, the universities of early modern times attended to the demands of their respective societies. It is of course true that the graduates of the medieval universities often 7

Walter Rüegg entered into the services of the ecclesiastical and earthly powers, but the vita contemplativa remained the dominant ideal of the medieval univer­ sity. Under the dominion of humanism, the university teacher placed himself at the service of the vita activa, the life of practical action in society, to such an extent that the teachings of Justus Lipsius, professor in Leiden and Louvain, on the ancient Roman art of government and on Roman military techniques, were applied in practice by rulers and military men alike. One result of this was the heightened self-confidence of university pro­ fessors. They came to regard themselves not only as the teachers of their pupils but as the teachers of the elites of their societies as well. Intellec­ tual training was no longer intended to provide for the training of uni­ versity teachers to the same extent as it had clone in the Middle Ages; 3 it was intended to a greater extent than ever before to form the minds of the wide circle of elites of the larger society. The universities therewith acquired the important task of preparing the literati, the letadros or 'gentlemen' to live and act in society in accordance with the norms of 'civility', 'civilization' or 'culture'. This education consisted of dialogue with ancient forerunners, ancient models of thought and ancient forms of art. The more absolute these were taken to be, the more at odds they were with social reality. It was not the neglect of their social obligations but rather the excessively one-sided attention to the vita activa that led to the ossification of humanism, to the disintegration of the European reputation for learning, and to the challenges facing the universities of the eighteenth century - all of which will be treated in the next chapters. HISTORICAL TURNING POINTS

'O saéculum! o litterae! iuvat vivere; etsi quiescere nondum iuvat, Bilib­ alde! vigent studia, florent ingenia, Heus tu, accipe laqueum, barbaries, exilium prospice!' (Oh century! Oh knowledge! It is a joy to be alive; but one must not relax, Willibald! Fields of knowledge are flourishing, spirits are stirring, You, barbarism, get a rope and prepare yourself for exile!) With this famous invocation, the assertive humanist, Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), concluded in 1518 his autobiographical report to the Nuremberg councillor, Willibald Pirckheimer. 4 As was shown in the Epilogue to the first volume, ltalian humanists as early as the fourteenth century saw their own times as marking a sharp break from the Middle Ages. Between 145o and 1 55o, this epochal self�onsciousness became more pronounced. The Florentine philos­ opher Marsilius Ficino (1433-99), who had hitherto been regarded as 3 J. Le Goff, Les Intellectuels du Moyen Age (Paris, 1957), 4. • U. von Hutten, 'Epistola vitae suae rationem exponens', H. Scheible and D. Wuttke (eds.), Willibald Pirckheimers Briefwechsel, vol. Ill (Munich, 1989), 400-25.

8

Themes the 'head of the Platonic Academy', but who, in the light of most recent research has become a figure of the history of universities, 5 felt himself to be living in a new golden age. In this age, poetry and oratory, painting and sculpture, architecture and music emerged once more as Platonic philosophy was rediscovered, astronomy was brought to perfection, and in Germany, the cutting tools were found for type to print books.6 These were the innovations in intellectual life: 7 humanism, which entered upon new paths not only in the human sciences but also in the natural sci­ ences; the enrichment of philosophical thought by the discovery of Pla­ to's original writings; and the printing of books, which revolutionized the expansion of the written word and its influence within and outside the universities. The humanistic university teacher, Aldus Manutius (1452-1515), changed professions in 1494 and became a book printer and publisher. In the same year, the French king Charles VIII, thanks to his artillery, penetrated into Italy, encountering scarcely any resistance, as far as Naples. The Italian state system collapsed, which for many contempor­ aries - as well as for many later historians - marked a new epoch in the European struggle for power. Humanism by the sixteenth century moved from being an Italian phenomenon into being a European movement.8 In this process Aldus's Venetian publishing firm played an important role. He created a library which was not confined by walls, as the great libraries of the past had been, but instead could reach into the entire world, as Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote in 1508 in his annotated collec­ tion of proverbs, Adagia. Thomas More, who was a close friend of Erasmus, wrote in his Utopia (published in 1516), that of all the achieve­ ments of European culture, only the works of Greek poets, historians and physicians in the 'bejewelled letters of Aldus', i.e., as printed books, were allowed entry into the ideal state of 'Utopia'.9 In assimilating humanism, northern Europe also acquired its epochal self-consciousness. Philip Melanchthon, who was Luther's main support in educational and philosophical matters and his successor as the head 5

6

7 8

9

J. Hankins, 'The Myth of the Platonic Academy of Florence', Renaissance Quarter/y, 44-3 (1991), 429-75 proves convincingly that Ficino was not the head of a 'Platonic Academy', but temporarily head of a - private - gymnasium and university professor. For both education institutions the humanists used - as will be shown in chapter 2 the word academia. The reference to Ficino's 'Platonic Academy' in vol. 1, 451, is superseded. E. Garin, 'Die Kultur der Renaissance', in G. Mann and A. Heuss (eds.), Propyliien Weltgeschichte, vol. VI (Frankfurt-on-Main/BerlinNienna, 1964), 468. See chapters II to 14. As indicated in the epilogue to the first volume. M. Mann Phillips, Erasmus on bis Times, a Shortened Version of the 'Adages' of Erasmus (Cambridge, 1967), 10; T. More, Utopia, ed. P. Turner (London, 1965), 100 quoted by M. Lowry, The World of A/dus Manutius. Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice (Oxford, 1979), 258.

9

Walter Rüegg

of German Protestantism, acknowledged, in 1518, in his inaugural lec­ ture at the University of Wittenberg, the exertions of the Benedictine monasteries of the Carolingian period and of the twelfth century on behalf of ancient authors. He added that, after 1200, poor translations of Aristotle and the scholastic controversies which these instigated deformed the universities, the churches and morals. As the main objec­ tive of humanistic university reform, the 21-year-old professor insisted on a return to the sources of poetry, of sciences and theology. Thus, one would go back to the very substance of things themselves, in theology, directly to the wisdom of Jesus Christ. 10 In his lecture on the opening of the newly founded higher humanistic school in Nuremberg in 1526, Melanchthon attributed to Florence the virtue not only of welcoming those scholars who fled from Constantinople but also of providing hand­ some salaries for them as professors of Greek. Florence was to be thanked for having saved the Greek language from dying out and for having aroused the honestae artes, the honourable sciences, to enter upon a new life. The new educational movement radiated in all direc­ tions from Florence and led to the development of vernacular languages, the improvement of municipal laws and the purification of religion. 11 Melanchthon's concept of an epoch is very interesting from many dif­ ferent angles. For him, the new age began with the conquest of Con­ stantinople by the Turks in 1453, and this is the date which has been assigned until recently by many historians as the end of the Middle Ages. The novelty of humanism, for Melanchthon - as it was for the German neo-humanists of the nineteenth century - lay in the study of Greek, the return to the sources, ad fontes. The humanistic educational reform, according to Melanchthon, had practical effects on the national linguis­ tic culture, on civil order and on the Reformation. 12 Petrus Ramus (Pierre de la Ramée, 1515-72), whose philosophical and pedagogical works were a succès fou, above all in the universities influenced by Calvinism, 13 in his lecture at the opening of his career as 10

P. Melanchthon, 'Sermo habitus apud iuventutem Academiae Witebergensis de corri­ gendis adolescentiae studiis', in R. Nürnberger (ed.), Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl, vol. III (Gütersloh, 1961 ), 3 2-40. 11 P. Melanchthon, 'Oratio ...in laudem novae scholae habita Noribergae in corona doc­ tissimorum virorum et totius ferme Senatus', in Nürnberger (ed.), Melanchthons Werke (note 10 ), 67. 12 These themes are dealt with in chapters 2 and 3. 13 A. Grafton and L. Jardine, From Humanism to the Humanities. Education and the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 162; W. J. Ong, SJ, Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue. From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason (Cambridge, Mass., 1958; 2nd edn, 1983 ), 295, men­ tions about 800 'editions and adaptations of Ramus' and Talon's [his pupil] 'own works (some 1 100 if one numbers separately individual works appearing in collections ) and those of nearly 400 Ramist educators and public figures'.

10

Themes a teacher at the Collège de Presles in Paris, declared that there had been a radical break between the old and new universities, in the following image: Let us imagine a teacher of a university who