Scholars and Literati at the University of Gießen (1607–1800)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae - RETE (2021) 2:31–38 31 https://doi.org/10.14428/rete.v2i0/Giessen Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Scholars and Literati at the University of Gießen (1607–1800) David de la Croix Robert Stelter IRES/LIDAM, UCLouvain University of Basel This note is a summary description of the set of scholars and literati who taught at the University of Gießen from its inception in 1607 to the eve of the Industrial Revolution (1800). 1 The University The University of Gießen – the Ludoviciana – is a typical example for a small state university in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Landgrave Ludwig V. of Hesse-Darmstadt initiated the foundation of a Lutheran university in Gießen as there was a need to train Lutheran pastors and civil servants, when the nearby University of Marburg became Calvinist. Soon after teaching started in October 1607, the Thirty Years War erupted, and the Ludoviciana closed temporarily. It was restored in Gießen in 1650 with the four usual faculties: Theology, Law, Medicine, and Arts. Limited nancial resources restricted reform eorts in the eighteenth century so that there was little change until the very end of the century. Still, notably a faculty of economics existed from 1777–1785. Its tradition continued in the faculties of medicine and philosophy. 2 Sources The chronicle of the University of Gießen has been published in two books: (Haupt and Lehnert 1907) includes the history of the Ludoviciana between 1607 and 1907, while (Rehmann 1957) focuses on the following 50 years. As we are interested in the pre-1800 period, we rely on the book by (Haupt and Lehnert 1907). In addition to an overview of the most important events, the second part of the book lists the scholars and literati of the university in alphabetical order. We only added very few cases from other sources to the almost 300 names. 3 Some statistics Table 1 displays some descriptive statistics for the 298 scholars and literati we link to the University of Gießen. For 254 of them, the birth year has been documented. The mean age at appointment is around 31.2 years and is highest around 1700. Surprisingly, we observe a slightly decreasing mean age of death from around 60 to less than 59 years. For more than 95%, the birth place is known, with a median distance of around 150 km to the university. The distance is highest in the period when the university was established, which attests to the attractiveness of the young university. 85% of the scholars active in Gießen left a footprint in the catalogues of the libraries of the world, Worldcat, either by having published some work, or by having been the subject of published books and articles. The share of scholars with a Wikipedia page is 40%. 4 Fields Figure 1 shows the relative importance of elds, broadly dened. The distribution of scholars across the elds of sciences at the University of Gießen reects the wide range of scientic activities. Still, we observe a dominance of the elds linked to the four traditional faculties that are humanities, law, 32 Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae - RETE (2021) 2:31–38 medicine, and theology. In addition to the well-known theologians, the natural sciences were well represented at the university. Period nb. % birth year mean age mean age life exp. Start End obs known at nomin. at death at 30 1527 1617 43 69.8 30.9 60.1 60.4 1618 1685 72 90.3 30.5 60.9 61.3 1686 1733 81 85.2 32.3 58.6 57.6 1734 1800 102 88.2 31 58.5 60.8 1000 1800 298 85.2 31.2 59.3 60.1 % birth place median distance % with % with known birth-institution Wikipedia Worldcat 1527 1617 97.7 184 44.2 86 1618 1685 100 138 43.1 84.7 1686 1733 90.1 160 34.6 85.2 1734 1800 95.1 145 40.2 87.3 1000 1800 95.3 153 39.9 85.9 Table 1: Summary statistics by period Composition by field Ugiessen−1607 / Ludoviciana / Gießen / Tue Dec 15 16:50:23 2020 Theology Law Unkown Sciences Humanities Medicine Figure 1: Broad elds at the University of Gießen Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae - RETE (2021) 2:31–38 33 5 Place of birth Figure 2 displays theOrigin places of of birth birth of of members all the scholars active at the Ludoviciana. We document the Germanic nature of the university. Ugiessen−1607 / Ludoviciana / Gießen / Tue Dec 15 16:50:23 2020 0km 300km 600km 65°N 60°N 55°N 50°N Latitude 45°N 40°N 35°N N 30°N 20°W 10°W 0° 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E Longitude Periods 1537−1617 1618−1685 1686−1733 1734−1800 Figure 2: Places of birth of the scholars and literati at the University of Gießen 6 Human capital of scholars and literati For each person in the database we compute a heuristic human capital index, identied by combining information from Worldcat and Wikipedia using a principal component analysis. We also compute the notability of the university at each date by averaging the human capital of the scholars active in Gießen 25 years before that date. Details are given in Appendix. Figure 3 shows the names of all the scholars with a positive human capital index. The orange line plots the notability of the university. The pattern is one of a good university over the period considered. When comparing this graph with the equivalent one for other universities, notice that the scale of the vertical axis may not be the same. Here, the range is (0,8), while for Jena another German, Lutheran university, see De la Croix and Stelter (2020), we have (0,14) to accommodate several scholars with an index between 8 and 14. 1800 Schulz F Schmidt J Nebel E von Hessertvon F Posewitz J Posewitz Danz F Snell F Schmid K von Grolman K von Schaumann J Emmerling A Palmer C Palmer Leun J Schalk K Schmidt G Thom G Walther F Walther Hezel J Hezel Bechtold G Crome A Roos J Schwabe E Schwabe Büchner J Chastel F Heyler K Heyler Baumer J Snell K Musaeus J Werner G Werner Dietz J Link J Schnaubert A von Müller K von von Langsdorff K von Piehl D Jaup H Jaup Krebs L Kempf T Kempf Schulz J Schmid C Höpfner L Bahrdt K Lobstein J Klevesahl E Klevesahl Nebel C Neubauer J Ouvrier L Koester H Koester von Gatzert von C Schwarz J Schwarz Mosebach P Rosenmüller J Rosenmüller Müller J Bechtold J Cartheuser F Koch J Koch Schlettwein J Schlettwein Alefeld G Alefeld Breidenstein J Mogen L 1750 Hoffmann J Zentgrav J Zentgrav Dietz J Preuschen G Baumer J Müller G Snell J Koch C Koch Voigt J Voigt Böhm A Wagner G Wagner Thom E Meis C Müller H Hensing F Nebel H Wlömen S Wolf P Wolf Balser J Kortholt F Jenichen G König C König Fresenius J Höpfner J 34 Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae - RETE (2021) 2:31–38 Gersten C Neubauer E Benner J Rays J Rays Hilchen L Estor J Susemihl J Arnoldi E von Senckenberg H Senckenberg von Tabor G Tabor Wahl J Wahl Alefeld J Alefeld Kehr G Kehr Rambach J Valentini C Valentini Mögling J Walther H Walther Ayrmann C Ayrmann Masson S Zoller G Pfaff C Pfaff Gruber J Draudt G Draudt Roll R Kayser J Kayser Hartung J Pfister S Stockhausen B May (Majus) J May Hert J Hensing J Happel J Zorn P von Meiern von (Meier) J Liebknecht J von Wieger J von Schupart J Runckel C Runckel Frey J Frey 1700 Verdries J Verdries Ludovici J Ludovici Frantz L Frantz Kortholt M Ploennies E Becker J Becker Lange J Barthold G Rüdiger C Arnold G Bötticher A Grolmann M Geibel B Moeller G Eberwein J Eberwein Bürcklin G Mollenbeck J Hedinger J Preussmann A Gerhard J Bielenfeld J Bielenfeld Weber I Weber Nitzsch G Vagetius (Vaget) A (Vaget) Vagetius Arnoldi J Englert J Gernand G Schlosser P Hartschmidt J Rüdiger J Kulpis J Kulpis Hert J Orth S Goebbel P Goebbel Valentini M Valentini Mollenbeck B May (Majus) J May Kempfer (Kämpfer) A (Kämpfer) Kempfer Tack L Tack Hinckelmann A Hinckelmann Masius H Mentzer B Mentzer Arcularius J Stockhausen J Thilenius N Dillenius J Botsack B Petersen J Petersen Hert (Hertius) J Kahler J Dassovius T Dassovius Clodius D Mogen J Years Nitzsch F Schwarzenau C Schwarzenau Haberkorn J von Lyncker N Lyncker von Roetel H Phasian H von Haberkorn H von Malcomesius J Hanneken P Hanneken Zesch W Siricius M Rudrauff K Rudrauff Heerwart H Pistorius J 1650 Heiland M von Eyben U von Metzger G Sinolt J Scheibler J Scheibler Henckel J Henckel Tack J Tack Mollenbeck A Horst J Buncke C Buncke Winckelmann J Winckelmann Misler J von Jacobi H Jacobi von Mentzer B Mentzer Strauch J Strauch Dieterich J Le Bleu J Christiani D Tabor J Tabor Geibel H Soldan J Haberkorn P Ebel K Walther J Walther Tonsor J Tonsor Sinold J Müller J Krebs P Glaum P Reinking D Stephani S Steuber J Liebenthal C Wideburg H Wideburg Feurborn J Feurborn Hunnius H Helwig (Helvicus) M Breidenbach J Horst G Döring M Jungius J Jungius Stumpf J Frider P Garnier P Eichrodt J Gerth J Nigidius P Eckhard H Finck K Leusler J Tholde C Gisenius J Kitzel J Kitzel Nebelkrä H Nebelkrä Scheibler C Scheibler Schenckel R Schenckel Dieterich K 1600 Antonii G Münster J Bachmann K Jungermann L Helwig (Helvicus) C Lautenbach J Ugiessen−1607 − Publishing Scholars and Distribution of all Scholars (rug plot) of all Scholars and Distribution Scholars Ugiessen−1607 − Publishing Oliva M Oliva Mentzer B Mentzer Winckelmann J Winckelmann 1550 8 6 4 2 0 Human capital index Figurecapital 3:Human Famous scholars and university notability (orange) Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae - RETE (2021) 2:31–38 35 7 Top 5 professors We now provide a brief overview of the ve professors with the highest human capital index.