Exhibition Companion E Creating a University A University of Vienna exhibition in cooperation with the Austrian National Library EXHIBITION PLAN THE CITY EXCELLENCE 23 22 24 21 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 26 27 28 29 30 36 37 38 39 40 43 44 45 7 8 9 10 11 12 31 32 33 34 35 41 42 46 47 48 49 13 20 19 14 15 18 16 17 THE STUDIUM MOBILITY COURT AND UNIVERSITY Vienna 1365 Creating a University Rudolph IV founded a university in his capital city on 12 March 1365. The new institution soon produced excellent research and became widely influen- tial. Today it is among the largest universities in the world and, as the oldest in the German-speaking countries, is celebrating its 650th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the University of Vienna and the Austrian National Library have organized an exhibition on the university’s early years – from its foundation to the Renaissance. The show includes documents and objects from the University Archive, as well as manuscripts formerly used by the university and now in the Austrian National Library. Among the many valuable loans is one of the most signifi- cant paintings in European art history: the portrait of Rudolph the Founder. Universities have always been capable of moving people and ideas across borders. The exhibition casts light on the beginnings of academic interna- tionalization. It also shows how autonomy put pressure on the university to register and articulate its status by means of insignia, records, and other docu- ments. Manuscripts, sometimes with sketches and paper models of surprising complexity, show how knowledge was created and developed. CONTENT see inside cover for the exhibition plan p. 4 THE CITY p. 20 COurt AND UNIVERSity p. 44 THE STUDIUM p. 62 EXCELLENCE p. 76 MOBILITY p. 91 Imprint THE CITY 4 ducation in and around Vienna has a long history: the city’s situation on the Danube facilitated trade and communication. Monasteries had settled in the city since the Babenberg rule and developed into impor- Etant intellectual centres. Around the mid-twelfth century, the parish school at St. Stephen’s Church opened its doors. Frederick II had granted particular protection to the Jews as servants of the royal chamber (servie camerae regi). The university interacted with all of these communities; their contact was not always free of conflict. Nevertheless, when the Duke died a few months after his foundation, the small group of scholars found personal support as well as rooms from them. The Chapter of All Saints and the Parish School of St. Stephen’s were its most important guarantors. The era of the Great Western Schism and the synods brought political power to the University of Vienna. It gained great respect in the city. The city eventually emerged as one of the university’s greatest beneficiaries; educa- tion became a Viennese export product. Even in the late fourteenth century, important office holders such as town clerk had completed their university studies. An elite developed that was predestined for church, council and administration. Health policy, pastoral care and urban planning also profited. The university city was shaped by tolerance towards and conflict management with strangers. 5 THE CITY 1 Hugo de St. Victor. De sacramentis christianae fidei. Depiction of a Disputatio. 1150/75. Klosterneuburg, Stiftsbibliothek, CCL 311, fol. 82/83 Contemporary manuscripts tell us that this is the depiction of a strictly regu- lated ritual, the disputatio: While the elder participant is raising his finger as he avers a statement (“est, est”), the younger man contradicts him (“non est, non est”). The scene clearly shows a disagreement like the one recommended by Abaelard in his text sic et non. Tournaments were the predecessors of these battles of words in front of a selected audience. Knowledge was no longer the transfer of an existing interpretation of the world, but grew out of discussion and critique. This new notion was established at the Parisian masters’ schools during the twelfth century. It appears to have also been known in Klosterneu- burg, which was in contact with Paris early on. 1 Petrus of Vienna. Zur Verherrlichung des Gottessohnes. Theological Compilation Manuscript (lat.). West Central Germany and France, Twelfth Century. Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1705, fol. 32v/33r The city housed educational institutions even before the university was founded. The most important of these was the school at St. Stephen’s Church. It was probably established shortly after the consecration of the church in 1147 by Duke Henry II Jasomirgott (1107–1177). There is little information available on its early years. Master Petrus was obviously one of the persons connected to the school. He was originally from France, where he had been a pupil of the theologian Gilbert of Poitiers (c. 1080–1155) in 1148. He may have arrived in Vienna upon intervention by the bishop Otto of Freising (c. 1112–1158) in 1150. He was a chaplain at the Babenberg court and taught theology in the position of scholasticus until his death in 1183. After 1154, he was involved in a dispute by letter with the Canon Regular Gerhoch of Reichersberg (c. 1092–1169) and his brothers on questions of christology. The bishops Eberhard of Bamberg (c. 1100–1170) and Otto of Freising were also involved. The latter was the addressee of a report by Petrus of Vienna on the glorification of the Son of God by Gerhoch of Reichersberg. 6 2 Priscianus. Institutiones maiores. User’s note and beginning of the Priscianus text. South Italy, early thirteenth century. Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 213, fol. Iv/1r TheInstitutiones grammaticae by Priscianus from around 500 were considered the fundamental text on Latin grammar in the Middle Ages and thus a fixed part of school and university libraries. This manuscript was created in the ear- ly thirteenth century in South Italy and was owned by a teacher at the school at St. Stephen’s Church in the mid-fourteenth century. This institution was first mentioned in a document in 1237 and probably existed from the mid- twelfth century onwards, serving the purpose of educating the secular clergy. It was given over to the city and made into a townspeople’s school in 1296. Upon the university’s foundation, the faculty of arts presumably took up operations in close cooperation with the townspeople’s school, sharing staff and rooms. The left side of the open pages shows an annotation by a Leutol- dus, who notes that he lectured “in generali Wienne ad sanctum Stephanum” at the age of thirty, in 1349 from February 1. Fol. Ir and the back endpaper contain loan records from the fourteenth century that are probably related to St. Stephen’s school library. They also mention works by Priscianus and au- thors including Prudentius, Donatus, Horace and Boethius. 7 THE CITY 2 Konrad of Megenberg. Buch der Natur (German). Austria, 1388. Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 2669, fol. 5/6 One of the most important teachers at the school at St. Stephen’s was Konrad of Megenberg (1309–1374) from Central Franconia. He had initially been a lecturer at the Cistercian College of St. Bernard in Paris, then studied at Sorbonne, where he earned the degree of Magister artium and subsequently taught from 1334 to 1342. Conflicts with colleagues resulted for some time in a lecture and examination ban. Therefore, he moved to Vienna, where he became the rector of St. Stephen’s school, thus being responsible for all schools in the city until he moved to Regensburg in 1348. He presumably wrote his Buch der Natur during his time in Vienna; it is considered the first systematic German-language compendium on the topic. He builds on Thomas of Cantimpré’s Liber de natura rerum and other Latin sources in order to attempt to explain to the reader nature as created by God in its appearance and its context. He dedicated a revised version (1358/62) to the Austrian duke Rudolph IV. 8 3 Albert of Rickmersdorf. Quaestiones super Aristotelis librum De caelo et mundo (Latin). Text with corrections from the property of the founding rector. Vienna, 1364. Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 5446, fol. 48v/49r The scribe’s note at the end of the manuscript reveals that this copy of the Quaestiones on Aristotle’s De caelo et mundo was completed on November 15, 1364 in Vienna. Their author was Albert of Rickmersdorf (c. 1316–1390), who owned the codex until he sold it together with others in 1375. Albert originally came from Saxony and probably first studied in Prague before he went to Paris, where he gained a reputation as an important scholar. Duke Rudolph summoned him to Vienna no later than 1364. He may have taught at the school at St. Stephen’s. The Duke ordered him to visit Pope Urban V in that same year in order to attain permission for the foundation of a university in Vienna. The pope permitted the establishment of a studium generale in 1365, but denied permission for a faculty of theology. Albert was named the university’s first rector in September or October. However, he only remained in office for a year before he was made bishop of Halberstadt in autumn 1366; he remained in that office until his death. 9 THE CITY 3 Henry of Langenstein. Von der Erkenntnis der sünd. Anthology manu- script (German). Red chalk drawing on Hercules and Hydra. Vienna, end of the fourteenth /first half of the fifteenth century. Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 2997, fol. 154/155 This manuscript was partly written by a Viennese student and contains a work by one of the most renowned scholars of his time: Henry of Langenstein from Hesse (d.