Oldal 14 [14]
GÁBOR ITTZÉS
ormation university as such was established in Marburg, and that school was
not recognised by the Emperor until 1540.* Wittenberg University, by contrast,
came into being as a late medieval institution of higher learning.
Its foundation was necessitated by the 1485 division of the House of Wettin.
Undivided Saxony had one of the oldest universities in Germany,’ but when
Leipzig fell to the Albertine line at the time of the division, the Electoral lands
remained without a school of higher education. Elector Frederick the Wise
(1463, 1486-1525), succeeding his father, Ernest (1441, 1464-1486) the fol¬
lowing year, sought to rectify that situation from the beginning of his reign.
His efforts came to fruition in the opening years of the sixteenth century.
Wittenberg University was effectively founded in 1502, when it received im¬
perial recognition" from Maximilian I (1459—1519)." Five years later (1507) it
was also recognised by the Pope," which was a crucial step for the financial
security of the school, as a considerable number of teaching positions were
supplied by church endowments or the religious orders settled in the Elect¬
oral capital. Ihe process was completed the next year (1508), when Frederick
Zum Quellenwert von Lutherbriefen, in M. Beyer — G. Wartenberg (eds.), Humanismus und
Wittenberger Reformation: Festgabe anläßlich des 500. Geburtstages des Praeceptor Germaniae
Philipp Melanchthon am 16. Februar 1997, Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1996, 123-144;
SCHEIBLE, Heinz, Melanchthon: Eine Biographie, München, Beck, 1997, 28-56; Lück, Heiner
(ed.), Martin Luther und seine Universität: Vorträge anläßlich des 450. Todestages des Reforma¬
tors, Köln — Weimar — Wien, Böhlau, 1998; DinGEL, Irene -WARTENBERG, Günther (eds.), Die
Theologische Fakultät Wittenberg 1502 bis 1602: Beiträge zur 500. Wiederkehr des Gründungsjah¬
res der Leucorea, Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2002; KATHE, Heinz, Die Wittenberger
Philosophische Fakultät 1502-1817 Köln -— Weimar — Wien, Böhlau, 2002; ARNO, Sames (ed.),
500 Jahre Theologie in Wittenberg und Halle 1502-2002: Beiträge aus der Theologischen Fakultät
der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg zum Universitätsjubiläum 2002, Leipzig, Evan¬
gelische Verlagsanstalt, 2003; Lück, Heiner, Wittenberg, Universität, in TRE vol. 36, 2004,
232-243; KocH, Hans Theodor, Die Wittenberger Medizinische Fakultät (1502-1652): Ein bio¬
bibliographischer Überblick, in S. Oehmig (ed.), Medizin und Sozialwesen in Mitteldeutschland
zur Reformationszeit, Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2007, 289-348; SCHEIBLE, Heinz,
Die Philosophische Fakultät der Universität Wittenberg von der Gründung bis zur Vertreibung
der Philippisten, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 98 (2007), 7-44.
3 SCHNEIDER, Hans, Marburg, Universitat, in TRE vol. 22, 1992, 68-75, here 68-69.
Second only to Heidelberg in today’s Germany, the University of Leipzig was founded in 1409,
when German students and faculty withdrew from Prague after the John Hus affair and the
Decree of Kutna Hora, which granted three votes to the Czech nation against the one com¬
bined vote of the three other nations, including the Germans (cf. SpINKA, Matthew, John Hus:
A Biography, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968, 94—100).
5 UBW 1:1-3 (No. 1).
He was German King from 1486 and de facto Emperor after the death of his father (Frederick
III, 1415, 1452-1493), but the Pope only recognised him as Emperor-elect in 1508, and he was
never crowned.
” UBW 1:17 (No. 19).
+ 12 +