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GÁBOR ITTZÉS
was hardly represented in terms of examination reguirements. For those who
wanted to graduate, it remained in a sense optional, while scholastic learning
was requisite and quite generously supplied."
It is from these beginnings that Wittenberg developed into the foremost aca¬
demic centre of the Reformation—a transition that required time and initiative.
In reviewing the complex processes of change, I will concentrate on structures
rather than individuals. My primary focus will be on faculty positions as an
indicator of the institution’s intellectual profile, including its theological orien¬
tation, rather than on the incumbents. Given its size, the availability of sources,
and the nature of developments, the Faculty of Arts will receive special atten¬
tion, but I will also discuss the transformation of the higher faculties.
A LATE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY ESTABLISHED (1507-1508)
In the spring of 1507, 38 lecturers, including bachelors, masters and doctors,
offered altogether 45 regular and occasional courses (ordinarii et extraordinarii)
at Wittenberg University.’* In that year, the number of the All Saints’ Col¬
legiate Church’s canonries (Allerheiligenstift) was raised to twelve, and their
incumbents were required to assume teaching responsibilities at the univer¬
sity.* Five“ masters taught the undergraduates while three of the seven doctors
were assigned to the Faculty of Theology and four to the law school. These
professors received no extra pay for their work at the university, thereby greatly
reducing the strain the institution placed on the Electoral treasury. In a simi¬
lar fashion, the Augustinian order also staffed two teaching positions. They
provided a doctor for the Biblical chair in the theology faculty and a magister
This can be clearly seen in our most important sources, the Rotulus of 1507 - the earliest
extant course catalogue of the university, UBW 1:14-17 (No. 17) - and the statutes of 1508
(cf. n. 8, above).
ZOLLNER, Walter, Herausbildung und Weiterentwicklung der Wissenschaftsgebiete an der
Universitat Wittenberg bis zum Ende der Lutherzeit (unter besonderer Beriicksichtigung der
Artistenfakultät), in H. Lück, (ed.), Martin Luther, 117-132, here 121. Cf. UBW 1:14-17 (No.
17).
3 UBW 1:17 (No. 19).
At least in principle. One of them, Johann Rachals (/1.1507-1523) was exempted from those
duties throughout his life (UBW 1:84, No. 63).
15 KATHE, Philosophische Fakultät, 26. Scheible’s reconstruction differs, but his different ver¬
sions are not strictly coherent with each other either (cf. Melanchthon, 30 vs. 55; Aristoteles,
130-131). Cf. UBW 1:15 (No. 17), where four law faculty members are listed with endowed
ecclesiastical positions.
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