The Universities Of The Italian Renaissance

by Grendler, Paul F.

• ISBN13: 9780801880551
• ISBN10: 0801880556
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781421404233
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-29
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

Italian Renaissance universities were Europe's intellectual leaders in humanistic studies, law, medicine, philosophy, and science. Employing some of the foremost scholars of the time--including Pietro Pomponazzi, Andreas Vesalius, and Galileo Galilei--the Italian Renaissance university was the prototype of today's research university. This is the first book in any language to offer a comprehensive study of this most influential institution. In this magisterial study, noted scholar Paul F. Grendler offers a detailed and authoritative account of the universities of Renaissance Italy. Beginning with brief narratives of the origins and development of each university, Grendler explores such topics as the number of professors and their distribution by discipline, student enrollment (some estimates are the first attempted), famous faculty members, budget and salaries, and relations with civil authority. He discusses the timetable of lectures, student living, foreign students, the road to the doctorate, and the impact of the Counter Reformation. He shows in detail how humanism changed research and teaching, producing the medical Renaissance of anatomy and medical botany, new approaches to Aristotle, and mathematical innovation. Universities responded by creating new professorships and suppressing older ones. The book concludes with the decline of Italian universities, as internal abuses and external threats--including increased student violence and competition from religious schools--ended Italy's educational leadership in the seventeenth century.

Author Biography

Paul F. Grendler is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Toronto, and former president of the Renaissance Society of America. He is the editor-in-chief of the prize-winning Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and author of several books including Schooling in Renaissance Italy, winner of the American Historical Association's Howard R. Marraro Prize for Italian History, also available from Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
List of Tables	xiii
Preface	xv
Abbreviations	xix
PART I. THE UNIVERSITIES OF ITALY
1. Bologna and Padua	3	(38)
The Italian University	3	(2)
Bologna: Second Half of the Twelfth Century	5	(9)
Bologna in the Sixteenth Century	14	(7)
Padua, 1222	21	(10)
Padua after 1509	31	(10)
2. Naples, Siena, Rome, and Perugia	41	(29)
Naples, 1224	41	(4)
Siena, 1246	45	(11)
Rome, 12406	56	(8)
Perugia, 1308	64	(6)
3. The Second Wave: Pisa, Florence, Pavia, Turin, Ferrara, and Catania	70	(39)
Pisa, 1343	70	(7)
Florence, 1348	77	(5)
Pavia, 1361	82	(11)
Turin, 1411-1413	93	(6)
Ferrara, 1442	99	(7)
Catania, 1445	106	(3)
4. The Third Wave: Macerata, Salerno, Messina, and Parma	109	(34)
Macerata, 1540-1541	109	(8)
Salerno, c. 1592	117	(4)
Messina, 1596	121	(5)
Parma, 1601	126	(11)
Incomplete Universities	137	(3)
Paper Universities	140	(2)
Conclusion	142	(1)
5. The University in Action	143	(56)
The Organization of Instruction	143	(8)
Latin	151	(1)
Disputations	152	(5)
Civil Authority and Student Power	157	(2)
Professors	159	(7)
Student Living	166	(3)
Residence Colleges	169	(3)
The Doctorate	172	(6)
The Cost of Degrees	178	(2)
Alternate Paths to the Doctorate	180	(3)
Doctorates from Counts Palatine	183	(3)
The Counter Reformation	186	(13)
PART II. TEACHING AND RESEARCH
6. The Studia Humanitatis	199	(50)
Grammar and Rhetoric in the Fourteenth-Century University	199	(6)
Humanists Avoid the University, 1370-1425	205	(4)
Humanists Join the University, 1425-1450	209	(5)
Humanistic Studies Flourish, 1450-1520	214	(8)
Court and Classroom: Changing Employment for Humanists	222	(3)
Humanistic Studies at Other Universities	225	(4)
The Sixteenth Century	229	(7)
Curricular Texts	236	(5)
Teaching and Research	241	(6)
Humanists in the University: A Summation	247	(2)
7. Logic	249	(18)
Logic at Padua	250	(3)
Logic at Other Universities	253	(4)
Teaching and Research	257	(6)
Demonstrative Regress	263	(3)
Conclusion	266	(1)
8. Natural Philosophy	267	(47)
Aristotelian Curricular Texts	269	(2)
Greek Texts and Commentaries	271	(8)
Inanimate World, Scientific Method, and the Soul	279	(2)
The Debate on the Immortality of the Intellective Soul	281	(12)
The Immortality of the Soul after Pomponazzi	293	(4)
Platonic Philosophy in the Universities	297	(13)
Continuity and Decline of Aristotelian Natural Philosophy	310	(4)
9. The Medical Curriculum	314	(39)
Medieval Medical Knowledge	314	(4)
The Medical Curriculum in 1400	318	(6)
Medical Humanism	324	(4)
The Anatomical Renaissance	328	(4)
Bodies for Dissection	332	(2)
University Anatomy after Vesalius	334	(7)
Clinical Medicine	341	(1)
Medical Botany	342	(9)
Conclusion	351	(2)
10. Theology, Metaphysics, and Sacred Scripture	353	(40)
From Mendicant Order Studia to Faculties of Theology	353	(4)
Faculties of Theology	357	(3)
Doctorates of Theology	360	(6)
Theology, Metaphysics, and Sacred Scripture at the University of Padua	366	(6)
Universities Teaching Theology Continuously	372	(9)
Universities Reluctant to Teach Theology	381	(3)
Erasmus' Doctorate of Theology	384	(1)
Teaching Texts	385	(2)
The Reputation of Theology	387	(2)
Italian Convent and University Theology, 1400-1600	389	(4)
11. Moral Philosophy	393	(15)
Moral Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages	393	(2)
Humanistic Moral Philosophy at the University of Florence	395	(3)
Moral Philosophy in Other Universities	398	(5)
Teaching Moral Philosophy	403	(5)
12. Mathematics	408	(22)
Statutory Texts	408	(5)
The Renaissance of Mathematics	413	(2)
Professors of Astrology, Astronomy, and Mathematics	415	(11)
Luca Pacioli	426	(1)
The Progress of Mathematics	427	(3)
13. Law	430	(47)
Mos Italicus	431	(3)
Teaching Texts	434	(2)
Humanistic Jurisprudence	436	(7)
The Decline of Canon Law	443	(4)
Padua and Bologna	447	(10)
Pavia and Rome	457	(3)
Siena and the Sozzini	460	(5)
Florence and Pisa	465	(4)
The Other Universities	469	(3)
Conclusion	472	(5)
PART III. RECESSIONAL
14. The Decline of Italian Universities	477	(32)
Concern for the Universities	477	(2)
Competition from Religious Order Schools: The Jesuit School at Padua	479	(4)
Competition from Religious Order Schools: Schools for Nobles	483	(1)
Degrees from Local Colleges of Law and Medicine	484	(2)
Private Teaching and Other Pedagogical Abuses	486	(5)
Private Anatomy Teaching at Padua	491	(4)
The Shrinking Academic Calendar	495	(2)
Financial Problems	497	(1)
Faculty Provincialism	498	(2)
Student Violence	500	(5)
Positive Developments	505	(3)
A Weakened Institution	508	(1)
Conclusion	509	(4)
Appendix: Faculty Size and Student Enrollments	513	(4)
Bibliography	517	(52)
Index	569