What would studying in a german university in the time between 1550 and 1650 be like?

by KippieDaoud

Im currently reading a book on the witch hunts and the author talk about some jesuit professor of a university who participated in the witch hunt somewhere and i asked myself how studying in the universities in this time would have been, especially in theology

How would the lectures be, which subjects could you study, how the exams would be, etc...

Thanks in advance

TywinDeVillena

This is not an answer, but a question concerning the possibility of an answer. Would you consider it inappropriate if I give a testimony from a Spaniard who studied at the University of Wittenberg in 1542? I know it is not quite the time frame you are giving, but it may be useful, as Francisco de Enzinas was a disciple of Melanchthon. If you deem this not appropriate, I will abstain from commenting.

TywinDeVillena

Francisco de Enzinas, Spaniard, student of Theology and Classical Letters, had this study plan, designed by Philip Melanchthon. The lessons would be in Latin, as it was usual for the time period. Letter from Melanchthon to Enzinas, Wittenberg, 1542:

Method and study plan, along with a list of tropes, all of it prepared by Philip Melanchthon, for the use of a certain Spaniard.1542:
Everyday, in the morning and the evening, you shall read, as prayers, a text from the Holy Bible, with certain attention in order to understand it and to incite the spirit towards devotion, fear, and faith. And while you read, you have to recapacitate on what stories they are, to what tropes they correspond, which of them predicate on pennance, and on fear, how they contain the promise of the Gospels, and examples of faith; how they contain the Law and punishments -as the lectures on Cain, Sodom, the Flood, the Plagues of Egypt-; and how the Church is admirably preserved amongst the fall of the succesive peoples; and you have to admire its order, the diffusion of the Church; you have to pay attention to chronology. On the more obscure passages, you have to listen to the opinions of prudent men, and experts, and have to find a concise and simple explanation.
Twice per week, you have to dedicate an hour to the study of the Theology, and a second hour, so you yourself read at home, with some commentary, the Epistle to the Romans, and later Genesis or Isaiah. The rest of the time can be devoted to go the lectures you find pleasing, and in part to read classical Greek and Latin authors. My advice on the lecture of Latin texts at home is this: at home, every week, you shall dedicate one hour a day, and an extra one, to Cicero, carefully distributed, so sometimes you read letters and some other times, discourses. Furthermore, you shall dedicate one hour or two one day to Livy, not only for its History, but also for his eloquence. Wednesday and Saturday, you shall consecrate to Greek language; read at home the Lives of Plutarch, and, on your own, translate some things from Lucian. You also have to make this language exercises: a daily lecture of the New Testament, and of Aristotle's Ethics. You don't have to take this plan in a strict sense, but as the jurists say sensu lato. Meanwhile, there are some other things to be read, be them classical or contemporary, be them to distract your mind or to strengthen your criterium. I wish you would pay attention to the poets, and that you wrote verses every once in a while, for the reading of poets greatly favours those who write in prose with some elegance. The diversity of genres, the powerful figures, and the brilliant amplifications can be taken from poets. On the holidays you can read some psalm; and you shall, and you shall read it so you find its true meaning, its simple sense, natural and original; you shall choose some pslams, that can serve as prayers, such as: Miserere, Ad te levavi, De profundis, Domine ne in furore tuo, Domini exaudi orationem, Deus venerunt gentes...
List of common tropes:
God. The World. Providence: Providence rules everything. Religion. The Sun. The sky. The moon. The stars: succession of stars. Predictions. Succession of seasons: Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. The Elements: fire, water, earth, air. The celestial phenomens: prodigies, comets. Extension of the Earth: its division.
Amasis, according to Herodotus, writes to King Polycrates this: there are many days in a year, and many hours, and many more are the moments, but there is no moment that cannot cast you down.

Enzinas, Francisco de, Epistolario, edition by Ignacio GarcĂ­a Pinilla, Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1995. Pages 16-19.