Between Region and Rome. The Foundation of Universities in the 1470s in comparative perspective

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sigrid Hirbodian
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 454389559

The proposed project seeks to compare university foundations in the 1470s with the key goal of contributing to a better understanding of the underlying motivations and processes at work in the founding of late medieval universities. The starting point of the project will be the University of Tübingen (1477), which will be compared to other universities founded in the 1470s, including those in Ingolstadt (1472), Mainz (1477), Uppsala (1477), and Copenhagen (1479). The study will focus on these foundations primarily as Landesuniversitäten and thus on the many interdependencies with regional politics, for example within the context of church reform, political position and position of rank, or territorial-political developments. Despite their differences, university foundations confronted similar problems, which both suggests and facilitates a comparative approach.University foundations must be understood as processes for which no clear starting or ending point can be specified. Although the project seeks to consider these processes in their entirety, some aspects will receive particular attention. One key example is the role of the Roman Curia. While all of the universities of the 1470s were created by papal privilege, the Curia was a recurring starting point for university founders well beyond the founding bull. Further, the role of various individuals involved in foundations requires further scholarly attention. This applies not only to the university founder and his close advisors, but also to other possible participants in the second tier, including financial or political sponsors, sought-after teaching staff, or individuals acting as procurators at the Curia. Here, network studies and the concept of Handlungswissen will be particularly useful analytical tools.The comparison of roughly contemporary university foundations is intended, on the one hand, to reveal possible interdependencies among the founding processes and identify typical and regular processes and backgrounds, and on the other hand to work out the distinguishing characteristics of each individual foundation and its regional-historical context.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants