University of Altdorf
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University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in Altdorf bei Nürnberg
Altdorf bei Nürnberg
Altdorf bei Nürnberg is a town in south-eastern Germany. It is situated 25 km east of Nuremberg, in the district Nürnberger Land. Its name literally means Altdorf near Nuremberg, to distinguish it from other Altdorfs.-History:...
, a small town outside Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. It was founded in the late 16th century, received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.
Notable instructors include Hugues Doneau
Hugues Doneau
Hugues Doneau, commonly referred also by the Latin form Hugo Donellus , was a French law professor and one of the leading representatives of French legal humanism ....
, Scipione Gentili
Scipione Gentili
Scipione Gentili was an Italian law professor and a legal writer. One of his six brothers was Alberico Gentili who is famous as one of the founders of public international law....
, and Daniel Schwenter
Daniel Schwenter
Daniel Schwenter was a German Orientalist, mathematician, inventor, poet, and librarian. He was professor of oriental languages and mathematics at the University of Altdorf...
.
Notable students include later imperial field marshals Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , actually von Waldstein, was a Bohemian soldier and politician, who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War , to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...
(1583–1634) and Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim
Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim
Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim was field marshal of the Holy Roman Emperor in the Thirty Years' War.-Biography:...
(1594–1632); the polymath Johann Schreck
Johann Schreck
Johann Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo, Deng Zhen Lohan, was a German Jesuit, missionary to China and polymath...
(1576–1630); the composers Wolfgang Carl Briegel
Wolfgang Carl Briegel
Wolfgang Carl Briegel was a German organist and composer. As a boy he was a student in Nuremberg and sang in the Frauenkirche choir. He later studied at the University of Altdorf and became the organist at St Johannis church and a grammar school teacher in Schweinfurt...
(1626–1712) and Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
(1653–1706); and the theologian David Caspari
David Caspari
David Caspari was a German Lutheran theologian. He was the father of Georg Caspari.Born in Königsberg, Prussia, Caspari studied at the Albertina and the universities of Jena, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Altdorf, Strassburg, and Helmstedt. He became sub-inspector at the Albertina in 1676. Two years later...
(1648–1702).
The polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), perhaps most famous for co-discovering calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
, received his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the University of Altdorf for his habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
thesis in philosophy, On the Art of Combinations
De Arte Combinatoria
The Dissertatio de arte combinatoria is an early work by Gottfried Leibniz published in 1666 in Leipzig. It is an extended version of his doctoral dissertation, written before the author had seriously undertaken the study of mathematics. The booklet was reissued without Leibniz' consent in 1690,...
. However, he only submitted this thesis to Altdorf after the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
did not guarantee him a position teaching law upon graduation.
In the period 1614-1617 Altdorf was briefly the centre of Socinianism
Socinianism
Socinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...
in Germany. Encouraged by the connections of German Antitrinitarians to the Racovian Academy
Racovian Academy
The Racovian Academy was a school of the Socinian Polish Brethren operating in Raków, Kielce County, Poland 1602-1638, and publisher of the Racovian Catechism in 1605....
in Poland, German and Polish Socinians attempted to establish in Altdorf a similar Academy. Among the notable Socinian students was the 26-year old Samuel Przypkowski
Samuel Przypkowski
Samuel Przypkowski was a Polish Socinian theologian, a leading figure in the Polish Brethren and an advocate of religious toleration. In Dissertatio de pace et concordia ecclesiae, published in 1628 in Amsterdam, he called for mutual tolerance by Christians...
. He was admitted as student on March 22, 1614, three weeks after Thomas Seget
Thomas Seget
Thomas Seget was a Scottish poet who wrote in Latin.Seget is first recorded as a convert from Calvinism to Catholicism, attending the Scots College at Louvain in 1596, but did not stay long. Carrying a letter of recommendation from Justus Lipsius, the Flemish humanist, he travelled to Italy where...
, but was expelled from Altdorf in 1616 "Crypto-Socinianism" was widely suspected among the student body. In January 1617 the syndicus Jacob Weigel brought two students Joachim Peuschel and Johann Vogel back to Altdorf and the college made them give a public recantation. This recantation was answered by Valentin Schmalz
Valentinus Smalcius
Valentinus Smalcius was a German Socinian theologian. He is known for his German translation of the Racovian Catechism, and Racovian New Testament translated from Greek into Polish...
, one the German professors of the Academy in Poland.