Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/526

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CRACOW


466


CRAIGIE


however, fulfil the expectations excited by him. Callimachus died in 1496; as time went on the seed which he and Celtes had sown produced its fruit, as is shown in Rhagius Sommerfeld, also called JSsticam- pianus, and in Heinrich Bebel. Thus, at the opening of the sixteenth centurj', the classic writers were more and more read, at first outside of the lecture- rooms of the imiversity, in the students' halls. In 1520 the study of Greek was introduced into the uni- versity, the professors being Constanzo Claretti, Wen- zel of Hirschberg, and Libanus. Hebrew was also taught in spite of the opposition to the "Judaizers", and the notorious Italian, Francesco Stancari, arrived at Cracow in 1546.

Decline of the University. — In the midst of this progress signs of decay were visible, though the decline did not originate in the university itself. The national policy of Poland, the founding of the uni- versities of Wittenberg and Frankfort^on-the-Oder, and a strong anti-German tendency, caused the Uni- versity of Cracow to lose its original cosmopolitan character and to become rather a national Polish uni- versity; thus a gradual decline ensued. Neverthe- less it maintained during this period a remarkably high standing. Such scholars as Mart in Krol, Mart in Bylica, and finally Adalbert Brudzewski made the school famous as a seat of astronomical studies while the name of Nicholas Copernicus, the pupil of Brud- zewski, sheds upon it undying lustre. Elementary studies were taught, consequently students of from fourteen to sixteen years of age entered from Him- gary, Moravia, Silesia, Prussia, and the provinces of the Polish crown. At first the students lived in private houses, but gradually halls were established in which "commons" were provided, and a clerical dress was worn. The expenses of these halls were covered by the fees which the students paid for board, matricu- lation, room rent, and fuel. The rector of the univer- sity was chosen l)y a committee of doctors and mas- ters. Up to 1419 a rector was chosen for the whole year, btit from this date until 1778 one was selected for each semester. Other officers were: the curators who watched over the rights and privileges of the uni- versity, the procurator and notarius, and the co/isil- iarii who had to decide in case of an appeal. From the start the professors lived together in colleges, and were divided according to faculties. They had a com- mon table, decitled as to the reception of members, and bestowed the positions of canon and prebend, of which each faculty, with the exception of the medical, had often as many as twelve at its disposal. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the fortunes of the university sank to a very low ebb. J. Gorski, in his "Apology" (1581), and Petrycy give as the chief reasons for this the utter insubordination of the stu- dents, complete indifference of the professors to the advances of learning in the West, and lack of means for the support of the university. Above all, there arose after the opening of the seventeenth century, a bitter conflict on the part- of the university against the Jesuits, who, on the strength of their constitutional privileges, had opened schools in Cracow, Posen, Lem- berg, and other places, to protect Polish youth against the advances of Protestantism. The university, how- ever, appealed to a privilege, the jus cxclusionis, and demanded the closing of the Jesuit institutions. For nearly one hundred and fifty years this conflict was carried on with incredible tenacity. The common people, nobility, clergy, kings, bishops, and popes were drami into it, an(I the striiggle ended in the dis- comfiture of the Jesuits (cf. Zafeski, Jezuiri ev Polsic, II, III). When, towards the close of the eighteenth century, national misfortunes overtook the coimtry, and the three Partitions of Poland put an end to Po- lish freedom, the life of the imiverity came to a com- plete standstill. It is truo_that Bishop Sottyk, and after him the energetic Koltataj, undertook a thor-


ough reform by breaking with the medieval routine and giving prominence to the natural sciences. But the political conditions in the decades following these efforts were unfavourable to quiet and serious study.

Modern Times. — After Cracow had become, in 1846, a part of the Austrian Empire, the central Govern- ment at Vienna endeavoured to make the imiversity more German, but did nothing to improve it. A new era did not open for the school until 1861, when Francis Joseph I permitted Polish to be again used as the lan- guage of instruction and official life, and the Govern- ment allowed a new building to be erected for the university. The number of professors and students now increased each year. While, in 1853 there were only 47 professors, of whom 37 were regular professors, 2 assistant professors, and S docents, in 1900, the fifth centennial of the university, there were 103 professors; of this number 48 were regular, 36 assistant professors, and 19 docents and lecturers. In 1907 the professors numbered 115. In 1853 there were 175 students; in 1893, 1320 ; in 1907, over 2700. The university library contains 250,000 works in 330,000 volumes; 5500 manuscripts in 7000 volumes (some of them very val- uable and as yet unpublished); about 10,000 coins, and 1200 atlases. The university has a college of the physical sciences, and a medical college for anatomical and phj'siological lectures; the medical school is en- tirely modern in its equipment and possesses very fuie collections. There are also surgical, gynaecological, and ophthalmic clinics, besides one for internal and nervous diseases: an agricultural institute is in pro- cess of construction. Among the distinguished scholars connected with the university (1908) are: Professor Obszewski, the discoverer of a new method for liquifying gases, the surgeon Professor Kader, and Professor Wicherkiewicz, the oculist.

Codex di-plomaticus Univ. Crac&v. (Cracow, 1870-84); Liber diligentinrum (Cracow, 1886); Albutn stndiosorum Univ. Cracov. (Cracow, 1887); Aclarestmai;,, iCnrnw, 1S93-97), I, II; Rapy- MiNSKi, Fasti Univ. Crarnr ITs, in Ms. Cod, Jagell., 225; Idem, Annales usque ad i"/: |i,i>m i;, U,s\ Cod, Jagell., 226; SoLTYKOwicz, O Stanie Ak-na >n:, 1. :n;.,-n kwj (on the Condition of the Cracow Academy) (<_'i;u*.a\, IMU;; Muczkowski, Miesz- kania i postepowania uczniow Krakowskich (Residences and Customs of the Cracow Students) (Cracow, 1842); Ldkaszc- wicz, Hi^torya szkoTw Koronie i W. AS. Ldtewskiem (History of the Schools in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchv of Lithuania) (Posen, 1S49-51); Bkandowski, Zalozenie Vniw. Krakow.'fkiego (Founding of the Cracow University) (Cracow, 1873); FiJALEK. Studya do dzicjdw Umu'.Krak. (Studies in the History of the University of Cracow) (Cracow. 1S9S); Mokaw- SKr Kazim, Historya Vniw. Jaoidloii:ki-'ii"- Srcdnit wicki i Odrodzenie — History of the JagellMn I iiisri-ii\ in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Period ^('i a* I >\s , I'.iiu) .

Osi.'Ali Rddski.

Craigie, Peari, Mary Teresa, better known, under the pseudonjTn which first won her fame, as John Oliver Hobbes, English novelist, dramatist, and con- vert; b. 3 November"; 1867; d. 13 August, 1906. She was the eldest daughter of John Morgan Richards, a successful man of business in Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A., and of Laiira Hortense Arnold, a lady of dis- tinguished colonial descent. Her father came of an intensely Calvinistic stock long settled in and about New York and New Jersey; and her grandfather, the Rev. James Richards, D.D., was a preacher and theo- logical writer of some distinction in his time. In Feb- ruary, 188". before she had completed her twentieth year, Miss Richards was married to Mr. Reginald Wal- pole Craigie. an English gentleman of good connex- ions. The union, however, proved an uncongenial one, and Mrs. Oaigie soon sought ;ind obtained a legal separation with the right to the custody of her child. In 1892. as the result, it would seem, of much private and imlepeiident reflection, she was received into the Chiu-rli. She had begini to (urn her thoughts seriouslv ti> literature some time before this event; for already in 1N91 she had ventureil before the pviblic under the iiseuiliiii>nn which she insisted on retaining long after her identity was known, and challenged the puzzled critics by a book to which she gave the lincon-