sity—constituted a world by themselves, a distinct corporation. It is true that out of Bologna, the seat of the study of canon law, went forth the great popes, Alexander III and Innocent III. But Paris issued some of the severest attacks against the theory of papal absolutism. With that institution Gerson and d’Ailly were connected. Wyclif’s teaching made Oxford a seat of heresy. Wittenberg, the last of the medieval universities, protected and fostered Luther. Hussitism was begotten at the university of Prague.
The numbers given as attending the universities seem to have been greatly exaggerated. Paris is reported to have had 25,000 students and Oxford 30,000, or, according to Wyclif, prior to his time 60,000, though for his own day he gives the reasonable figure of 3,000. Prague likewise was reported to have had in 1408 by one who lived but a short time later 30,000, with 200 masters, and 500 bachelors, a number altogether extravagant, according to Palacky.[1] Flajshans gives the number at from 5,000 to 7,000, a number which includes retainers. The population of the city was then 80,000. The university of Prague, which had been preceded by a number of grammar-schools connected with the parish churches of the city, had the four faculties—theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. In 1372 the faculty of law was made a distinct body, with a rector of its own. German students who had flocked to Bologna and Paris, in the absence of other universities in the North, now turned to Prague. The universities of Vienna and Heidelberg were not founded till 1365 and 1385. Partial provision was made at Prague for the support of professors by gifts from the royal exchequer and contributions from the revenues of monasteries and chapter rights. Several special foundations were endowed for the aid of poor students.
Oxford is mentioned in the annals of the Bohemian uni-
- ↑ Gesch., III, 1: 183. Rashdall, 2: 584 sqq., makes 1,500 to 3,000 the maximum number at Oxford. Flajshans, Mistr J. Hus, p. 46.
