Bärbel Schneider. Die Anfänge der Universität Jena: Johann Stigels Briefwechsel im ersten Jahrfünft der Hohen Schule (12.März 1548-31.Mai 1553). Neuried: ars et unitas, 2002. 377 S. EUR 58.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-936117-11-0.
Reviewed by Patrick Hayden-Roy (Nebraska Wesleyan University)
Published on H-German (March, 2005)
The volume under review offers material of some interest to scholars of a number of stripes. Those interested in the development of the university in the sixteenth century, or in the influence confessional politics had on the institution of the university, or in the material circumstances of universities and their students (or, obviously, in the life of Johann Stigel) will find primary resources of interest. However, the volume is peculiar in its conception and execution, and could well have been a more useful resource in a number of ways.
The documents in this collection chronicle a narrow cross section of sixteenth-century history. They deal with a setting, and stem from a personality whose history and existence are unfamiliar even to many scholars of the sixteenth century. The foundation of the University of Jena resulted from the outcome of the Schmalkaldic Wars. Saxony, which in the late-fifteenth century had been divided between Ernestine and Albertine dynastic lines, had seen the existing university at Leipzig fall within the Albertine territory. As a result, in the early-sixteenth century a university was founded in Wittenberg by the Ernestine ruler, which, as a result of Luther and the Reformation, achieved great notoriety. However, the rivalry between Ernestine and Albertine Saxony played itself out in the events of the Schmalkaldic War, where the Albertine territory was expanded at the expense of the Ernestine dynastic lands. As a result the University of Wittenberg came under Albertine rule, and Ernestine Saxony was left without an institution of higher learning. Thus Ernestine Saxony moved in 1548 to found a new university at Jena. Among those charged with developing the new university was Johann Stigel, a student of Melanchthon's, and humanist scholar of some reputation at the time, though today rather obscure. Some ten years later the foundational era of the University ended in its inauguration in 1558. Though initially undistinguished, over the centuries the University of Jena came to overshadow Wittenberg greatly in its reputation, and became one of the most famous institutions of higher learning in German-speaking Europe. 1998 saw the 450th anniversary of its foundation, and this volume is a result of the renewed interest in the modest origins of the famous seat of learning.
Schneider's collection of letters provides a rather limited window into the foundation phase of the university, a result of the seemingly conflicted intentions of the editor. One might note that the title of the volume is somewhat deceptive, since, as the author announces in her forward, it is Stigel himself, and not the University at Jena, that she intends as the subject of the study (p. 7). Yet she later notes that she has only included letters that deal in some way with the circumstances of the University (p. 32). So there appears to have been some confusion on the part of the editor about the exact purpose of the edition. And to a certain extent this is perceptible in the construct of the edition itself. For reasons that seem arbitrary, the author decided to limit the time frame to just five years, even though the development of the University continued until 1558, and some of the most interesting episodes of its development took place in the phase after 1553. In addition, given that the edition ostensibly is meant to serve as a resource for the study of Stigel's life, the exclusion of later letters, up to his death in 1562, seems odd. In the end scholars can be grateful for access to the material she has published, though also puzzled by the exact purpose and decisions made in bringing the volume into being.
The volume opens with a useful overview of the state of research on Stigel, and a brief overview of his life, with copious references to archival resources and secondary literature. The letters themselves, which number sixty-eight in all, are prefaced with a discussion of the method in selecting and presenting them. Unfortunately the decision was made not to include letters to Melanchthon, since these would be available in other editions. But given the importance of Melanchthon as a correspondent, this makes the edition less useful. The letters themselves are presented with an apparatus that provides explanations of various references to names and events in the text, as well as footnote references to useful secondary literature. Schneider provides a German translation for letters written in Latin. Perhaps the most interesting section of the volume follows the letters themselves, where she provides extracts for twelve themes that recur in the letters, such as "Bibliothek," "Händel," or "Holz." Though one could imagine additional themes, this section provides a unique encapsulation of the material, and some of the topics she chooses, such as "Händel" or "Holz," highlight aspects of university life that are unexpected, and provide a picture of everyday life. The last part of the volume is a bibliography of sources and literature, and a brief index of names that appear in the text (though one wonders, given the meticulous detail in other parts of the edition, why a place and term index was not also included). In general, however, the presentation of the letters that are included is accessible, provides a wealth of information and references for further research, and highlights important dimensions of the documents.
In the end the volume leaves an odd impression. Though scholars, especially those who live a long distance from the archives, are always grateful for any edition of primary sources that would otherwise be inaccessible to most, this volume seems an elaborate production for such a modest selection of material. The volume was originally produced as a dissertation, and perhaps that explains some of the limitations, though its lack of interpretation and the constricted purview of its focus are at odds with most work done for the Ph.D. degree. There are documents of interest in this collection, but it is an unusual volume that is likely to arrive on the shelves of only a few libraries with the broadest acquisition policies.
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Citation:
Patrick Hayden-Roy. Review of Schneider, Bärbel, Die Anfänge der Universität Jena: Johann Stigels Briefwechsel im ersten Jahrfünft der Hohen Schule (12.März 1548-31.Mai 1553).
H-German, H-Net Reviews.
March, 2005.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10303
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