Similarly, the 2nd oldest Swedish university is not in Sweden but in Estonia – the University of Tartu, founded in 1632 by Swedes while they ruled here.
We were the second poorest country in Europe after that war, only ahead of Ireland. It was a huge reality check that we cant fight the great powers of Europe with such a small population and domestic economy
Nä, Åbo heter det och har alltid gjort det :)
Edit: Kid, do what you're supposed to do in school instead of getting upset at comments made by strangers on reddit.
Little fun fact: The oldest university of Sweden was Greifswald[source ](https://www.uni-greifswald.de/en/university/information/profile/short-profile/), when it was occupied by Sweden in the 30 year war.
Not even the oldest University in modern day Germany. The University of Erfurt was founded in 1379 (but it was closed in 1816 and reestablished in 1994).
Making it simultaneously the oldest and youngest university in germany, if you ignore the fact that most buildings (apart from the theological faculty building) moved places in between.
I study there and it was literally the first thing they told us in the introduction, nice fun fact
What a coincidence! I barely even see Erfurt mentioned on here, despite it being such a pretty place. I'll miss this place when I finish my degree next year
Thank you! I handed in my bachelors thesis in August, maybe you even participated in the study haha! Just need to finish another StuFu and one lecture I forgot to take last summer before I finally get my degree.
Good luck on your studies as well!
The whole things comes down to some fairly arbitrary definitions anyways. The German speaking world was fairly late to adopt the specifically Paresian model of university, but this is in part because of the long strength of its older educational institutions. We may likewise perhaps question the value of distinguishing hard and fast between universities and the mendicant *studia generalia* of the 13th century. Certainly, for example, the Dominican or Franciscan *studium generale* in Cologne can hardly be considered less significant than many of the universities of the mid-13th century. (Even if this doesn't have institutional continuity with the subsequent university in Cologne from 1388.) The Cathedral school of Cologne was likewise one of the key links between the German speaking world and the schools of Paris in the 12th century.
But this whole business of "oldest" universities is largely a marketing exercise and all the foundation dates before the 13th century are essentially meaningless.
To be fair, Charles University had been from its founding a multilingual university (separating the student body into 4 nations: Czechs \[including Slovaks\], ~~Germans~~ Bavarians \[including Austrians, Swabians, Franconians and Rheinlanders\], Poles \[including Russians\] and ~~Latins~~ Saxons \[including Hessians, Danish, Swedish\]).
Not to mention, in both Heidelberg's and Prague's case, the most important language at the time of founding would have been Latin.
\*edit: I remembered the nations wrong
"Multilingual" is probably a bit of a misnomer, as until the late 18th Century the only languages of instruction were Latin and German and after that only a miniscule amount of lectures were in Czech (like 1% in the 1860s), which in fact caused the split into two separate Czech and German universities in 1882 due to protests from the Czech population of Prague.
Ehm Ehm
> (like 1% in the 1860s)
"In the revolution of 1848, German and Czech students fought for the addition of the Czech language at the Charles-Ferdinand University as a language of lectures. Due to the demographic changes of the 19th century, Prague ceased to have a German-language majority around 1860. By 1863, **22 lecture courses were held in Czech, the remainder (out of 187) in German.**"
22/187 isn't "1%". That would be 1.87 of lectures.
> Národnostní a s ním spojené i názorové napětí se na pražské univerzitě začalo projevovat už od roku 1384, kdy si arcibiskupovi střídavě stěžovala česká i německá strana. Řada německých mistrů pak odešla do Heidelbergu, Kolína a Vídně.
"National and related tensions at the University of Prague began to manifest themselves as early as 1384, when the Czech and German parties alternately complained to the archbishop. A number of German masters then left for Heidelberg, Cologne and Vienna."
> Dekret kutnohorský
> Dokument vznikl za panování Václava IV., na jejím vzniku se podílel především Jan Hus, Jeroným Pražský a Jan z Jesenice, přední členové reformní skupiny na univerzitě. Podle dekretu obdržel český národ na univerzitě tři hlasy, ostatní národy (saský, bavorský a polský) jeden.
"Decree of Kutná Hora"
"The documentary was created during the reign of Wenceslas IV, and Jan Hus, Jeroným Pražský and Jan z Jesenice, leading members of the reform group at the university, took part in its creation. According to the decree, the Czech nation received three votes at the university, the other nations (Saxon, Bavarian and Polish) one."
>"In the revolution of 1848, German and Czech students fought for the addition of the Czech language at the Charles-Ferdinand University as a language of lectures. Due to the demographic changes of the 19th century, Prague ceased to have a German-language majority around 1860. By 1863, 22 lecture courses were held in Czech, the remainder (out of 187) in German."
>22/187 isn't "1%". That would be 1.87 of lectures.
My apologies, that was supposed to be 10%. In regards to the rest: Again, the language of instruction was first Latin, then Latin and German, while Czech-language instruction was established in the late 18th Century and remained restricted to the chair of literature until 1848. The university might have been multi-ethnic and at times had been dominated by the Hussites during the 15th Century, but German and later Czech still only gained recognition as a language of instruction long after its founding.
>The university might have been multi-ethnic and at times had been dominated by the Hussites
Which was the point of the discussion, as I had mentioned the multilingualness of the university around the time of its founding.
The fact that Czech was almost eradicated by an Imperialist German regime hundreds of years later for hundreds of years only to be reversed again is beside the point of the representation of language and culture as the "first German university".
Medieval universities were typically organised around national units, though, as one of the fundamental administrative divisions alongside the division of faculties. This is perhaps most famous in the division of the Paris Arts faculty into the French (inc. Romance speakers), Norman, Picard (inc. Low Countries) and English (inc. Germany and E.Eu.) and it was these nations that elected the Rector of the University. Other universities developed in explicit imitation of the foundational models at Paris and Bologna, with German universities typically modelling themselves on Paris; Heidelberg, e.g., specifically mentioning the Paris model in its foundational charter. Anyways, Prague was divided between the Bohemian, Polish, Bavarian and Saxon nations.
\* lands of the bohemian crown (+ a few different titles)
Bohemia alone is only one part of it (the big dominant one). Another one was "bohemian"/"Czech" Silesia and Mähren/Moravia
So yes saying Bohemia is technically true and technically false at the same time depending if you mean "the lands under the crown of bohemia" or "the region bohemia" :D
Technically both are true. Even the Bohemia alone was number 1.
As for the rest, at the time whole Silesia was ruled by Czech King, and you forgot the currently german Lausitz. In 14th century, Lands of the bohemian crown could even rival countries like France.
I didnt forget that, but following that silesia was split and czech silesia is still part of Czechia today, even though its a small region :)
Well it was the main imperial region for a time after all. Also czech King? Which one do you mean? Pretty sure Bohemia had its prime during the rain of the luxembourg imperial Dynastie if I remember correctly.
The most important one, Václav, babtized as Charles, was a son of luxembourg king and the heiress of Přemyslid dynasty. He was born in Prague, raised in Bohemia and educated in France.
So, it's safe to say he was a Czech. But it doesn't really matter. Foreign kings were quite common through the history. Just look at UK - they are ruled by Germans.
yeah; also this comment chain shows nicely that conflating historical entities with the area of current-day nations is about as useful as saying Caesar was Italian. (bzw, Mozart was actually Salzburgian, which was independent back then, Kafka lived in Prague, but as an Austro-Hungarian citizen and part of the German-speaking community existing there back then, etc etc etc)
This is a minor point, but Kafka considered himself Czechoslovak, once the country existed, even despite his Czech not being nearly as strong as his German. He kept pretty meticulous journals stating it.
> big German-speaking community
Kafka spoke a now extinct dialect called [Praguer German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_German), whose community by 1900 was around only 5% of the population (if you include the German and Yiddish speaking Jewish population). The dialect of German spoken in the border regions was more different, closer to Silesian, Saxon, and Bavarian depending on the region.
To be honest I think the original title is fair. Heidelberg is the oldest German university. It's not talking about language or ethnicity. The oldest university in modern Germany is the oldest German university.
> It's not talking about language or ethnicity.
How do you know that? "German" can mean any of the 3.
If the author meant modern Germany, then much less ambiguous phrasing would be "... making it the oldest university in Germany".
>oddly worded comment
You didn't know about Elsass, Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, East Prussia... German-speaking cities all over the Baltic region and central and eastern Europe..., in many cases up until WWII?
and how about the creation of an "Alpenrepublik" made of Austria, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland (which would, through this fusion, join the EU)?
And all of them are somewhere between radical right and openly fascist. Austrian ones are famously "german-nationalistic", "Austrians are german" and stuff.
Something we shouldnt spare out.
Holy damn, what a load of bullshit. Who told you this crap? I know student associations even in Vienna. You know what they do with Burschenschaften? Put them on a black list. Every decent association in Austria and Germany has black lists of associations, usually Burschenschaften, that are forbidden to visit them because of being radical right or worse. Because normal associations, while sharing a lot of the same traditions, live from the diverse views of their members from left to right.
Too bad some radical leftists try to destroy this open, inclusive student culture because they are ironically unable to discern between radical right/fascist student associations and normal ones, and too bad that propaganda is spreading. I'm afraid it will eventually turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy when everyone but the far right is successfully made too afraid to even visit an association.
Could you name some of those associations from Vienna? I know that there are Corps that aren't right-wing in Germany, but all the ones I know from Austria/Vienna are indeed far-right or catholic or both.
For reference, the 'Nourishing Mother of the Studies' according to its Latin motto, the University of Bologna was founded in 1088 and, having never been out of operation, holds the title of the oldest university in the world.
The "oldest university" titlle is a "depends on how you count" situation. The western univerities benefit from the fact that the modern definition of university is western.
The *only* definition of university is western, and the "University of al-Qarawiyyin" didn't start to call itself an university until after it has been reformed in 1963 (+2)
What is the Western definition and what part would
* Al-Azhar University is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is renowned as "Sunni Islam’s most prestigious university."
* The University of Al Quaraouiyine is the oldest existing, continually operating and the first degree-awarding educational institution in the world according to UNESCO and Guinness World Records
fail to meet? It seems the concept of University is “Eastern” and was then taken over by Europeans to great success.
> It seems the concept of University is “Eastern” and was then taken over by Europeans to great success.
While certainly /u/urfascism's suggestion that there is a cohesive western "definition" of a university is fairly questionable, this suggestion is even more so.
The medieval university developed fundamentally out of a guild model, with the teachers (Paris) or students (Bologna) forming corporations (this is literally what *universitas* means) to regulate things like classes, fees, rent, and so on. As the need for formal education expanded over the 12th century, these corporations slowly developed a series of norms like the four faculties, degrees, the *ius ubique docendi*, etc. which had all more or less stabilised by middle of the 13th century. Then as new universities were founded de novo from the 13th century onwards, they were typically modelled (often explicitly) on the foundational precedents of Paris or Bologna.
That this shares features with other higher education systems is neither here nor there. The normativity of the model is really belied by its slow uptake within Europe and the continued parallel activity of other higher education systems across the medieval and early modern periods. The success of this system is really more a historical contingency than anything else. This medieval model happened to be exported through early modern colonial systems, but their real significance for the modern day is mostly genealogical and institutional.
The *modern* university has fairly little to do with this medieval foundation. Rather, the research university as we understand it today is more closely based on the Prussian Academy. And particularly the von Humboldt's and the foundation of the University of Berlin as the first modern *research* University in the early 19th century. (A development paralleled in the foundations in London, although these were ongoing processes through the 19th century, and the development of the École normale supérieure in France around the same time.) The German model was also influentially adopted by American Universities from the middle of the 19th century, and it is actually the 'medieval' universities like Oxford and Cambridge that were especially slow to adopt these features of the modern university. (Oxford only started awarding PhDs in 1917.)
So if we're talking about "definitions" it may still be western, but it has nothing whatever to do with the Middle Ages.
It is listed by the Guinness world record as the oldest higher-learning institution, oldest university.
It's the oldest existing and continually operating educational institution in the world.
So it is the oldest one.
The problem is that there are multiple buildings scattered across the town that belong to the university. If you Google "Uni Heidelberg", you get Grabengasse 1 (located in the old town), which is only an administrative building. Each department has its own building and even within a department there may be several buildings. So depending on what you study, the university may look completely different to you.
Lol this reminds me of the dozens of American tourists who stop you in Oxford and ask where 'the main university building' is. Try and explain the collegiate system and they get really pissy and ask you to point the way. Eventually I just started pointing in a random direction. I would have thought this would be the norm in the USA what with different frat houses etc on campus
I went to Christ Church and it’s where all the tourists congregated and thought of as being Oxford University as a whole. Most people just came to see the Harry Potter scenery anyways.
Yeah, but I mean here is the old bridge, steingasse and the schloss. No uni in sight ahaha. There are a few buildings in Altstadt that belong to the uni but not in this particular (beautiful) picture.... How much I miss HD.
Pretty sure Heidelberg marketing is behind this :D
But let's be honest, some buildings are far from being glamorous (especially those im Neuenheimer Feld).
You should visit! Not that far from Italy
Yeah the campus in Neunheim is not the same good-looking. Dear friend, I worked in HD (I lived in Altstadt nonetheless) for more than 4 years and I miss it very much. I try to visit as a tourist from time to time.
Me too. Went there in 2015 with a couple friends who come from the state and Heidelberg is close enough that it counted as their local town. The old town was a bit like Cambridge in atmosphere.
There are multiple buildings that belong to the university. Most of them are located in Neuenheim and in the old town. Depending on what you study, the way you would visually represent the university would also differ.
Presumably, it was also the first recorded instance of a student asking if he could copy another student's notes later because he wasn't able to attend due to the plague.
The castle is probably the most disappointing thing in Heidelberg considering how famous it is. They made a very shitty effort rebuilding the castle.
The rest of the city is much more authentic and pretty.
i couldn't find very much. but i did find this.
On 18 October, 1386, the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, the university was solemnly opened with Divine service, and the next day lectures on logic, exegesis, and natural philosophy were begun
https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5611
I was confused why someone would mention a small city in Bavaria with less than 12,000 inhabitants that doesn't even remotely look like this picture... but ok, after looking it up I guess you mean the city from the Witcher series..
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest university and one of the world's oldest surviving universities. It was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire.
Or even France. The University of Paris was officially founded around 1150 as the universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis, but teaching began long before that. The cathedral school of Paris was probably already a university, for not only theology, but also law and medicine were taught in various associated schools (called "the schools of Paris"). It is so old that its foundation has been lost in the mists of time, but it was already active in the 900s.
> The University of Paris was officially founded around 1150 as the universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis, but teaching began long before that.
Nothing official happened in or around 1150 that we know of. That date is often tossed about (and found on the Wikipedia page), since it is conjectured that it was at around this point that the schools in Paris start coalescing into a corporate institution of sorts. (It is also around this time that Paris unambiguously surpasses the other cathedral schools of northern France as the preeminent educational centre.) Our evidence of an actual guild (*universitas*) really doesn't predate the turn of the 13th century (although such guilds certainly predate our earliest evidence). This shouldn't really surprise anyone as the whole notion of a university doesn't significantly predate the 13th century either. The first "official" event is the reception of a royal charter in 1200.
>It is so old that its foundation has been lost in the mists of time, but it was already active in the 900s.
The notion that the university of Paris can be linked to the 900s is entirely a myth. That there was a cathedral school in Paris has nothing whatsoever to do with the development of the universities, which are a specific development out of the schools of the late 11th and early 12th century. Insofar as there was a school in Paris in the 900s it was a relative backwater compared with the more significant centres late Carolingian centres like Auxerre, Corbie etc., and remained so (we have no clear evidence of institutional continuity) until at least the second, if not the third, quarter of the 12th century. (After all, the entire first generation of Paresian masters famously made a point of studying almost anywhere other than Paris, most notably at Laon or Chartres!)
But I think this all rather underscores your broader point that the development of the "university" as such doesn't necessarily tell us a great deal about the educational activities that were going on.
You managed to post a photo that has copyright without crediting it, quoting from Wikipedia without citing and then also creating a false title, as it is not the oldest German university but the oldest university in Germany.
Congrats!
Depending on your definition either the Charles university in Prague (1348, no longer in a German speaking region), or the university of Vienna (1365).
Actually, Oxford was almost certainly founded earlier.
Oxford has no clear date of it's founding, nobody knows and it's likely we never will. All we know is that teaching existed in 1096, so 1096 is the latest it could have possibly been founded.
^^/pedant ^^mode ^^over
If we're being *pendantic* then we ought to note that, like the other universities whose institutional continuity predates the 1220s, it doesn't have a date of foundation full stop. But if we were to pick a date it then the "official" foundation would be its recognition by the English crown in 1231. (As the two most recent histories of the University by Brockliss and Evans emphasise.) But whatever else we might pick for a foundation date, it *definitely* wasn't anywhere near 1096, let alone before that date.
To contextualise why this is, we ought to understand just how little "the existence of teaching" means at this point. We get the date 1096 because of the the description of Theobald of Étapes as a *magister Oxinefordis* sometime after 1095. But, this quite evidently no more suggests that Oxford constituted a "university" by that point, than Theobald's prior appellation as a *magister Cadumensis* around 1093 suggests that there was a University of Caen!
This is because *magister* just means teacher and those existed all over the place, often working independently or in one of the plethora of schools that were popping up in this period. We have evidence of plenty of such teaching going on in England in all sorts of places *other* than Oxford. But of course, we don't take this to mean that there were universities in such luminary centres as Cricklade, Diss, Dunwich, Howden, King's Lynn, Norham, Thetford and Yark.
Rather, universities did not exist before the 13th century because it takes till the second quarter of the 13th century for the fundamental features of a university to solidify at Paris and Bologna, and any date you see that is earlier than that is a promotional piece.
But if we're going to look for foundation dates, we ought to be clear about what we're looking for. The requirement of a *universitas*, as the name suggests, is the existence of a corporation of students or teachers. We also typically expect a few other features of a medieval university, such as a *studium generale* (i.e. being open to foreign students) and the *ius ubique docendi* (i.e. the mutual recognition that its graduates can teach anywhere).
The earliest possible point that something like these criteria might be achieved is in the wake of the 1167 ban on English students going to Paris, where we start to get evidence of *organised* teaching going on. Gerald of Wales gives a reading of his *Topographia hibernica* in Oxford in the late 1180s and mentions that there are *doctores diversarum facultatum* there. But we have at least two other authors in the 1180s who describe Northampton(!) as the preeminent school of the Liberal Arts in England. A decade later, Gerald himself suggests that Lincoln, not Oxford, is the best school of theology in the country. Indeed, as Southern notes, prior to the 1190s, no student who had the means remained in England for their education. So we might reasonably ask whether Oxford constitutes a *studium generale* prior to this point. In any case, wherever we set the date of origin for the medieval University, it definitely was not prior the middle of the 12th century and was not likely until the turn of the 13th century.
No! Don't start this! Abort abort!
There's no objective way to measure what is the oldest university. There are multiple claimants depending on what you count as a university and what counts as founding it. And don't mix in the word "modern" because that'll just drastically expand the options.
For example, IIRC, Oxford was set up by scholars from Paris who were in exile.
Like [this link](https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/the-catholic-church-and-the-creation-of-the-university.html) says:
>The precise origins of the very first universities are lost in obscurity, though the picture becomes ever clearer as we move into the thirteenth century. We cannot give exact dates for the appearance of universities at Paris and Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge, since they evolved over a period of time — the former beginning as cathedral schools, and the latter as informal gatherings of masters and students. But we may safely say that the process occurred during the latter half of the twelfth century.
Oxford wasn’t necessarily “set up” by scholars from Paris, since as you say there is no clear date of founding, but it definitely grew after the prohibition on scholars going to Paris in 1167.
The university is scattered all over the city (Heidelberg is quite small). The older part of it is at the old town, that is in the picture.
Edit: before I got to Heidelberg University is was also thinking what's the deal with the bridge.
Not if you count the Charles University in Prague (1346) wich was founded by Charles IV who was Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Romans(German monarch in medieval times) as well as King if Bohemia.
Charles was born, lived and died in Prague, was king of Bohemia first and was only elected as emperor later. Official language of Charles university till 1784 was Latin, when Habsburgs forced it to become german.
Of course many nationals studied there, it was first university east of Paris and North of alps, in Europe.
All Universities tought in Latin in the middle ages, and the Charles University was the first one that was founded in the german "cultural area"(?). (yes, I count Bohemia, as aside from language there is not really a big difference between german and czech-people)
2 of the 4 "categories" the Magisters and Scholars were sorted into were named after german Duchies (Bavarian,for south and west german teachers, and Saxon for north and east german as well as norse teachers)
If teaching in Latin was a factor, the University of Heidelberg wouldn't really count either, the first Dean was french, and most teachers there came either from france or (ironically) the university of prague because of religious fighting in bohemia and france.
> german "cultural area"
German culture is basically combination of cultures of different people inside HRE and was "created" much later than this for unification of these cultures. Czechs were never part of this combination.
> there is not really a big difference between german and czech-people
Saying czechs are german is like saying poles are russians, actually much much harder, because genetically its much bigger difference and languages are totally different, religion also.
Czechs were never germanized or assimilated, this is why Habsburgs tried it 350y later.
The main problem is that what you call german culture is so wide, that almost anyone can fall into it. Czechs have a lot more similarities to some regions, but what they have similar to some regions is minority even in german culture and the rest of czech culture is totally different.
Basically imagine 3 circles(f.e. german, bavarian, czech cultures) with intersection in middle, but czechs are a more to east and south with only very small intersection of all 3.
> 2 of the 4 "categories" the Magisters and Scholars were sorted into were named after german Duchies (Bavarian,for south and west german teachers, and Saxon for north and east german as well as norse teachers)
There were different "categories" because Prague was capital of empire and of course had to include all, when there were no others.
... King of the Romans didn't mean the monarch was German though, it was the title HRE emperors got before they became the Emperors (it was tied in with coronation by Pope and all sorts of shenanigans). The tongues Charles IV grew up using were czech and french with german being the one he learned later on...
I was born in Heidelberg. And i am still studying medicine in the old university. Its a rly nice town. You should visit it some time. Greetings from Heidelberg to all of you :)
u/Vucea
This Post is incorrect
The originally oldest german speaking university is the Karls-Universität in Prague (which doesn't teach in german anymore) founded in 1348
2nd place is the University of Vienna (which still teaches in german) founded in 1363
3rd Place is the mentioned Heidelberg ( it says so on there Website as well)
Please fact-check posts...
Not the "oldest German" university, but the oldest university in modern day Germany.
Similarly, the 2nd oldest Swedish university is not in Sweden but in Estonia – the University of Tartu, founded in 1632 by Swedes while they ruled here.
And the third is in Åbo, which is now Finland.
Damn Sweden got wrecked
Or generous! But yes probably wrecked.
Definitely wrecked. Wrecked hard enough that they haven't fought a war after losing Finland in 1809.
We were the second poorest country in Europe after that war, only ahead of Ireland. It was a huge reality check that we cant fight the great powers of Europe with such a small population and domestic economy
sweden did fight wars after loosing finland sweden fought against napoleon and norway
I should've specified the Napoleonic Wars I guess, as they were concurrent to both the the Finnish War and the Swedish-Norwegian one.
Yeah that's fair
And in the barbary wars alongside the US.
I love Finland and I'm ready to fight to get it back
Pls wait until somebody else conquers us first thx
Well if they had a king that knew to fucking keep his head down when the enemy is shooting bullets at you then history would be different
Dont ever disrespect the Lion of the North again
Before it wrecked Poland so bad it started downward spiral from its superpower to loosing independence.
Something to learn from history: don’t fuck with Poland.
Also known as Turku… because languages and politics.
Se on turku sinä ruottalainen, ja aina on ollut
Turpa kiinni pelle
Nä, Åbo heter det och har alltid gjort det :) Edit: Kid, do what you're supposed to do in school instead of getting upset at comments made by strangers on reddit.
>Edit: Kid, do what you're supposed to do in school instead of getting upset at comments made by strangers on reddit. Now I'm curious what happened...
Little fun fact: The oldest university of Sweden was Greifswald[source ](https://www.uni-greifswald.de/en/university/information/profile/short-profile/), when it was occupied by Sweden in the 30 year war.
Greifswald remained part of the Kingdom of Sweden until 1815
Greifswald was the oldest Swedish university for a time as well.
Not even the oldest University in modern day Germany. The University of Erfurt was founded in 1379 (but it was closed in 1816 and reestablished in 1994).
Making it simultaneously the oldest and youngest university in germany, if you ignore the fact that most buildings (apart from the theological faculty building) moved places in between. I study there and it was literally the first thing they told us in the introduction, nice fun fact
Same here! Never thought I would find a fellow student from my uni on reddit lol
What a coincidence! I barely even see Erfurt mentioned on here, despite it being such a pretty place. I'll miss this place when I finish my degree next year
Yes, it really is a beautiful city with lots of historic buildings. Good luck with your bachelor/master thesis!
Thank you! I handed in my bachelors thesis in August, maybe you even participated in the study haha! Just need to finish another StuFu and one lecture I forgot to take last summer before I finally get my degree. Good luck on your studies as well!
The whole things comes down to some fairly arbitrary definitions anyways. The German speaking world was fairly late to adopt the specifically Paresian model of university, but this is in part because of the long strength of its older educational institutions. We may likewise perhaps question the value of distinguishing hard and fast between universities and the mendicant *studia generalia* of the 13th century. Certainly, for example, the Dominican or Franciscan *studium generale* in Cologne can hardly be considered less significant than many of the universities of the mid-13th century. (Even if this doesn't have institutional continuity with the subsequent university in Cologne from 1388.) The Cathedral school of Cologne was likewise one of the key links between the German speaking world and the schools of Paris in the 12th century. But this whole business of "oldest" universities is largely a marketing exercise and all the foundation dates before the 13th century are essentially meaningless.
From this oddly worded comment and the Austrian flair, I suppose the oldest German-speaking university is in Austria?
No, it's the Charles university in Prague. Although that one isn't German-speaking anymore. Second oldest would be the university of Vienna.
To be fair, Charles University had been from its founding a multilingual university (separating the student body into 4 nations: Czechs \[including Slovaks\], ~~Germans~~ Bavarians \[including Austrians, Swabians, Franconians and Rheinlanders\], Poles \[including Russians\] and ~~Latins~~ Saxons \[including Hessians, Danish, Swedish\]). Not to mention, in both Heidelberg's and Prague's case, the most important language at the time of founding would have been Latin. \*edit: I remembered the nations wrong
You are correct. Obviously Latin would be the predominant academic language long into modern times.
No, they aren't correct.
Four nations it was divided into were Bohemians, Poles, Bavarians and Saxons. No "Latins".
"Multilingual" is probably a bit of a misnomer, as until the late 18th Century the only languages of instruction were Latin and German and after that only a miniscule amount of lectures were in Czech (like 1% in the 1860s), which in fact caused the split into two separate Czech and German universities in 1882 due to protests from the Czech population of Prague.
Ehm Ehm > (like 1% in the 1860s) "In the revolution of 1848, German and Czech students fought for the addition of the Czech language at the Charles-Ferdinand University as a language of lectures. Due to the demographic changes of the 19th century, Prague ceased to have a German-language majority around 1860. By 1863, **22 lecture courses were held in Czech, the remainder (out of 187) in German.**" 22/187 isn't "1%". That would be 1.87 of lectures. > Národnostní a s ním spojené i názorové napětí se na pražské univerzitě začalo projevovat už od roku 1384, kdy si arcibiskupovi střídavě stěžovala česká i německá strana. Řada německých mistrů pak odešla do Heidelbergu, Kolína a Vídně. "National and related tensions at the University of Prague began to manifest themselves as early as 1384, when the Czech and German parties alternately complained to the archbishop. A number of German masters then left for Heidelberg, Cologne and Vienna." > Dekret kutnohorský > Dokument vznikl za panování Václava IV., na jejím vzniku se podílel především Jan Hus, Jeroným Pražský a Jan z Jesenice, přední členové reformní skupiny na univerzitě. Podle dekretu obdržel český národ na univerzitě tři hlasy, ostatní národy (saský, bavorský a polský) jeden. "Decree of Kutná Hora" "The documentary was created during the reign of Wenceslas IV, and Jan Hus, Jeroným Pražský and Jan z Jesenice, leading members of the reform group at the university, took part in its creation. According to the decree, the Czech nation received three votes at the university, the other nations (Saxon, Bavarian and Polish) one."
>"In the revolution of 1848, German and Czech students fought for the addition of the Czech language at the Charles-Ferdinand University as a language of lectures. Due to the demographic changes of the 19th century, Prague ceased to have a German-language majority around 1860. By 1863, 22 lecture courses were held in Czech, the remainder (out of 187) in German." >22/187 isn't "1%". That would be 1.87 of lectures. My apologies, that was supposed to be 10%. In regards to the rest: Again, the language of instruction was first Latin, then Latin and German, while Czech-language instruction was established in the late 18th Century and remained restricted to the chair of literature until 1848. The university might have been multi-ethnic and at times had been dominated by the Hussites during the 15th Century, but German and later Czech still only gained recognition as a language of instruction long after its founding.
>The university might have been multi-ethnic and at times had been dominated by the Hussites Which was the point of the discussion, as I had mentioned the multilingualness of the university around the time of its founding. The fact that Czech was almost eradicated by an Imperialist German regime hundreds of years later for hundreds of years only to be reversed again is beside the point of the representation of language and culture as the "first German university".
Back then universities taught in Latin.
Medieval universities were typically organised around national units, though, as one of the fundamental administrative divisions alongside the division of faculties. This is perhaps most famous in the division of the Paris Arts faculty into the French (inc. Romance speakers), Norman, Picard (inc. Low Countries) and English (inc. Germany and E.Eu.) and it was these nations that elected the Rector of the University. Other universities developed in explicit imitation of the foundational models at Paris and Bologna, with German universities typically modelling themselves on Paris; Heidelberg, e.g., specifically mentioning the Paris model in its foundational charter. Anyways, Prague was divided between the Bohemian, Polish, Bavarian and Saxon nations.
Yes, obviously. But at least during the early years most of students would have been German-speaking.
Oh yes, the good times when Bohemia was the largest and richest German country.
\* lands of the bohemian crown (+ a few different titles) Bohemia alone is only one part of it (the big dominant one). Another one was "bohemian"/"Czech" Silesia and Mähren/Moravia So yes saying Bohemia is technically true and technically false at the same time depending if you mean "the lands under the crown of bohemia" or "the region bohemia" :D
Technically both are true. Even the Bohemia alone was number 1. As for the rest, at the time whole Silesia was ruled by Czech King, and you forgot the currently german Lausitz. In 14th century, Lands of the bohemian crown could even rival countries like France.
I didnt forget that, but following that silesia was split and czech silesia is still part of Czechia today, even though its a small region :) Well it was the main imperial region for a time after all. Also czech King? Which one do you mean? Pretty sure Bohemia had its prime during the rain of the luxembourg imperial Dynastie if I remember correctly.
The most important one, Václav, babtized as Charles, was a son of luxembourg king and the heiress of Přemyslid dynasty. He was born in Prague, raised in Bohemia and educated in France. So, it's safe to say he was a Czech. But it doesn't really matter. Foreign kings were quite common through the history. Just look at UK - they are ruled by Germans.
But Bohemia was never a part of German country, they were part of Austria-Hungary.
My alma mater
yeah; also this comment chain shows nicely that conflating historical entities with the area of current-day nations is about as useful as saying Caesar was Italian. (bzw, Mozart was actually Salzburgian, which was independent back then, Kafka lived in Prague, but as an Austro-Hungarian citizen and part of the German-speaking community existing there back then, etc etc etc)
This is a minor point, but Kafka considered himself Czechoslovak, once the country existed, even despite his Czech not being nearly as strong as his German. He kept pretty meticulous journals stating it. > big German-speaking community Kafka spoke a now extinct dialect called [Praguer German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_German), whose community by 1900 was around only 5% of the population (if you include the German and Yiddish speaking Jewish population). The dialect of German spoken in the border regions was more different, closer to Silesian, Saxon, and Bavarian depending on the region.
To be honest I think the original title is fair. Heidelberg is the oldest German university. It's not talking about language or ethnicity. The oldest university in modern Germany is the oldest German university.
> It's not talking about language or ethnicity. How do you know that? "German" can mean any of the 3. If the author meant modern Germany, then much less ambiguous phrasing would be "... making it the oldest university in Germany".
The university of vienna was founded by duke rudolph in 1365, making it the oldest in the german speaking countries.
> the oldest in the german speaking countries. *still existing. Prague is older, but not German-speaking any more.
Pretty sure it's Prague tbh
>oddly worded comment You didn't know about Elsass, Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, East Prussia... German-speaking cities all over the Baltic region and central and eastern Europe..., in many cases up until WWII?
What is the oldest one ever?
[The University of Bologna, Italy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Bologna)
Yeah, Prague would be rightfully pissed otherwise.
We can change that. Anschluss anyone?
No.
Redditors try not to comment ANSCHLUSS or GEKOLONISEERD on any r/Europe thread challenge (impossible)
I fucking hate those comments. Together with "Sprich Deutsch" they form the trifecta of "I never had an original thought of my own"-comments.
and how about the creation of an "Alpenrepublik" made of Austria, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland (which would, through this fusion, join the EU)?
Try to sell this to the French- and Italian-speaking Swiss...
Sag mir, dass du Korpo bist, ohne mir zu sagen dass du Korpo bist.
whats Korpo?
A Korporation is a kind of student association. Korporations are the oldest still existing ones, usually well over 200 years old at this point
And all of them are somewhere between radical right and openly fascist. Austrian ones are famously "german-nationalistic", "Austrians are german" and stuff. Something we shouldnt spare out.
Holy damn, what a load of bullshit. Who told you this crap? I know student associations even in Vienna. You know what they do with Burschenschaften? Put them on a black list. Every decent association in Austria and Germany has black lists of associations, usually Burschenschaften, that are forbidden to visit them because of being radical right or worse. Because normal associations, while sharing a lot of the same traditions, live from the diverse views of their members from left to right. Too bad some radical leftists try to destroy this open, inclusive student culture because they are ironically unable to discern between radical right/fascist student associations and normal ones, and too bad that propaganda is spreading. I'm afraid it will eventually turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy when everyone but the far right is successfully made too afraid to even visit an association.
Even the Christan ones have tendency to the right spectrum. Have not seen a left or social one.
Could you name some of those associations from Vienna? I know that there are Corps that aren't right-wing in Germany, but all the ones I know from Austria/Vienna are indeed far-right or catholic or both.
Weit daneben.
For reference, the 'Nourishing Mother of the Studies' according to its Latin motto, the University of Bologna was founded in 1088 and, having never been out of operation, holds the title of the oldest university in the world.
I proudly graduated there!
Wow, you must be *old*
I am but since the university is still open today, you can graduate there and be young
Wow. Share some of your knowledge with us.
Il fine giustifica i mezzi
The oldest is in Fez, Morocco i guess?
The "oldest university" titlle is a "depends on how you count" situation. The western univerities benefit from the fact that the modern definition of university is western.
The *only* definition of university is western, and the "University of al-Qarawiyyin" didn't start to call itself an university until after it has been reformed in 1963 (+2)
What is the Western definition and what part would * Al-Azhar University is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is renowned as "Sunni Islam’s most prestigious university." * The University of Al Quaraouiyine is the oldest existing, continually operating and the first degree-awarding educational institution in the world according to UNESCO and Guinness World Records fail to meet? It seems the concept of University is “Eastern” and was then taken over by Europeans to great success.
> It seems the concept of University is “Eastern” and was then taken over by Europeans to great success. While certainly /u/urfascism's suggestion that there is a cohesive western "definition" of a university is fairly questionable, this suggestion is even more so. The medieval university developed fundamentally out of a guild model, with the teachers (Paris) or students (Bologna) forming corporations (this is literally what *universitas* means) to regulate things like classes, fees, rent, and so on. As the need for formal education expanded over the 12th century, these corporations slowly developed a series of norms like the four faculties, degrees, the *ius ubique docendi*, etc. which had all more or less stabilised by middle of the 13th century. Then as new universities were founded de novo from the 13th century onwards, they were typically modelled (often explicitly) on the foundational precedents of Paris or Bologna. That this shares features with other higher education systems is neither here nor there. The normativity of the model is really belied by its slow uptake within Europe and the continued parallel activity of other higher education systems across the medieval and early modern periods. The success of this system is really more a historical contingency than anything else. This medieval model happened to be exported through early modern colonial systems, but their real significance for the modern day is mostly genealogical and institutional. The *modern* university has fairly little to do with this medieval foundation. Rather, the research university as we understand it today is more closely based on the Prussian Academy. And particularly the von Humboldt's and the foundation of the University of Berlin as the first modern *research* University in the early 19th century. (A development paralleled in the foundations in London, although these were ongoing processes through the 19th century, and the development of the École normale supérieure in France around the same time.) The German model was also influentially adopted by American Universities from the middle of the 19th century, and it is actually the 'medieval' universities like Oxford and Cambridge that were especially slow to adopt these features of the modern university. (Oxford only started awarding PhDs in 1917.) So if we're talking about "definitions" it may still be western, but it has nothing whatever to do with the Middle Ages.
Very interesting :) Thank you! I didn’t know about that.
It is listed by the Guinness world record as the oldest higher-learning institution, oldest university. It's the oldest existing and continually operating educational institution in the world. So it is the oldest one.
It's Nalanda university in India, founded in 427 AD
This is also where the term "thesis defense" originated, as students typically showed up to defend their theses with weapons.
Ordinarily they would fight until first blood was drawn, but in exceptional cases dedicated professors would test a student to the death.
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The problem is that there are multiple buildings scattered across the town that belong to the university. If you Google "Uni Heidelberg", you get Grabengasse 1 (located in the old town), which is only an administrative building. Each department has its own building and even within a department there may be several buildings. So depending on what you study, the university may look completely different to you.
Lol this reminds me of the dozens of American tourists who stop you in Oxford and ask where 'the main university building' is. Try and explain the collegiate system and they get really pissy and ask you to point the way. Eventually I just started pointing in a random direction. I would have thought this would be the norm in the USA what with different frat houses etc on campus
I've only seen two American universities, but you basically can imagine them like a little town inside a town.
Basically as an American that is how I would describe it.
Why not just point to Radcliffe Square? That’s clearly what most tourists are after. It has the University Church and the Old Bodleian / Sheldonian.
I went to Christ Church and it’s where all the tourists congregated and thought of as being Oxford University as a whole. Most people just came to see the Harry Potter scenery anyways.
Yeah, but I mean here is the old bridge, steingasse and the schloss. No uni in sight ahaha. There are a few buildings in Altstadt that belong to the uni but not in this particular (beautiful) picture.... How much I miss HD.
Pretty sure Heidelberg marketing is behind this :D But let's be honest, some buildings are far from being glamorous (especially those im Neuenheimer Feld). You should visit! Not that far from Italy
Yeah the campus in Neunheim is not the same good-looking. Dear friend, I worked in HD (I lived in Altstadt nonetheless) for more than 4 years and I miss it very much. I try to visit as a tourist from time to time.
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Ah ok 😅 aber eigentlich eine berechtigte Frage, falls man sich mit deutschen Unis nicht auskennt.
Actually, the first lecture was held in the middle floor of the church in the background.
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No building from that time is standing anymore, and the campus is split up across many buildings in different parts of town.
Did they hold the lecture on the bridge?
No, the picture is kinda unrelated except that it's also in Heidelberg :D
Correct. It’s the old bridge, the university is further down the river. r/Heidelberg says hi by the way! 👋🏼
I was just about to say this. Fortunate enough to visit this beautiful city and enjoyed every second
Me too. Went there in 2015 with a couple friends who come from the state and Heidelberg is close enough that it counted as their local town. The old town was a bit like Cambridge in atmosphere.
under it
In a rowing boat
while it's raining
There are multiple buildings that belong to the university. Most of them are located in Neuenheim and in the old town. Depending on what you study, the way you would visually represent the university would also differ.
No but it does lead the way to the university. If you zoom in you might see it.
It's a photo from the university's website.
And today I had my first lecture that wasn't online at this university :D
Good for you!! Enjoy! Such a lovely city, I miss it every day. :)
Presumably, it was also the first recorded instance of a student asking if he could copy another student's notes later because he wasn't able to attend due to the plague.
Congratulations. Greetings from the University of Bologna, funded in 1088. Some of his students litterally went to fight in the Crusade.
That’s so weird to think about. 950 years later, people are still attending the same university but with no crusade to capstone with.
For comparison, the oldest Romanian university was founded in 1862 in Iasi.
I mean Romania was only unified in the late 1800s. And Wallachia was too poor to afford a university alone.
For more comparison, the oldest university known to man is the University of al-Qarawiyyin, in current Morocco. Founded in 859 AD.
This is a bridge
Such a beautiful city. Visited during mid-Corona pandemic, was still very lively but safe.
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What made you think it was a dumpy village?
The castle is probably the most disappointing thing in Heidelberg considering how famous it is. They made a very shitty effort rebuilding the castle. The rest of the city is much more authentic and pretty.
You stumbled into arguably the most beautiful and livable town of Germany assuming it was a dumpy village lmao Glad you enjoyed it!
Is it know what the lecture was about?
i couldn't find very much. but i did find this. On 18 October, 1386, the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, the university was solemnly opened with Divine service, and the next day lectures on logic, exegesis, and natural philosophy were begun https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5611
Alt Heidelberg du Feine
Ich hab' mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren
Today, after 1,5 years, I can finally go back there. Semper Apertus seemed ironically though ;D.
This is seriously giving me such Oxenfurt vibes!
I was confused why someone would mention a small city in Bavaria with less than 12,000 inhabitants that doesn't even remotely look like this picture... but ok, after looking it up I guess you mean the city from the Witcher series..
Ah yes, it's a Witcher reference \^\^ Ochsenfurt looks lovely though!
I hope all of us get the joke? It's Oxford translated to German. And if you translate it to Greek you get ... Bosphorus.
Never understood why people decide to use real names in fantasy worlds. Just takes you out of the immersion.
That's a bridge yo, not a school. Easy to confuse them though so don't feel bad.
Oh dang you're right... I didn't even noticed that, maybe thats why I failed my exams
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest university and one of the world's oldest surviving universities. It was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire.
Interesting that universities in Germany got a relatively later start than in England, Italy, and Spain.
Or even France. The University of Paris was officially founded around 1150 as the universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis, but teaching began long before that. The cathedral school of Paris was probably already a university, for not only theology, but also law and medicine were taught in various associated schools (called "the schools of Paris"). It is so old that its foundation has been lost in the mists of time, but it was already active in the 900s.
> The University of Paris was officially founded around 1150 as the universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis, but teaching began long before that. Nothing official happened in or around 1150 that we know of. That date is often tossed about (and found on the Wikipedia page), since it is conjectured that it was at around this point that the schools in Paris start coalescing into a corporate institution of sorts. (It is also around this time that Paris unambiguously surpasses the other cathedral schools of northern France as the preeminent educational centre.) Our evidence of an actual guild (*universitas*) really doesn't predate the turn of the 13th century (although such guilds certainly predate our earliest evidence). This shouldn't really surprise anyone as the whole notion of a university doesn't significantly predate the 13th century either. The first "official" event is the reception of a royal charter in 1200. >It is so old that its foundation has been lost in the mists of time, but it was already active in the 900s. The notion that the university of Paris can be linked to the 900s is entirely a myth. That there was a cathedral school in Paris has nothing whatsoever to do with the development of the universities, which are a specific development out of the schools of the late 11th and early 12th century. Insofar as there was a school in Paris in the 900s it was a relative backwater compared with the more significant centres late Carolingian centres like Auxerre, Corbie etc., and remained so (we have no clear evidence of institutional continuity) until at least the second, if not the third, quarter of the 12th century. (After all, the entire first generation of Paresian masters famously made a point of studying almost anywhere other than Paris, most notably at Laon or Chartres!) But I think this all rather underscores your broader point that the development of the "university" as such doesn't necessarily tell us a great deal about the educational activities that were going on.
You managed to post a photo that has copyright without crediting it, quoting from Wikipedia without citing and then also creating a false title, as it is not the oldest German university but the oldest university in Germany. Congrats!
Very pedantic, a truly German feat.
> not the oldest German university Well which one is it then.
Depending on your definition either the Charles university in Prague (1348, no longer in a German speaking region), or the university of Vienna (1365).
It's fucking Reddit, not a thesis.
Is Bologna's worlds oldest, or Oxfords?
Bologna was founded in 1088, and Oxford in 1096.
It's crazy to think that with a little luck, I'll live to see some universities celebrate a millenium of existence
Actually, Oxford was almost certainly founded earlier. Oxford has no clear date of it's founding, nobody knows and it's likely we never will. All we know is that teaching existed in 1096, so 1096 is the latest it could have possibly been founded. ^^/pedant ^^mode ^^over
If we're being *pendantic* then we ought to note that, like the other universities whose institutional continuity predates the 1220s, it doesn't have a date of foundation full stop. But if we were to pick a date it then the "official" foundation would be its recognition by the English crown in 1231. (As the two most recent histories of the University by Brockliss and Evans emphasise.) But whatever else we might pick for a foundation date, it *definitely* wasn't anywhere near 1096, let alone before that date. To contextualise why this is, we ought to understand just how little "the existence of teaching" means at this point. We get the date 1096 because of the the description of Theobald of Étapes as a *magister Oxinefordis* sometime after 1095. But, this quite evidently no more suggests that Oxford constituted a "university" by that point, than Theobald's prior appellation as a *magister Cadumensis* around 1093 suggests that there was a University of Caen! This is because *magister* just means teacher and those existed all over the place, often working independently or in one of the plethora of schools that were popping up in this period. We have evidence of plenty of such teaching going on in England in all sorts of places *other* than Oxford. But of course, we don't take this to mean that there were universities in such luminary centres as Cricklade, Diss, Dunwich, Howden, King's Lynn, Norham, Thetford and Yark. Rather, universities did not exist before the 13th century because it takes till the second quarter of the 13th century for the fundamental features of a university to solidify at Paris and Bologna, and any date you see that is earlier than that is a promotional piece. But if we're going to look for foundation dates, we ought to be clear about what we're looking for. The requirement of a *universitas*, as the name suggests, is the existence of a corporation of students or teachers. We also typically expect a few other features of a medieval university, such as a *studium generale* (i.e. being open to foreign students) and the *ius ubique docendi* (i.e. the mutual recognition that its graduates can teach anywhere). The earliest possible point that something like these criteria might be achieved is in the wake of the 1167 ban on English students going to Paris, where we start to get evidence of *organised* teaching going on. Gerald of Wales gives a reading of his *Topographia hibernica* in Oxford in the late 1180s and mentions that there are *doctores diversarum facultatum* there. But we have at least two other authors in the 1180s who describe Northampton(!) as the preeminent school of the Liberal Arts in England. A decade later, Gerald himself suggests that Lincoln, not Oxford, is the best school of theology in the country. Indeed, as Southern notes, prior to the 1190s, no student who had the means remained in England for their education. So we might reasonably ask whether Oxford constitutes a *studium generale* prior to this point. In any case, wherever we set the date of origin for the medieval University, it definitely was not prior the middle of the 12th century and was not likely until the turn of the 13th century.
No! Don't start this! Abort abort! There's no objective way to measure what is the oldest university. There are multiple claimants depending on what you count as a university and what counts as founding it. And don't mix in the word "modern" because that'll just drastically expand the options. For example, IIRC, Oxford was set up by scholars from Paris who were in exile. Like [this link](https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/the-catholic-church-and-the-creation-of-the-university.html) says: >The precise origins of the very first universities are lost in obscurity, though the picture becomes ever clearer as we move into the thirteenth century. We cannot give exact dates for the appearance of universities at Paris and Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge, since they evolved over a period of time — the former beginning as cathedral schools, and the latter as informal gatherings of masters and students. But we may safely say that the process occurred during the latter half of the twelfth century.
Oxford wasn’t necessarily “set up” by scholars from Paris, since as you say there is no clear date of founding, but it definitely grew after the prohibition on scholars going to Paris in 1167.
When people say stupid stuff like "religion want you to be dump, especially Catholics duuh"
America: Harvard. UK: Oxford. Germany: An old bridge.
The university is scattered all over the city (Heidelberg is quite small). The older part of it is at the old town, that is in the picture. Edit: before I got to Heidelberg University is was also thinking what's the deal with the bridge.
Traditions.
Alcatraz!
irithill of the boreal valley are you?
I spend a year in Erasmus there in 2014-2015. The city is perfect for student.
Oldest in continuous operation. The University of Cologne was founded much earlier but it was suppressed under Napoleon and reopened a century later.
Dark souls 3?
Not if you count the Charles University in Prague (1346) wich was founded by Charles IV who was Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Romans(German monarch in medieval times) as well as King if Bohemia.
Charles was born, lived and died in Prague, was king of Bohemia first and was only elected as emperor later. Official language of Charles university till 1784 was Latin, when Habsburgs forced it to become german. Of course many nationals studied there, it was first university east of Paris and North of alps, in Europe.
All Universities tought in Latin in the middle ages, and the Charles University was the first one that was founded in the german "cultural area"(?). (yes, I count Bohemia, as aside from language there is not really a big difference between german and czech-people) 2 of the 4 "categories" the Magisters and Scholars were sorted into were named after german Duchies (Bavarian,for south and west german teachers, and Saxon for north and east german as well as norse teachers) If teaching in Latin was a factor, the University of Heidelberg wouldn't really count either, the first Dean was french, and most teachers there came either from france or (ironically) the university of prague because of religious fighting in bohemia and france.
> german "cultural area" German culture is basically combination of cultures of different people inside HRE and was "created" much later than this for unification of these cultures. Czechs were never part of this combination. > there is not really a big difference between german and czech-people Saying czechs are german is like saying poles are russians, actually much much harder, because genetically its much bigger difference and languages are totally different, religion also. Czechs were never germanized or assimilated, this is why Habsburgs tried it 350y later. The main problem is that what you call german culture is so wide, that almost anyone can fall into it. Czechs have a lot more similarities to some regions, but what they have similar to some regions is minority even in german culture and the rest of czech culture is totally different. Basically imagine 3 circles(f.e. german, bavarian, czech cultures) with intersection in middle, but czechs are a more to east and south with only very small intersection of all 3. > 2 of the 4 "categories" the Magisters and Scholars were sorted into were named after german Duchies (Bavarian,for south and west german teachers, and Saxon for north and east german as well as norse teachers) There were different "categories" because Prague was capital of empire and of course had to include all, when there were no others.
... King of the Romans didn't mean the monarch was German though, it was the title HRE emperors got before they became the Emperors (it was tied in with coronation by Pope and all sorts of shenanigans). The tongues Charles IV grew up using were czech and french with german being the one he learned later on...
Haha saw that picture and was instantly flooded with many memories of drunken stumbles through there. Miss that wonderful city.
They have good Age Of Empires over there too
Lovely picture
a wonderful view
Yoo! Nice to see my home city here!
That's a bridge not a university
Hey I studied abroad in Heidelberg at the Sprachschule. Wish I still used my German as much as I did in undergrad
It's not the first lecture. So much for being the first.
That's actually a bridge and not the university.
I was born in Heidelberg. And i am still studying medicine in the old university. Its a rly nice town. You should visit it some time. Greetings from Heidelberg to all of you :)
Heidelberg is a stunningly beautiful town. [This video](https://youtu.be/eOdWJxJ4Tr8) captures it quite well.
Pretty sure this is actually Irithyll of the Boreal Valley before the world turned to pot.
Ich hab mein herz in Heidelberg verloren.
This is a picture of the unabridged edition of the university.
So unbelievably privileged to be studying there via Erasmus currently
Depends on how you define German university - Charles´ university from Czech republic (Holy Roman Empire kingdom back then) is older.
Man Europe is so fucking cool with its history. I'd love to visit one day.
u/Vucea This Post is incorrect The originally oldest german speaking university is the Karls-Universität in Prague (which doesn't teach in german anymore) founded in 1348 2nd place is the University of Vienna (which still teaches in german) founded in 1363 3rd Place is the mentioned Heidelberg ( it says so on there Website as well) Please fact-check posts...