- University of Ingolstadt
The University of Ingolstadt was founded in
1472 byLouis the Rich , the Duke ofBavaria at the time, and its first Chancellor was theBishop ofEichstätt . It consisted of five faculties: humanities, sciences, theology, law and medicine, all of which were contained in the "Hoheschule" ('high school'). Theuniversity was modeled after theUniversity of Vienna , and its chief goal was the propagation of theChristian faith . The university closed its doors in May of1800 , by order of thePrince-elector Maximilian IV (later Maximilian I, King of Bavaria).Pre-Reformation
In its first several
decade s, the university grew rapidly, opening colleges not only for philosophers from the realist and nominalist schools, but also for poor students wishing to study theliberal arts . Among its most famous instructors in the late 1400s were the poetConrad Celtes , the Hebrew scholarJohannes Reuchlin , and the Bavarianhistorian Johannes Thurmair (also known as "Johannes Aventinus").The Reformation and its aftermath
The
Lutheran movement took an early hold inIngolstadt , but was quickly put to flight by one of the chief figures of theCounter-Reformation :Johann Eck , who made the university a bastion for the traditionalCatholic faith in southernGermany . In Eck's wake, manyJesuit s were appointed to key positions in the school, and the university, over most of the1600s , gradually came fully under the control of the Jesuit order. Noted scholars of this period include the theologianGregory of Valentia , theastronomer Christopher Scheiner (inventor of thehelioscope ),Johann Baptist Cysat , and the poetJacob Balde . The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II received his education at the university.The End of the University
The
1700s gave rise tothe Enlightenment , a movement that was opposed to the church-run universities of which Ingolstadt was a prime example. TheJesuits gradually left the university as it sought to change with the times, until the university finally had become sosecular that the greatest influence in Ingolstadt wasAdam Weishaupt , founder of the secret society of theIlluminati . OnNovember 25 ,1799 , the elector Maximilian IV announced that the university's depleted finances had become too great a weight for him to bear: the university would be moved toLandshut as a result. The university finished that year's school term, and left Ingolstadt in May 1800, bringing to a quiet end the school that had, at its peak, been one of the most influential and powerful institutes of higher learning inEurope .Miscellaneous
Victor Frankenstein fromMary Shelley 's novel "Frankenstein " was a fictional student at the University of Ingolstadt.ee also
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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
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