Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/102

 90 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE is shown by the much larger number of students who came from those towns where there were religious foun- dations and monasteries than from other towns. 1 The clergy were also by far the most generous in contribut- ing means for the support of the universities. The Popes especially helped in many ways. It is well known that more than one university could not have continued were it not for the income accorded in various ways by the Popes ; for instance, the University of Ingolstadt, by grants from the Popes and by the support of the clergy, was in receipt of an income which, at the present value of money, would be fifty thousand florins yearly.' 2 The universities of the Middle Ages were amongst the grandest creations of the Christian spirit in the fresh- ness and strength of its youthful development. They were the repositories of the highest scientific culture, the most powerful agents in its promotion, and the centres of the intellectual life of the nation. But they were also, as Wimpheling expresses it, ' the best beloved and most cherished daughters of the Church, the universities, see ' Die Mittheilungen von Falk,' in Hist. Polit., pp. 78, 923-928 ; and for Cistercian monks studying at the universities, see Winter the Cistercian, iii. 48-83. At his own expense Sebald Bamberger, abbot of the monastery of Heilbronn, sent eight monks to study for degrees at Heidelberg (Muck, Heilbro, i. 232). In 1510 the Augustinian order at Leipsic erected for its members a house of study (Falk, Ergiinzungen, p. 397) ; Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, pp. 15, 16. 1 See Paulsen, Griindung der Universitdten, pp. 309, 310. 2 Prankl, i. 19. ' The Papal court always lent its aid to the univer- sities.' All unprejudiced inquirers into the intellectual conditions of the fifteenth century, even those whose principles made them inimical to Roman Catholicism, admit that the Popes were foremost in encouraging and endowing the universities (Haotz, pp. 42-44 ; Meiner's Geschichte der Hohen Schnlen, pp. 2-8 ; Raurner, p. 10). "With reference to Rostock, see Krabbe, pp. 162-164. With reference to Cologne, see Ennen, iii. 871 ; also in the second volume of Rosegarten's Geschichte der Unirer- sitdt Greifsivalde (Greifswalde, 1856).