Kaspar Agricola

Kaspar Agricola , often also Caspar Agricola (* 1514 or 1524 in Oppenheim , † May 9, 1597 in Ladenburg ), was a German lawyer and professor at the University of Heidelberg . In 1561 and 1576 he headed the university as rector .

Life

Agricola was canon of the Worms St. Paul monastery when he came to Heidelberg in 1546 and enrolled at the university there. He studied at the artist faculty , where he passed the bachelor's degree in 1548 and finally the master's degree ( licentiate ) in 1550 . In the same year he enrolled in the law faculty. In 1552 Agricola was elected to the senate of the artist faculty and was from 1553 to 1558 the second rain of the Collegium Principis (student accommodation). From 1554 he gave lectures on Aristotle at the artist faculty . He also worked there as a temptator (examiner) for baccalaureate and master’s exams. In 1557 Agricola received his doctorate in both rights at the law faculty and in the following year as a doctor of both rights .

Following a proposal from the university, Elector Ottheinrich appointed Agricola in 1558 to the lecture for institutions that his predecessor Christoph von Ehe had renounced. At the end of the same year an extensive reform took place at the University of Heidelberg, in the course of which this chair was established as one of four professorships in the law faculty. Among other things, the reform brought Agricola an increase in his annual salary from 80 to 140 guilders. In 1561 he took over the decree professorship as the successor to the late Wendelin Heilmann and taught canon law until 1588 . His lectures were not well attended; according to a survey in 1569, he only had about eight listeners. A probable reason lies in Agricola's field of study, in which the students showed little interest, since Heidelberg was a Calvinist university. Due to complaints, Elector Ludwig VI warned . 1578 stated that Agricola would not lead his chair properly, which he denied and cited illness as the reason for failed lectures. His request for a six-month break from his teaching duties was fulfilled, but he refused the retirement proposed by the Elector.

Agricola was dean of the arts faculty in 1556 and dean of the law faculty nine times between 1562 and 1586. In 1561 and 1576 he was rector and in 1584 vice rector under Matthäus Enzlin . As rector, he was also a member of the university court, to which he also served as an assessor (assessor) for five more years . His other offices included the administration of the university treasury (1559 to 1583) and a scholarship fund. He was also involved in the preparation of the relocation of the university due to outbreaks of the plague (including 1555/1556 to Eberbach and 1563/1564 to Oppenheim). Overall, Agricola worked for more than 40 years at the University of Heidelberg, where he achieved a high reputation, primarily through his commitment as a legal advisor and voluntary work in the administrative apparatus. In contrast, his achievements as a theorist were of little importance. He left no scientific writings behind, except for a few sheets in which he acted as chairman of academic disputations . Elmar Wadle judged Agricola that even if Agricola may not have distinguished himself as a scientist, on the other hand he had ensured continuity at the university in his work as rector and long-standing administrator of the university treasury.

In December 1588 Agricola retired for reasons of age, but was still allowed to take part in Senate negotiations and remained assessor in the University Court until 1596.

Agricola was married to Margarethe Stephan from Frankfurt († 1577) and had a daughter. He died of the plague in Ladenburg in 1597, because of which he had left Heidelberg the year before. His tombstone is in the university chapel of Heidelberg University , that of his wife is on the outside on the south side of the church (bas-relief in a round arch niche).

literature

• Agricola, Kaspar. In: Dagmar Drüll (Ed.): Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1386–1651. Springer, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 978-3-642-62826-9 , pp. 5-6.
• Lothar Mundt: Agricola, Kaspar. In: Hans-Gert Roloff (Hrsg.): Die Deutsche Literatur: Series 2: Die Deutsche Literatur between 1450 and 1620. Section A: Authors' Lexicon, Volume 1, Peter Lang, Bern 1991, ISBN 3-261-04399-7 , P. 518.

Web links

• Literature by and about Kaspar Agricola in the bibliographic database WorldCat

Individual evidence

1. ^ Agricola, Kaspar. In: Dagmar Drüll (Ed.): Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1386–1651. Springer, Heidelberg 2002, p. 5.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Lothar Mundt: Agricola, Kaspar. In: Hans-Gert Roloff (Hrsg.): Die Deutsche Literatur: Series 2: Die Deutsche Literatur between 1450 and 1620. Section A: Authors' Lexicon, Volume 1, Peter Lang, Bern 1991, p. 518.
3. ^ Agricola, Kaspar. In: Dagmar Drüll (Ed.): Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1386–1651. Springer, Heidelberg 2002, p. 6.
4. ^ Lukas Ruprecht Herbert: The academic jurisdiction of the University of Heidelberg. Heidelberg University Library, Heidelberg 2018, p. 83.
5. ↑ Elmar Wadle : Constitution and law: milestones in their history. Böhlau, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-205-77712-0 , p. 87.
6. ↑ Renate Neumüllers-Klauser: The inscriptions of the city and the district of Heidelberg. A. Druckermüller, Stuttgart 1970, pp. 200-201, 291.