College of Saint Nicholas
The College of St. Nicholas at the University of Vienna was a theological educational institution for members of the Cistercian order from 1385 to 1522 . Here they could study at the university on the one hand, and lead a monastic life on the other, since the Cistercians were forbidden according to their statutes to spend the night outside of a monastery.
history
founding
The model for the college was the Saint Bernard College of the Cistercians in Paris. The college of St. Nicholas was in the "Singerstrass underhalb der Teutschen Herr". The building was built in 1385 by Duke Albrecht III. Bought by the Cistercian monastery of St. Nicholas near Vienna and handed over to the university with the stipulation “that we bought from the spiritual monastery fraternity of Sand Niclas daselb ze Wienn to our common school, so the spiritual people grawe ordens in it read and listen to the holy scriptures Sullen according to the solemn order, which is the same as our school and is written by law and letter ” .
Inner order
Initially, the college was mainly visited by members of the monasteries Heiligenkreuz , Lilienfeld and Rein . In 1411 the General Chapter in Citeaux decided that all Cistercian monasteries in Austria, Bavaria , Swabia , Franconia , Styria , Carinthia , Carniola , Moravia , Poland and Hungary should send their students to Vienna. As Father Abbas and governor of the college, the abbot of Heiligenkreuz was to monitor compliance with this provision.
All of the members of the St. Nicholas College were Cistercians. At the top was the provisional, the relatives were divided into three groups:
- Doctors and Licentiates ,
- Baccalaurei and
- Scholares .
When they were admitted, the scholares had to prove that their abbots gave them permission to study theology. Special previous knowledge was not checked; it was apparently assumed that the abbots only send suitable students. The members of the college were not under the supervision of the rector of the university, but that of the abbot of Heiligenkreuz. The abbot issued the house rules and was to visit the quorum annually. It was his job to stop the monasteries from sending students and he was allowed to send back unsuitable students. The management of the college lay with the provisional. He took in the students, administered the quorum, and oversaw house rules and progress in studies. But he did not have the right to expel a student from the college. The theological faculty set the lectures for the college and was responsible for admission to the baccalaureate examination and for granting teaching permits.
The heyday and decline
Until the middle of the 15th century, college studies were in good order. Between 1385 and 1482, at least 167 Cistercians attended the college. However, the poor structural condition of the house was a problem. In the second half of the 15th century, discipline and academic success waned. In 1466 it was reported to the General Chapter that the house was in danger of collapsing. The financial means for the renovation were lacking. The indiscipline increased, so that the abbots no longer sent students. The Heiligenkreuz abbot Georg IV installed a new provisional and in 1475 demanded that the abbots send students under threat of suspension and excommunication. Even so, hardly any students came, and at times the college was empty. In 1481, Emperor Friedrich III. the building was given to the Order of St. George as a Vienna branch.
Restoration and renewed closure
On the initiative of the abbot of Rein in Styria, Wolfgang, the Roman-German King Maximilian I restored the college in 1494. Regular study operations were opened in 1496. In the first few years the college was well attended, then the number of students decreased again. In 1500 almost all of the students left the college, some because of the neglected condition of the building, others because their abbots had not given them enough money to afford the accommodation. The college was then closed. The Abbot Michael from Heiligenkreuz had the building renovated in the following years. In 1512 the college was reopened. The lessons were now given by two university professors who lived in the college but did not belong to the Cistercian order.
The number of students soon decreased, until in 1515, after a warning to the abbots, eleven students again enrolled. There were continued complaints about the conditions in the college and the poor state of construction of the house. Abbot Oswald von Neuchâtel complained “that all the things that he had left behind in the college (bed, books and clothes) had been carried away and sold by religious students to the student of his monastery, Fr. Rupert, in order to use the proceeds to give their burse occupy; He had suffered many hardships in the college and suffered bad damage, which was due to the carelessness of the appointed overseer. ”In 1518 a meeting was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Paulus de Colonia, a professed professor of Citeaux, in which the future of the college was discussed has been. It was decided to thoroughly repair the building and partially rebuild it. The monasteries had to make an annual contribution to this. During the repair period, students should be taught by theologically educated conventuals in their respective monasteries. However, the planned payments did not materialize and in 1520 operations in the college ended entirely. In 1522, a last attempt by Abbot Erasmus Leisser von Zwettl to revive the college failed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ / Ferdinand Maurer: The College of St. Nikolaus, p. 6.
- ↑ / Ferdinand Maurer: The College of St. Nikolaus, p. 36.
literature
- Ferdinand Maurer: The College of St. Nikolaus at the University of Vienna. Contributions to the Austrian educational and school history 11 (1909) [V] -43.
- Helmut Engelbrecht : History of the Austrian educational system I. From the beginnings to the time of humanism. Vienna 1982.