1508  (Prolegomena) ;  Grohmann,  Anna-


IV  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  WITTENBERG  173

the  dignity  of  those  who  held  it  was  overshadowed  by  the
solid  authority  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon. The  connection
of  the  University  with  established  religion  was  drawn  very
close ;  the  Castle  Church  was  its  church ;  its  pulpit  the  place
where  its  exercises  were  read ;  its  door  the  board  to  which
academical  notices  were  af&xed. The  University  was  solemnly
consecrated  to  God  and  His  immaculate  Mother. Augustine
was  adopted  as  the  patron  saint  of  the  whole  institution ;  Paul
of  the  theological,  Ivo  of  the  legal,  Cosmas  and  Damian  of  the
medical,  Catharine  of  the  arts  faculty. In  some  of  these  names
it  is  possible  to  discern  a  secret  omen  of  what  was  coming.^

Four  hundred  and  sixteen  students  matriculated  in  1502,
under  the  rectorate  of  Martin  Pollich. In  1503  this  number
feU  to  390  ;  in  1504  to  271  ;  in  1505  to  127. In  1506
a  pestilence  compelled  the  removal  of  the  University  to
Herzberg,  and  it"  was  not  tUl  1508  that  the  number  of  matri-
culations again  rose  to  179. In  May  1507  Christopher
Scheurl  was  elected  Eector. Among  the  records  of  an  ofl&ce
which  he  is  pompously  said  to  have  filled  "  with  the  utmost
dignity,  magnificence,  humanity  and  the  general  good-will,"
we  find  that  he  forbad  members  of  the  University  to  frequent
taverns  for  the  purpose  of  drinking ;  and  imposed  a  penalty  of
half  a  gulden  upon  the  wearing  of  arms. But  we  possess  a
more  valuable  rehc  of  Scheurl's  year  of  of&ce  than  this,  in  a
list  of  lectures  for  the  year  1507,  which  he  published  with  an
appropriate  preface. In  this  he  describes  "Wittenberg  as  a
place  of  a  wonderful  mildness  of  air;  free,  by  God's  grace,
from  every  epidemic ;  fuU  of  kindly  citizens. A  year's  board
may  be  had  for  eight  gold  gulden ;  and,  by  the  munificence
of  the  Princes,  degrees  are  conferred  gratis.^  By  favour  of
the  Supreme  Pontiff  and  the  Emperor,  Wittenberg  possesses
all  the  privileges  which  are  enjoyed  by  Bologna,  Padua,  Pavia,
Perugia,  Paris,  Leipzig. Finally,  the  good  man  breaks  almost
into  a  rhapsody:  "If  only  you  will  believe  me,  who  have
myself  been  educated  in  Italy,  and  have  travelled  over  almost
the    whole   of   it,    so   many,   and   so   variously   learned    men

1  Muther,  uU  swpra;  Schmidt,  p. 