bavarikon4USources about the History of Dillingen University
The character of the stocks of the present Studienbibliothek Dillingen (Dillingen Research Library) is in particular influenced by the book holdings of the former/first Dillingen University which was founded in 1549 and handed over to the Jesuit order in 1564. These holdings were absorbed by the later Studienbibliothek almost completely. Some of these documents, most of them in the form of high-quality manuscripts, provide a century-long insight into the procedures of university teaching and of the administrative customs as well as valuable information about the people who taught and studied there. It is one of the important tasks of the Studienbibliothek appropriately to preserve these sources, to analyse them and to make them available for scholarly research and to the interested public. From the rich collections some examples are to be mentioned below:
In the three collected volumes with the signatures XV γ 133–1, XV γ 133–2 and XV γ 134 are gathered Einblattdrucke (broadsheet prints) with a reference to the university's operations. These comprise Promotionskataloge/doctoral catalogues (i.e. sheets on which the names of the teachers and of the candidates as well as the questions discussed during the festive act held at the university are listed). They also include congratulatory poetry (in particular on the bestowal of doctorates), and Lektionskataloge/catalogues of reading material (with lists of books to be read during the academic year). On Thesenblätter/theses sheets, contrary to the doctoral catalogues, usually only one candidate is mentioned, without the questions but with a list of theses. They extend over a period of c.1555 to 1760. In part, these sheets are elaborate woodcuts and copper-plate prints with magnificent colouration. They provide a high-ranking source about personal biographies and about the history of science.
It is a particularity of the collection that the diaries kept by the respective rectors are preserved without interruptions for the years 1551–1632 (vol. 1; XV 226–1) and 1632–1716 (vol. 2; XV 226–2). This fact enables valuable insights into the order of study. Important official documents (bulls, privileges, statutes, taxes of the university) are united as manuscripts or prints on parchment in the collected volume XV 216. Important aides for administrative procedures are the "Formularbuch" (Liber testimoniorum; XV 218) for certificates, decrees and proclamations which includes the years 1572–1631 and the collected volume of scales of fees, decrees, proclamations and statutes (XV 229) for the years 1598–1699. For the respective office-holder of the rectorate, in particular, the Directorium academicum novum of 1691 was created. It comprises diverse fields, for example the feast days during the academic year as well as the proceedings of the respective celebrations. Additional parts engage with diverse kinds of educational exercises such as disputations and repetitions and with exams and graduations.
>> This collection is part of the inventory of the Studienbibliothek Dillingen (Dillingen Research Library).