BOLOGNA, UNIVERSITY OF, One of the old est and most famous universities in the world, though Paris. if not older. rivals it in antiquity, and Salerno had a school of medicine at a very early date. The origin of all these foundations is obscure. A school of laW existed in Bologna in the Eleventh Century, and out of this the uni versity grew. although the faculties of medicine and of the liberal arts did not come into promi• nence before the Fourteenth Century. Irnerins, the famous teacher of the Civil Law, brought great renown to Bologna in the early half of the Twelfth Century. This renown was augmented by the subsequent publication of the great Deere him or Digest of the Canon Law. compiled by Gratian. one of the doctors of the university. For the first time the Church now had its body of laws comparable with those of the State, and the ('orpus ./uris ranonici took its place by the side of the ('orpus Juris and both these epoch-making works are among the glories of the University of Bologna. Fa vored in its earlier years by the Emperors for its knowledge of the Civil Law, which was of great value to the Empire. it was favored by the Popes, in later times, for the service rendered to the Papacy by the Digest of the Canon Law. In 1360 Innocent VI. established here a school of theology. The University profited not less by private than by public benefactions, and rose to remarkable prosperity in the later Middle Ages. The number of students is said to have been about 10,000. Its organization was prob ably a guild of students or scholars as opposed to the other mediaeval form, a guild of masters, such as prevailed in Paris. As early as 1158
these received a charter of privileges from Fred erick I. known as the Authentica Habita. The students were divided according to nationalities, and these were again subdivided. At first, as elseyhere, four nations seem to have existed: bur later, after much subdivision. two great organizations emerge—the Citramontani or Ital ians and the Ultramontani or foreigners—each with its own officers and administration. One of the notable features of the later history of Bologna was its admission of women as both students and instructors, among the latter being Novella d'Andrea, Laura Bassi. Mine. Mazzo lini. and Clotilda Tambruni. The study of anat omy has been here promoted by many illustrious teacherg—Vesalius among the number; and it was here that Luigi Gal•ani made the famous diseotery which perpetuates his name. At pres ent Bologna has about 1500 students, and com prises faculties of Philosophy and Letters, Math ematics and Seienec.•Inrisprudenee, Medicine and Surgery, Pharmacy, Veterinary Surgery, an En gineering School, a School of Drawing and Ar•hite•ture, a School of Politics. and one of riminal Law. The library (of which Cardinal Mezzofanti, the celebrated linguist, was once li bra•ian), branded in 1605, contains 255,000 vol umes, 48,00(1 pamphlets, 5000 MSS. and 880 incunabula. The University celebrated its eighth centenary in 1888. See GRATTAN: CANON' LAW CIVI I LAW. ete.