The relationship of medieval universities to the humanist movement has always been a difficult one to understand. The traditional view, rooted in part in the negative comments by some of the humanists, is that there was a good deal of antagonism between these institutions and the studia humanitatis of the Renaissance. In some important ways that stereotype was undermined for Italy by Paul Oskar Kristeller’s classic short study Die italienischen Universitäten der Renaissance (1957), and by the important work of other scholars since. But, especially for studia north of the Alps, old views are hard to overcome. With this welcome book by Maxmilian Schuh, a recent PhD from Münster University, now at Göttingen, we have an important study that shows in detail the ways in which Renaissance educational ideas were incorporated in the University of Ingolstadt.

Ingolstadt was a late medieval foundation (authorized 1459, opened 1472) and its relationship to humanism has traditionally been associated with the arrival there of the German arch-humanist Konrad Celtis in 1492. The thrust of Schuh’s book, however, is to demonstrate that in the decades before his arrival, humanism already had a significant impact at Ingolstadt and was increasingly present in the life of the institution. After an opening chapter dealing with historiographical issues, problems related to the sources, and methodological matters, Schuh examines first the personnel of the university who were engaged in humanistic interests or were influenced by them, and analyzes the way in which the poetry lectures established by the Bavarian ducal court were gradually integrated into the cultural and institutional life of the university.

Next he devotes his attention to the institutional mechanisms and forms by which humanism penetrated the studium. These include close examination of teaching in rhetoric and grammar, including also poetry, history, and moral philosophy. This of course reflects Schuh’s adoption of the minimalist definition of humanism by Kristeller. He is particularly successful in showing the ways that instruction in these disciplines was enhanced, allowing for increased attention to humanistic elements, although in a few instances he seems to me to make a too-close identification with activity in these disciplines and humanistic inclinations. This part of the book also includes a careful investigation of antique works and humanist treatises in the university’s library (especially the substantial bequest of Johannes Tröster, a Regensburg canon whose Viennese studies had brought him into contact with Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini). His analysis looks at the ways in which these materials were used by individuals associated with the university, attempting to assess the degree to which this reflected a humanistic orientation. Schuh is careful here to avoid facile equations of the presence of works from antiquity with evidence of Renaissance educational interests among university personnel.

The final section of the book is devoted to assessing individual activities and the degree to which they reveal acceptance of humanism. These include composition of new handbooks of rhetoric that reflect both traditional medieval approaches as well as newer engagements with Italianate approaches to rhetoric, especially in the composition of letters (the humanist tradition of modus epistolandi). Particular emphasis is devoted to an analysis of the handbook of Paul Lescher, whose academic career and activities at Cologne, Heidelberg, and Freiberg, as well as at Ingolstadt, had been treated earlier in the book. Schuh also examines the content of manuscript and book collections of students, their usage (including treatment of glosses), the growing use of humanistic script within the university, and the adoption of classical spelling and vocabulary. Taken together, the evidence Schuh teases out shows a strong tendency toward familiarity with, sympathy toward, and increasing adoption of humanistic techniques at Ingolstadt.

Much of the material upon which Schuh depends has been studied previously, although there is some new manuscript evidence he is able to analyze. His contribution is to present a new interpretation of it, especially identifying and emphasizing elements of humanism that had been either minimized or ignored before. His argument about the centrality of the arts faculty as the locus that facilitated the most important developments integrating humanism is well established. The details he provides make a strong case for seeing humanistic elements at Ingolstadt well established prior to the arrival of Celtis.