Sapientie Immarcessibilis. A Diplomatic and Comparative Study of the Bull of Foundation of the University of Louvain (December 9, 1425) by Erik Van Mingroot (review)

BOOK reviews91 the proportion of survivors. PoU tax records are cited only for the clerical population , not for the laity; no secular records—except for some very limited use of patent and close roUs—are exploited to Ulumine the context in which the clergy worked and the nature of the chaUenge which faced them. Even when using ecclesiastical evidence, Dr. Dohar is not whoUy reassuring: he often assumes that the entry of items (such as Cum ex eo Ucences) in the bishop's register was systematic and consistent, and he confuses mortuary and burial rights. Relying on what is in the bishop's register, he rather too eagerly dismisses the significance of early LoUardy in the area which, as he himself acknowledges, nurtured the young Oldcasde. Sadly, his want of rigor and of precision undermines confidence in his conclusions which are remarkably bland and optimistic . Peter Heath University ofHull Sapientie Immarcessibilis. A Diplomatic and Comparative Study of the Bull ofFoundation ofthe University ofLouvain (December 9, 1425). By Erik Van Mingroot. Documentation by Marc NeUssen. Translation from the Dutch by Angela Fritsen. [MediaevaUa Lovaniensia, Series I/Studia XXV] (Leuven: Leuven University Press. 1994. Pp. vüi, 329; 112 black and white iUustrations. 2,200 Belgian Francs paperbound.) The University of Louvain (Leuven) was founded by Pope Martin V (14171431 ) with his buU Sapientie Immarcessibilis (Sacrosanct Wisdom) on December 9, 1425, at the request of the city of Louvain,Johannes IV of Burgundy, Duke ofBrabant, and the coUegial chapter ofSt. Peter in Louvain. The University was granted the same privUeges as those enjoyed by the Universities of Cologne, Vienna, and Leipzig. The official opening took place on September 7, 1426, with the first rector, GuiUelmus Neve, in attendance. The Faculty of Theology was not authorized until 1432. The medieval foundation existed until October 25, 1797, when with the presence of the French Army it was closed. It was reopened only in 1834-1835 thanks to the efforts of the Belgian episcopate supported by Gregory XVI (1831-1846) with his papal briefMajori Certe Solatio, dated June 10, 1834. The apostoUc conservators were: the archbishop ofTrier, the abbot of the Canons of Prémontré ofTongerlo, and the dean of the Cathedral Chapter of St. Peter at Louvain. The original buU of foundation was destroyed during the night of August 25/26, 1914, by fire, when the German army besieged Louvain. Fortunately, eleven copies ofthe buU offoundation survived from the fifteenth century. The first was made in Louvain on August 28, 1426, and was certified by the ducal secretary, Edmund Van Dynter. The 1431 copy ofRoman registration kept in the Hauptstaatsarchiv of Hannover, Germany, was destroyed on the night of October 8-9, 1943, by allied forces bombing. 92BOOK reviews Eight copies of the Sapientie Immarcessibilis were made in the sixteenth century, four in the seventeenth, and several later on. A photographic reproduction of the founding buU is given as Ulustration number III. The author, Erik Van Mingroot did a thorough diplomatic study of the original text of the foundation buU. He should be commended for listing the eighty-five papal buUs related to the foundation ofuniversities between the creation of the University of Toulouse (France) in 1233 and that of Alcalá de Henares (Spain) in 1499. The buU of Sapientie Immarcessibilis reveals simUarities with the text of the foundation buUs ofthe University ofCopenhagen (1418), that ofGeneva (1418), and particularly that ofRostock (1419). The latter founded with the buU Sapientiae Cujus Immarcessibilis can be regarded as some kind of model for Louvain. The author offers a painstaking description ofthe diplomatic structure ofthe foundation buU of Louvain. In a genuine Rabelaisian style he Usts his purpose to examine the "typological, external, linguistic, structural, editorial, diachronic, styUstic, institutional, historical and documentary nature" of the buU (p. 284). Typological: has the appearance of an "actual buU"; external: "tachygraphic features " identicaUy abbreviated words; linguistic: styUstic features (cursus Romanus , velox, tardux, and planus); structural: perfect construction of the apostoUc bull according to protocol; editorial: the formulas are traditionaUy used expressions appUed by the apostoUc chancery, ending with "prohibition"; diachronic : the text ofthe Louvain buU corresponding to the time in the evolution of the Roman chancery style with such expression as...