Charles University

Charles University in Prague

Univerzita Karlova v Praze
File:Seal of Charles University of Prague.png
Latin: Universitas Carolina Pragensis
Motto	--
Type	Public
Established	1347 or 1348
Rector	Professor Václav Hampl
Students	~42,500
Location	Prague , Czech Republic (EU)
Campus	Urban
Affiliations	Coimbra Group<br\> EUA<br\> Europaeum
Website	http://www.cuni.cz/UKENG-1.html

Charles University in Prague (also simply Charles University; Czech: Univerzita Karlova; Latin: Universitas Carolina; German: Karls-Universität Prag) is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic.

Being founded in the late 1340s, it is among the oldest universities in Europe and the first university in Central Europe. Its seal shows Charles kneeling in front of St. Wenceslas, surrounded by the inscription, Sigillum Universitatis Scolarium Studii Pragensis (English: Seal of the Prague academia, Czech: Pečeť studentské obce pražského učení).

According to the recent Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, it ranked as the leading university in the Czech Republic and the second one in Central and Eastern Europe together with the Moscow University.

History

Medieval university (1349–1419)

Monument to the protector of the university, Emperor Charles IV

Establishment of a medieval university in Prague was inspired by Bohemian king Charles who later became the Holy Roman Emperor as Charles IV. He asked his friend, Pope Clement VI, for doing so. On January 26, 1347 the pope issued the bull establishing university in Prague, modelled on the University of Paris, with the full number of faculties (4), that is including theological. On April 7, 1348 king of Bohemia gave to the established university privilegies and immunities from the secular power in a Golden Bull and on 14 January 1349 he repeated that as the King of the Romans. Most Czech sources since the 19th century—encyclopedias, general histories, materials of the University itself—give 1348 as the year of the founding of the university. This was caused by an anticlerical shift in the 19th century.

The university was actually opened in 1349. The university was sectioned into parts called nations: the Bavarian, Saxon, Bohemian, and Polish. The Bohemian natio included Bohemians, Moravians, southern Slavs, and Hungarians; the Bavarian included Austrians, Swabians, natives of Franconia and of the Rhine provinces; the Polish included Silesians, Poles, Russians; the Saxon included inhabitants of the Margravate of Meissen, Thuringia, Upper and Lower Saxony, Denmark, and Sweden. Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice took an active part in the foundation by obliging the clergy to contribute and became a chancellor of the university (i. e. director or manager).

The first graduate was promoted in 1359. The lectures were held in the colleges, of which the oldest was named for the king the Carolinum, established in 1366. In 1372 the Faculty of Law became independent university.

In 1402 Jerome of Prague in Oxford copied out the Dialogus and Trialogus of John Wycliffe. The dean of the philosophical faculty, Jan Hus, had translated Trialogus into the Czech language. In 1403 the university forbade its members to follow the teachings of Wycliffe, but his doctrine continued to gain in popularity.

In Western Schism Bohemian natio took position of the king Wenceslaus and supported calling of Council of Pisa (1409). The other nationes of the university declared their support for the side of Pope Gregory XII, thus the vote was 1:3 against Bohemians. Hus and other Bohemians, though, took advantage of Wenceslaus' opposition to Gregory. By the Decree of Kutná Hora (Dekret Kutnohorský in Czech) on 18 January 1409, the king subverted the university constitution by granting the Bohemian masters three votes each and a single vote was left for all the other nationes combined (mostly ethnic Germans), compared to one vote per each natio before. The result of this coup was an emigration of foreign professors and students, founding the University of Leipzig in May 1409. In 1408 the university had about 200 doctors and magisters, 500 bachelors, and 30,000 students; it now lost a large part of this number, accounts of the loss varying from 5000 to 20,000 including 46 professors. In the autumn of 1409 Hus was elected rector of the now Czech-dominated university.

Thus, the Prague university lost the largest part of its students and the faculty. From then on the university declined to a merely regional institution with a very low status. In 1419 the faculties of theology and law disappeared, and only the faculty of arts remained in existence.

Protestant academy (1419–1622)

The faculty of arts became a centre of the Hussite movement, and the chief doctrinal authority of the Utraquists. No degrees were given in the years 1417–30; at times there were only eight or nine professors. Emperor Sigismund, son of Charles IV, took what was left into his personal property and some progress was made. The emperor Ferdinand I called the Jesuits to Prague and in 1562 they opened an academy—Clementinum. From 1541 till 1558 Mattheus Collinus à Choterina (1516–1566) was a professor of Greek language.[1] Some progress was made again when the emperor Rudolph II took up residence in Prague. In 1609 the obligatory celibacy of the professors was abolished.[2] Jesuits were expelled 1618–1621 during the early stages Thirty Years' War which was started in Prague by anti-Catholic and anti-Imperial Bohemians.

By 1622 the Jesuits had a predominant influence over the emperor. An Imperial decree of 19 September 1622 gave the Jesuits supreme control over the entire school system of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. The last four professors at the Carolinum resigned and all of the Carolinum and nine colleges went to the Jesuits. The right of handing out degrees, of holding chancellorships and of appointing the secular professors was also granted to the Jesuits.

Charles-Ferdinand University (1622–1882)

Cardinal Ernst, Count von Harrach actively opposed union of the university with another institution and the withdrawal of the archiepiscopal right to the chancellorship and prevented the drawing up of the Golden Bull for the confirmation of the grant to Jesuits. Cardinal Ernst funded the Collegium Adalbertinum and in 1638 emperor Ferdinand III limited the teaching monopoly enjoyed by the Jesuits. He took from them the rights, properties and archives of the Carolinum making the university once more independent under an imperial protector. During the last years of the Thirty Years' War the Charles Bridge in Prague was courageously defended by students of the Carolinum and Clementinum. Since 1650 those who received any degrees took an oath to maintain the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, renewed annually.

On 23 February 1654 emperor Ferdinand III fused Carolinum and Clementinum and created a single university with four faculties—Charles-Ferdinand University.[3] Carolinum had at that time only the faculty of arts as the only faculty surviving the period of Hussite Wars. Starting from this time the university designated itself Charles-Ferdinand University (Universitas Carolo Ferdinandea). The dilapidated Carolinum was rebuilt in 1718 at the expense of the state.

The rebuilding and the bureaucratic reforms of universities of Austria in 1752 and 1754 deprived the university of many of its former privileges. In 1757 a Dominican and an Augustinian were appointed to give theological instruction. However, the gradual introduction of enlightened reforms and this process culminated at the end of the century when even non-catholics were granted the right to study. On 29 July 1784 German replaced Latin as the language of instruction. For the first time Protestants were allowed and soon after Jews. The university acknowledged the need of a Czech language and literature chair. Emperor Leopold II established it by a courtly decree on 28 October 1791. On 15 May 1792 Franz Martin Pelzel (1734–1801)[4] was named the professor of the chair. He started his lectures on 13 March 1793.[5]

In the revolution of 1848 German and Czech students fought for the addition of the Czech language at the Charles-Ferdinand University as a language of lectures. Due to the demographic changes of the 19th century, Prague ceased to have a German-language majority around 1860. By 1863, 22 lecture courses were held in Czech, the remainder out of 187 in German. In 1864, Germans suggested the creation of a separate Czech university. Czech professors rejected this because they did not wish to lose the continuity of university traditions.

Dual Czech and German University (1882–1945)

German university Doctoral diploma of 1905 for the astronomer Friedrich Hopfner

The Czechs were not satisfied with bilingual status. Consequently after long negotiations the Carolo-Ferdinandea was divided into a German Charles-Ferdinand University and a Czech Charles-Ferdinand University when the Viennese parliament adopted the act and the emperor sanctioned it on 28 February 1882 . Each section was entirely independent of the other and enjoyed the same status. The two universities shared medical and scientific institutes, the old insignia, aula, library, and botanical garden, but common facilities were administrated by the German University.

In 1890 Royal and Imperial Czech Charles Ferdinand University had 112 teachers and 2,191 students and the Royal and Imperial German Charles Ferdinand University had 146 teachers and 1,483 students. Both universities had three faculties and the Theological Faculty remained the common until 1891 when it was divided as well. In the winter semester of 1909-10 the German Charles-Ferdinand University (Karl-Ferdinands Universität) had 1778 students; these were divided into: 58 theological students, for both the secular priesthood and religious orders; 755 law students; 376 medical; 589 philosophical. Among the students were about 80 women. The professors were divided as follows: theology, 7 regular professors, 1 assistant professor, 1 docent; law, 12 regular professors, 2 assistant professors, 4 docents; medicine, 15 regular professors, 19 assistant, 30 docents; philosophy, 30 regular professors, 8 assistant, 19 docents, 7 lecturers. The Czech Charles-Ferdinand University (Universita Karlo-Ferdinandova) in the winter semester of 1909-10 included 4319 students; of these 131 were theological students belonging both to the secular and regular clergy; 1962 law students; 687 medical; 1539 philosophical; 256 students were women. The professors were divided as follows: theological faculty, 8 regular professors, 2 docents; law, 12 regular, 7 assistant professors, 12 docents; medicine, 16 regular professors, 22 assistant, 24 docents; philosophy, 29 regular, 16 assistant, 35 docents, 11 lecturers. The highpoint of the German University was the era preceding the First World War, when it was home to world-renowned scientists such as physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, Moritz Winternitz, Albert Einstein, and Johannes Urzidil.[6] In addition, the university's students included prominent individuals such as future writers Max Brod and Franz Kafka.

The Act No. 197/1919 Sb. z. a n. established the protestant theological faculty, but not as a part of the Charles University.[7] Even before the Austrian Empire was abolished in late 1918 to be succeded by Czechoslovakia, Czech politicians demanded that the insignia of 1348 were exclusively to be kept by the Czech university. When military occupation of the German university buildings followed, its rector August Naegle protested personally to the Czechoslovak Prime Minister Karel Kramář. In 1920 the Lex Mareš was issued, named for its initiator professor of physiology František Mareš, determining that the Czech university was to be the sole successor to the original university, thus denying a century of German-language history. Dropping the Habsburg name Ferdinand, it designated itself Charles University, while the German university was required to remove "Charles" from its name as the namesake was claimed to be Czech, with the rationalization that the university had been created in 1348 by Charles as a king of Bohemia and not under his title as Charles IV as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1921 the Germans considered moving their university to Liberec.[8] In 1930 only 42,000 inhabitants of Prague were still speaking German as there native language and they lived particularly in the city center, while millions lived in the Sudetenland near the border to Germany.

the insignia of the university; bone of contention between the universities

In October 1932, after Naegle's death, the Czechs started again a controversy over the insignia. National tensions intensified, although some professors of the German University were members of the Czechoslovak government. Any agreement to use for both universities was rejected. On 21 November 1934, the German University had to hand over their insigniae to the Czechs. The German University senate sent a delegation to Minister of Education Krčmář to protest the order. At noon on 24 November 1934 several thousand students of the Czech University protested before the German university building. The Czech rector Karel Domin gave a speech to the crowd to attack, while the outnumbered German students tried to resist. Under the threat violence, on 25 November 1934 rector Otto Grosser (1873–1951) handed over his insigniae. Troubles of 1934 harmed relationship between the two universities and ethnics.

The tides turned in 1938, when following the Munich agreement, German troops entered the Sudetenland, as did Polish and Hungarian troops elsewhere. By early 1939, the remaining Czecho-Slovakia fell apart, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia came under German control in March. Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath handed the historical insigniae to the German University which was officially named as Deutsche Karls-Universität in Prag. Since 1 September 1939 the German University was subordinated to the Reichsministry of Education in Berlin and on 4 November 1939 it was proclaimed to be Reichsuniversität.[9]

On October 28 1939 there was huge demonstration at which Jan Opletal was shot. His burial on 15 November 1939 became huge demonstration as well.[10] On 17 November 1939 the Czech University and all other Czech higher-education institutions were closed for 3 years, but remained closed until the end of the War. Nine student leaders were executed and about 1,200 Czech students were interned in Sachsenhausen and not released until 1943. About 20[11] or 35[12] interned students died in the camp.

With the entry of the Soviet Army to Prague and Czech insurrection, 30 professors and numerous German students of the German University were killed. The German inhabitants of Czechoslovaki were expelled. With the Decree No. 112 by the President Edvard Beneš of 18 October 1945, the German University was declared closed with effect dated back to 17 November 1939, while Czech University had reopened again in the summer. This was the end of the coexistence of the two universities in Prague. The German University transfered into Munich itself and continues its existence as Collegium Carolinum[13].

Present-day university (since 1945)

Although the university began to recover rapidly after 1945, it did not enjoy academic freedom for long. After the communist putsch in 1948, the new regime started to arrange purges and repress all forms of disagreement with the official ideology, and continued to do so for the next four decades, with the second wave of purges during the "normalization" period in the beginning of the 1970s. Only in the late 1980s did the situation start to improve; students organized various activities and several peaceful demonstrations in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989 abroad. This initiated the "Velvet revolution" in 1989, in which both students and faculty of the university played a large role. Václav Havel—˜a writer, dramatist and philosopher—was recruited from the independent academic community and appointed president of the republic in December 1989.

Organisation

File:Uni-Prague Fac of Medicine-seal.png

Seal of the Faculty of Medicine

File:Uni-Prague Fac of Evang Theology-seal.png

Seal of the Faculty of Evangelical Theology

Today, Charles University comprises 17 faculties:

• Faculty of Liberal arts
• Faculty of Law
• 1st Faculty of Medicine
• 2nd Faculty of Medicine
• 3rd Faculty of Medicine
• Catholic Theological Faculty
• Evangelical Theological Faculty
• Hussite Theological Faculty
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Faculty of Physical Education and Sport
• Faculty of Humanities
• Faculty of Medicine in Plzeň
• Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové
• Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové

Notable alumni

• Václav Bělohradský (b. 1944) philosopher
• Edvard Beneš (1884–1948), sociologist, second president of Czechoslovakia
• Ferdinand Blumentritt
• Johann Böhm
• Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848), mathematician and philosopher
• Max Brod (1884–1968), writer
• Carl Ferdinand Cori (1896–1984), biochemist, Nobel laureate
• Gerty Cori (1896–1957), biochemist, Nobel laureate
• Carl Friedrich Heinrich Credner
• Vincenz Czerny
• Karel Čapek (1890–1938), writer
• Eduard Čech (1893–1960), mathematician
• Adalbert Czerny (1863–1941), pediatrician
• Karl Deutsch
• Josef Dobrovský (1753–1829), philologist and historian
• Viktor Fischl (1912–2006), poet and diplomat
• Karl Hermann Frank
• Anton Gindely
• Hermann Grab

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• Stanislav Grof (b. 1931), transpersonal psychologist
• Erich Heller
• Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967), chemist, Nobel laureate
• Franz Hofmeister
• Miroslav Holub (1923–1998), writer and immunologist
• Friedrich Hopfner
• Bohumil Hrabal (1914–1997), writer
• Jan Hus (1369–1415), religious thinker and reformer
• Karl I of Austria (1887–1922), last emperor of Austria and the last king of Bohemia
• Jan Janský (1873–1921), discoverer of blood types
• Franz Kafka (1883–1924), writer
• Egon Erwin Kisch (1885–1948), writer and journalist
• Wilhelm Klein
• Luboš Kohoutek (b. 1935), astronomer
• Paul Kornfeld
• Milan Kundera (b. 1929), writer
• Arthur Mahler
• Jan Marek Marci (1595–1697), physician

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• Lyubomir Miletich (1863–1937), Bulgarian academician
• George Placzek (1905–1955), physicist
• Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869), physiologist
• August Leopold von Reuss
• Rainer Maria Rilke
• Agustín Stahl (1842–1917), scientist
• Ferdinand Stoliczka (1838–1874), paleontologist
• Jan Stráský (b. 1940), politician
• Ota Šik (1919–2004), economist
• Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), inventor, physicist
• Peter Tomka (b. 1956), International Court of Justice Judge
• Matthias of Trakai (c. 1370–1453), Bishop of Vilnius
• Ivana Trump (b. 1949), Socialite and Entrepreneur.
• Vladislav Vančura (1891–1942), writer
• Felix Weltsch
• Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), psychologist

Façade of the aula of the university.

Notable academics

• Friedrich Adler
• Alfred Amonn
• Gustav Becking
• Edvard Beneš
• Albert Einstein – theoretical physicist
• Anton Gindely
• Václav Hampl
• Heinrich Hilgenreiner
• Jan Hus – religious thinker and reformer
• Vojtěch Jarník – mathematician
• Otto Kahler
• Gustav Karl Laube
• Ernst Mach – theoretical physicist
• Günther von Mannagetta und Lërchenau Beck
• Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk – philosopher, politician, 1st president of Czechoslovakia
• Jan Mukařovský – literary theorist, linguist
• Alois Musil – orientalist
• Jan Patočka – philosopher
• Hans Petersson
• Josef Pfitzner
• Ernst Pringsheim
• Ernst Pringsheim, Jr.
• Samuel Friedrich Stein
• Johannes Vodnianus Campanus – author, playwright
• Ivan Wilhelm
• Moritz Winternitz
• Alfred Woltmann

Leadership

• Prof. RNDr. Václav Hampl, DrSc., followed Prof. Ing. Ivan Wilhelm, CSc. on the position of rector of Charles University on 1 February 2006.

See also

• Medieval university
• Prague

References

• F. Čapka: Dějiny zemí Koruny české v datech Template:Cs icon
• KDO BYL KDO v našich dějinách do roku 1918 Template:Cs icon
• Digitální parlamentní knihovna Template:Cs icon
• Historické senátní tisky Template:Cs icon
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "University of Prague" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. (with a lot of factual mistakes)
• Ludmila Hlaváčková: Německá lékařská fakulta v Praze (1883–1945) Template:Cs icon
• 17. listopad 1939 je opředen mýty, říká historik Petr Koura Template:Cs icon
• Josef Chalupský: 17. listopad 1939 Template:Cs icon
• Littera fundationis Universitatis Carolinae Pragensis. 7. Aprilis 1348 Template:La icon
• Album, seu Matricula Facultatis juridicae, 1372-1418 Template:La icon
• History of Charles University DOC file with pictures
• Page about Johannes Urzidil Template:Cs icon
• Official page of Collegium Carolinum
• Measuring Health and Disability in Europe

Further reading

• Chad Bryant: Prague in Black. Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism. Harvard Press
• František Kavka: The Caroline University of Prague. A short history
• Peter Demetz: Prague in Black and Gold. Scenes from the Life of European City

External links

• Official page
  • Official history of CU (short)
  • From the History of Charles University in Prague (timeline)
  • Notes on the Founding Charter of Charles University, Prague, 7 April 1348
• A University Fit for a King – information about history and presence
• Albert Einstein's years in Prague
• Timeline of Ernst Mach's life
• Rise and fall of the German University Eye Clinic in Prague