University of Altdorf

Geschichte

The University of Altdorf was a university in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside Nuremberg. It was founded in 1578 and received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.Notable instructors include Hugues Doneau, Scipione Gentili, and Daniel Schwenter.Notable students include later imperial field marshals Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583–1634) and Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim (1594–1632); Generalfeldwachtmeister Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch (1595–1635); the polymath Johann Schreck (1576–1630); the composers Wolfgang Carl Briegel (1626–1712) and Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706); and the theologian David Caspari (1648–1702).The polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), perhaps most famous for co-discovering calculus, received his Ph.D. from the University of Altdorf for his habilitation thesis in philosophy, On the Art of Combinations. However, he only submitted this thesis to Altdorf after the University of Leipzig did not guarantee him a position teaching law upon graduation.