The Story of the Nations: PortugalStephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse)
History
The Story of the Nations: Portugal
Stephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse)
Portugal -- History
This university,[21] at which the most famous authors and statesmen of
Portugal received their education, deserves some slight notice here. A
university was founded by King Diniz at Lisbon in 1300, but the
turbulence of the students, and their perpetual quarrels with the
citizens, caused him to remove it to Coimbra, about the year 1308.
During the fourteenth century the habitat of the Portuguese university
was moved from Coimbra to Lisbon in 1338, from Lisbon to Coimbra in
1354, and from Coimbra back to Lisbon in 1377. John “the Great” paid
great attention to the university, as he did to every valuable
institution in the kingdom; and in 1400 he entirely remodelled it,
establishing a staff of fourteen regius professors, four of whom were to
teach grammar, three Roman law, three canon law, two logic, one
medicine, and one theology. On this footing the Portuguese university
remained until 1537, when John III., perceiving that the busy pursuits
of a noisy capital were hardly suited to quiet study and the acquisition
of learning, removed it finally to the beautiful city of Coimbra, and
once more changed its constitution. In 1547 the king summoned Andrea
Govea back to his native land, and requested him to bring with him other
men of learning. Andrea Govea and his brothers were famous as scholars
throughout Europe, even in the days which could boast of Scaliger; they
were all natives of Beja, and had been educated at Paris; Martial Govea,
the eldest, wrote one of the earliest Latin grammars, published at Paris
in 1534; Antonio Govea argued the cause of Aristotle against Ramus,
edited Virgil and Terence, and was held to be the most formidable rival
of Cujas as an exponent of Roman law; while Andrea had been principal of
the College of St. Barbe, rector of the University of Paris, and
afterwards principal of the College of Guienne at Bordeaux, and was
termed by Montaigne, “le plus grand principal de France.”[22] Andrea
Govea brought with him to Coimbra, as requested, many of his friends and
colleagues, including George Buchanan, the greatest scholar Scotland has
ever produced, Patrick Buchanan, his elder brother, Arnoldus Fabricius
and Elias Vinetus, learned Frenchmen, and his own countrymen, Diogo de
Tieve, João da Costa, and Antonio Mendes. This brilliant band did not,
however, long remain united, for Andrea Govea died in 1548, and his
death was followed by the persecution of George Buchanan by the
Inquisition. The illustrious scholar was accused of eating flesh in
Lent, and of writing a poem against the Franciscans, and after being
imprisoned in a convent he was only too glad to escape from the
inhospitable country. Though the death of Govea, and the persecution of
Buchanan, deprived the remodelled university of its most famous
teachers, there yet remained a sufficient number with such coadjutors as
Jeronymo Osorio, Bishop of Silves, Andrea de Resende, and Pedro Nunes,
the mathematician, to make this the golden age of the University of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account