Pavie, une université au service des rois d’Espagne

Abstract

The era of Spanish domination over the University of Pavia, which lasted between the magnificent period of the Visconti and the Sforza reigns and the times of the reforms of Maria Teresa and Joseph II the Habsburg, is considered by some researchers as a period of decadence and by others as a phase of purely formal continuity.

Over the course of several centuries, there has been a transition from the idea of monolithic medieval university to flexible centers of higher education. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the cycle of education at the secondary level was defined, which inevitably imposed its primacy over primary and higher education. In Pavia, the situation was no different from that of other European cities, on the contrary, it adopted certain values within the cultural policy carried out by the Spanish kings.

The aim of the article is – using the example of the University of Pavia – to present the changes that took place during this period in secondary education and at universities. The humanistic heritage of the University of Pavia during the Spanish period was confronted with the regional education system, it had to overcome the periods of crisis, then to face changes needed and to create the premises for a deliberate deployment of higher education, which will flourish later under the influence of the Enlightenment.

Source research allowed for the formulation of conclusions that the Studium Ticinensis can be considered as an institution that was developing efficiently, was characterized by a coherent educational system, which – like in other regions of Europe – appears to be a fruit of modernity.