The Strassburg, Wittenberg and Paduan scholarly tradition, which way did the Altdorf school go? The development of educational opportunities at the Nuremberg Altdorf Academy (1575-1623)

In 1575 to 1623 the Altdorf Academy applied various paradigms in its teachi ng. In 1575-1580/1581, the two Rectors Valentin Erythraeus (1575-1576) and Johann Thomas Freigius (1576-1581) presided at the Academy. They both adopt ed existing concepts of teaching. Erythraeus owed the origin of its curricu lum from Johann Sturm and Philipp Melanchthon, whereas Freigius' curriculum could be traced to that of Ramus. Following the implementation of institut ional reforms in 1580 and 1581, for about twenty years the contents and met hods of teaching in the Philosophic and Medical disciplines were characteri zed by their heterogeneity. Since 1600 the Aristotelian concepts of Philipp Scherbius, Padua's former student, achieved predominance. After the reform s of 1580/1581 Jurisprudence was the most important discipline in Altdorf. It was taught by many famous professors such as Hugo Donellus, who mainly a pplied principles of the French humanistic school of Bourges. In the late 1 6th century the teaching in theology was dominated by Philippists, since 16 16, however, the lectures at Altdorf almost exclusively adopted the Luthera n doctrine.