University of Wittenberg

Timeline

1. 1502–1507Wittenberg · SaxonyAfter securing a privilege from Maximilian I, Frederick the Wise held the opening ceremony on 18 October 1502; the first rector was the court physician Martin Polich. Early teaching borrowed Augustinian and Franciscan premises, and Frederick College was built in 1503–1504. Because papal confirmation came only in 1507, it is regarded as one of Germany's earlier territorial princes' universities.
2. 1508–1517University of Wittenberg and Castle Church · SaxonyLuther was called in 1508 to lecture on moral philosophy, earned a doctorate in theology in 1512, and took up the chair of Scripture. In 1517 he published the Ninety-five Theses on indulgences; university lectures, the Castle Church, and city printing shops spread the controversy rapidly across the Empire, turning Wittenberg from an elector's cultural center into the focus of Europe's religious debate.
3. 1518–1546Wittenberg · SaxonyIn 1518 Melanchthon became professor of Greek and, together with Luther, reshaped the arts curriculum into a Protestant humanist program that drew students from across the Empire. The university's theological faculty became an exporter of Lutheran doctrine and church ordinances until Luther's death in 1546 and the Schmalkaldic War the following year disrupted Saxony's political order.