Student Colleges in Early Modern Rome

• In Event: Humanism For Sale: Panel in Honor of Paul F. Gehl

Abstract

This paper will survey the student colleges in early modern Rome (ca. 1490–1690). The Eternal City did not have multiple medieval colleges like Bologna or Padua, but by the late fifteenth century several prominent cardinals had created small colleges where students could obtain housing, meals, camaraderie, and tutoring. The earliest permanent college was the Collegio Capranica, opened 1475 and intended for poor students of theology and canon law. It included a substantial library and detailed instructions from the founder about how the college was to be run. Five years later (1480) the Collegio Nardini was founded for twenty-four poor, noble boys. The Collegio Clementino (1595) was entrusted to the Somaschan order; it grew to 94 boarders by 1602 and offered an array of intellectual subjects as well as requisite skills in swordsmanship and horsemanship. The Collegio Nazareno (1630) and the Jesuits’ Collegio Romano (1551) offer further case studies.

Author

• Christopher Carlsmith, University of Massachusetts Lowell