Quodlibetal debates organized by faculties of liberal arts were among the most important intellectual events at late medieval universities, comparable in many ways to modern academic conferences. All scholars associated with the faculty of arts — including those active in the higher faculties — delivered lectures and exchanged views on current scholarly questions. Yet as a genre, these debates remain little known and largely unexplored.
Drawing on research funded by the European Research Council within the ACADEMIA project, this volume focuses on what was perhaps the greatest quodlibet ever held: the Prague disputation of 1409, in which as many as 148 scholars presented contributions, with many more in attendance. The importance of this event is underscored by its probable two-week duration and by its timing at a decisive moment for the future of knowledge production in Central Europe. Around the close of the disputation, the Kutná Hora Decree was issued, prompting the departure of the German masters from Prague and strengthening nearby Central European universities, most notably the University of Leipzig.
The volume situates the 1409 disputation in its broader context and explores the genre of arts-faculty quodlibeta more generally. It provides an overview of Central European quodlibeta as a scholarly form, updates the state of research on Prague quodlibeta, and offers analyses of selected topics debated in 1409, together with editions of texts associated with the event — the last “international” scholarly debate at the University of Prague before the outbreak of the Hussite wars.
The book is both the first monograph-length output of the ACADEMIA project and the inaugural volume in the newly established series Intellectual Practice and Thought at Late Medieval and Early Modern Universities.
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