Opinions on professors at the University of Bologna in the early 16th century

Lecture lists known as rotules constitute an important source of information on the past history of the University of Bologna. The Bolognese archives (Archivio di stato) also contain preserved minutes, a kind of a rough draft, of rotules. In the minutes, the university scribe took the liberty of making notes on the margins, providing us with very interesting source material concerning the professors teaching at the Bolognese Alma Mater Studiorum, especially at the beginning of the 16th century. Many such notes can be found in the rotule draft from the academic year of 1506/1507, and these are the subject of the analysis presented in this paper. The notes contain interesting remarks, sometimes quite biting, on the university lecturers. An important measure of the popularity of their courses was the number of students attending them. The vast majority of the lecturers had no difficulties attracting a dozen or so students to their classes, but there also were some who failed to encourage even a few to listen to their lectures. The analysed draft of a university rotule is an important source, offering insights into the life of the University of Bologna in the early 16th century.