Abstract
Th e Archduke Ludwig Salvatore is said to have studied at the Prague University since the mid of 1860s. In his case, as in the case of other such high-ranking personalities, this is actually a misleading claim and this paper attempts to explain the situation.
Th e University of Prague worked as a modern university aft er the middle of the 19th century, where, as far as pedagogues are concerned, the system of their operation was strictly set according to the habilitation order. Th e lecturers were assistant professors, private professors associated, and extraordinary and ordinary professors at the head of the institutes and departments, one for each discipline, in case of closer specialization and extraordinary, usually unpaid.
Only extraordinary and ordinary professors were authorized to lead seminars. Forms of teaching - lectures, seminars, set up of test system and fi nal examination - were defi ned.
Students also had defi ned their duties. Regular students were matrikulated.
Th e visit to the lectures was more or less optional, and students could elect and record them up to their interest. Th erefore, they did not predict tightly disciplines for graduation.
Th e fi rst important written assignment they needed to write was the thesis for a doctor degree. Th e language of teaching was German at this time.
He lectured in Karolinum and Klementinum. Aft er completing a given penny and lectures, regular students could take a rigorous exam and earn a doctorate and be enrolled in the universityʼs Doctorʼs Register, but by far not all graduates did.
Whoever wanted to teach at high school was obliged to pass a state exam for high school teachers. For the second half of the 1860s, relatively few sources have been preserved in the university archive.
Th e only offi cial source from which the registered students can be found are the student catalogs, which are held aft er the semesters for each of the four university faculties separately. Ludwig Salvatore is not mentioned in any preserved documents stored in the university archive.
In this study of his studies it is necessary to come out of his personal records, or from other documents that testify about the study. According to published information, Ludwig Salvatore studied privately with the professors of the Prague University.
Th e emperor Franz Joseph I expressed his personal interest in choosing suitable teachers and compiling a study plan. Th ey have been elected, for example some, as a professor of law Johann Schier (state law), beeing then directly responsible for leading his studies.
Furthermore, the Archduke was taught f. e. by professors Antonín Randa (civil law), Johann Heinrich Löwe (theoretical and moral philosophy) from the Faculty of Law. Archdukeʼs personal interests were, however, directed more towards the subjects taught at the Faculty of Arts.
Much more alert and personal contacts can be traced by professors Vinzenz F. Kosteletzky (botany), Friedrich Stein (zoology), Viktor von Zepharovich (geology, paleontology) or Vilém Matzka (mathematics, physics).
Not only did they discuss their paths and their own observations but also supported their own research. Archdukeʼs studies at the Prague university certainly did not end with a rigorous exam and a doctorate.
Private lessons gradually passed - in professors with whom he had personal interest - in collegiate contacts, correspondence and personal visits, which then lasted throughout Archdukeʼs life.