Sharing the Knowledge at Habsburg Medical Faculties in the Baroque Era: The Case of Jan František Löw's Reading List for Medical Students in Prague (1693)
Abstract
In 1693, professor Jan František Löw von Erlsfeld published a reading list for the students of medicine at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague. The list records over 350 authorities from Aristotle to Johann Zwelfer and offers a unique insight into the structure of medicine and knowledge-sharing.
It also points towards the fact that the Prague faculty was developing intellectual connections with other schools within the Habsburg domain. This paper will provide an analysis of the list, discuss the context in which it was created, and compare it with contemporary examples of the same genre from Copenhagen and Leiden.
Additionally, it will explain how Prague university drew inspiration, first from Vienna and later from Innsbruck, to inform and modernize its medical curriculum during the Baroque period.