Paul W. Knoll, ‘A Pearl of Powerful Learning’: The University of Cracow in the Fifteenth Century.

Abstract

This chapter presents a review of Paul W. Knoll’s ‘A Pearl of Powerful Learning:’ The University of Cracow in the Fifteenth Century. The book covers topics such as the foundation, the urban context, institutional issues, all the faculties, intellectual trends, and libraries. Not the least of this book’s accomplishments is its digestion and synthesis, in English, of a large body of important Polish scholarship. In addition to its specific foci, Knoll’s scholarship contributes an invaluable case study to a growing literature that undercuts the stereotype of the late-medieval university as an institution in decline. Indeed, the University of Cracow was not alone in its vitality and socio-political engagement.