Page 7 - B_ProfiloStorico

Profilo storico | Historical Profile 19

da of Canossa (year 1115) and saw the predomination of the faction
faithful to the Pope. It is not surprising, considering these premises, to
see a strong diffusion of the Guelph ideas between professors and stu-
dents. Guizzardo from Colorno and Guido from Pavia, two colleagues
of Pillio from Medecina – who was always careful to remain free from
political offices – were, for example, engaged several times in the man-
agement of the Commune of Guelph part between 1181 and 1219.
Pillio his self, as his teacher Piacentino, quoted usually canonical texts,
also very recent, as numerous papal decretals subsequent 1140, as proof
of a special attention to the canonical ecclesiastical production and to
the authority from which it was promulgated.
In this sense, it is significant also the formal recognition of the Studium,
half century after its institution, by the pope Honorius III that, with
a breve dated 1224, invested the Modena bishop with the jurisdiction
on the pupils. The Studium bloomed till to compete with the near
Bologna, especially when the city of Bologna was hit by the papal
interdiction in the third decade of the thirteenth-century and several
professors and students preferred to move to Modena.
Now, if we want to represent the essential features of the Modena
Studium, it has to remember, firstly, as the education was charged to
the Commune, with the firm exclusion of any donation from students
to professors. The disciplines were divided among various professors.
There were two Civil law chairs and one of Decrees and it was studied,
as it has been already said, canon Law; the Medicine was indeed estab-
lished during the thirteenth century. Close to the real juridical Studi-
um, the liberal arts and the ars notoria, the art of the profession of notary,
were taught. We don’t know as the degrees were carried out, neither if
there were degrees, but we are aware of precise obligations of study re-
lated to the exercise of public offices: a Commune judge, per example,
had to attend lectures for at least 5 years without interruptions and he
had to demonstrate it through a certificate granted by the professors.

Statutes of the Panel of Judges and Advocates of the city of Modena, 1270-1337, Statuti cittadini, 1327. City Statutes, 1327.
Historical Archive of the Municipality of Modena (photo by GMO) L’immagine di San Geminiano a cavallo sarà ripresa nel sigillo dell’Università di Modena, The image of St Geminianus riding a horse is recalled in the seal of the University of Modena.
Archivio storico del Comune di Modena (foto GMO) Historical Archive of the Municipality of Modena (photo by GMO)