Saxony, The Habsburg Empire, and The Baltic Region: Cultural and Medical Encounters

Figure 1: Medieval trade routes, still used in early modern times: Via Imperii connects Leipzig with Wittenberg, Stettin and Gdansk. Source: MartinMnsson on https://imgur.com/MsXaOdV

Figure 2: Wittenberg, Market Place, with University. From the Wittenberg University Matriculation Book, vol. 6, 1644, 2R. 
Digitization: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt.

Figure 3: Wittenberg University Matriculation, 1606-1636. (AG)

Figure 4: Sennert’s Students: Origins (1599-1636) (AG)

During and after the Reformation, Wittenberg had built up strong religious connections to the East of the Habsburg Empire and the Baltic region, following merchants' routes up to Gdansk and into the Livland territories (cf. Michael North, Geschichte der Ostsee: Handel und Kulturen, München: Beck, 2011, 104-135; see fig. 1). Protestant pamphlets and other information about the new confessions and politics found their ways onto many eastern markets and attracted many households.  Families would send their sons to study in Wittenberg, at the protestant university. Also the reverse was true: Eastern cities and courts actively attracted former Wittenberg students for professions such as medical practicioners and professors. By and by, protestant cities and regions had built and would further build their own gymnasia and universities, such as Königsberg, today Kaliningrad.

Students in Wittenberg (fig. 2) between 1600 and 1637 (the death year of Daniel Sennert) had their origins mostly in the large Saxony, the Margraviate of Brandenburg (Marchicus) around Berlin, the region of Silesia around Vratislava (today Wrocław in Poland), Franconia around Nuremberg and Hof, Thuringia, and the Baltic states from Mecklemburg (Megapolitanus) via Pomerania up to (Eastern) Prussia, with appearances from students originating in Scandinavia. From time to time, Palatian, Swiss, and Austrian students came in, and we know about Swabian students from around Augsburg, as well. In times of war or plague, the number of matriculations went down, and the reach of the university stayed mostly centered on Saxony and immediate neighbours. 

These results base on my researches into the matriculation lists of 1606, 1612, 1618, 1624, 1631 after the big plague and the war with Sweden, and 1636. The below 3-D chart (fig. 3) visualizes ups and downs in the matriculation number by region. It shows also the constant peaks: 

The origin-pattern of the general matriculation differs from Daniel Sennert’s students in medicine in Wittenberg (fig. 4). While Sennert’s students from 1599 to 1636 had their origins like Wittenberg’s students in general in Central Europe (rather than Western Europe), their percentage of Silesian compatriots of Sennert is far higher than the percentage of Silesians among Wittenberg students in general. The medical students chose to study with Sennert, they were often recommended by colleagues or professors, and they moved to Wittenberg after primary studies at many different places. They did not stay long: the average duration of their study with Sennert was about a year. The suggestion here is that both the connections that Sennert had with their province of origin and his wide-spread reputation among contemporaries combined presented ample reason to go to Wittenberg and study with him.