24 JEROME CARDAN 



reason than that I give pleasure to myself who write 

 these words by so doing: and I do not write for the 

 gratification of others. At the same time those people 

 who read what I write if indeed any one should 

 ever be so minded may learn hereby that the begin- 

 nings and the outcomes of great events may well be 

 found difficult to trace, because in sooth it is the way of 

 such things to come to the notice of anybody rather 

 than of those who would rightly observe them." x 



Padua cannot claim for its University an antiquity 

 as high as that which may be conceded to Pavia, but in 

 spite of its more recent origin, there is no little obscurity 

 surrounding its rise. The one fact which may be put 

 down as certain is that it sprang originally from the 

 University of Bologna. Early in the thirteenth century 

 violent discords arose between the citizens of Bologna 

 and the students, and there is a tradition that the 

 general school of teaching was transferred to Padua in 

 1222. What happened was probably a large migration 

 of students, part of whom remained behind when peace 

 between town and gown in Bologna was restored. The 

 orthodox origin of the University is a charter granted 

 by Frederic II. in 1238. Frederic at this time was 

 certainly trying to injure Bologna, actuated by a desire 

 to help on his own University at Naples, and to crush 

 Bologna as a member of the Lombard League. 2 Padua, 

 however, was also a member of this league, so his 

 benevolent action towards it is difficult to understand. 

 In 1228 the students had quarrelled with the Paduan 

 citizens, and there was a movement to migrate to 

 Vercelli ; but, whether this really took place or not, the 

 Paduan school did not suffer: its ruin and extinction 



1 De Vita Propria, ch. iv. p. n. 



8 Muratori, Chron. di Bologna, xviii. 254. 



