# List of early modern universities in Europe

The list of early modern universities in Europe comprises all universities that existed in the early modern age (1501–1800) in Europe. It also includes short-lived foundations and educational institutions whose university status is a matter of debate. The operation of the degree-awarding university with its corporate organization and relative autonomy, which had emerged in the Christian medieval world, was continued into the new era. The number of universities which had been in existence at one time during the period rose from around eighty medieval universities to nearly two hundred. While the universitas arrived in Eastern Europe as far as Moscow, many were established further west either by the new Protestant powers or the Catholic Counter-Reformation spearheaded by the Jesuits. At the same time, the Spanish founded colonial universities and the British colonial colleges in the New World, thus heralding the spread of the university as the center of higher learning around the globe (see List of oldest universities).

## Definition

A short definition of the university and its defining characteristics as they evolved in the medieval and early modern era is offered by the multi-volume History of the University in Europe of the European University Association:
   The university is a European institution; indeed, it is the European institution par excellence. There are various reasons for this assertion. As a community of teachers and taught, accorded certain rights, such as administrative autonomy and the determination and realization of curricula (courses of study) and of the objectives of research as well as the award of publicly recognized degrees, it is a creation of medieval Europe, which was the Europe of papal Christianity...
   No other European institution has spread over the entire world in the way in which the traditional form of the European university has done. The degrees awarded by European universities – the bachelor's degree, the licentiate, the master's degree, and the doctorate – have been adopted in the most diverse societies throughout the world. The four medieval faculties of artes – variously called philosophy, letters, arts, arts and sciences, and humanities –, law, medicine, and theology have survived and have been supplemented by numerous disciplines, particularly the social sciences and technological studies, but they remain none the less at the heart of universities throughout the world.
   Even the name of the universitas, which in the Middle Ages was applied to corporate bodies of the most diverse sorts and was accordingly applied to the corporate organization of teachers and students, has in the course of centuries been given a more particular focus: the university, as a universitas litterarum, has since the 18th century been the intellectual institution which cultivates and transmits the entire corpus of methodically studied intellectual disciplines.

## List of universities existing in the early modern age, but created before

The list is sorted by the date of recognition. Note that the date of recognition is not necessarily the date of creation : for example, a community of teachers and students existed per se in Paris during the 11th century. At places where more than one university was established, the name of the institution is given in brackets.
There were other institutions of higher education in the medieval and early modern period outside of the list such as: the Esztergom and the Kalocsa Universities the Boldogasszony College of Buda, Gyula, Nagybánya s or the Nagyőr Colleges but little information has survived beyond their existence.

### 11th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| established 1088 | Bologna | Italy |
| 1096 | Oxford | England |

### 12th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| 1175 | Modena | Italy |
| 1126-96 | Veszprém | Hungary |

### 13th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| Beginning of 13th c. | Paris | France |
| Beginning of 13th c. | Montpellier | France |
| 1209–25 | Cambridge | England |
| 1212 | Palencia | Spain |
| 1215 | Arezzo | Italy |
| Before 1218/9 | Salamanca | Spain |
| 1222 | Padua | Italy |
| 1224 | Naples | Italy |
| 1229 | Toulouse | France |
| 1231 | Salerno | Italy |
| c.1235 | Orléans | France |
| 1241 | Valladolid | Spain |
| 1246 | Siena | Italy |
| c.1250 | Angers | France |
| 1261 | Northampton | England |
| 1272 | Murcia | Spain |
| 1290 | Macerata | Italy |
| 1290 | Lisbon | Portugal |
| 1293 | Madrid | Spain |
| 1300 | Lleida | Spain |

### 14th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| 1303 | Avignon | France |
| 1303 | Rome (Sapienza) | Italy |
| 1304-1305 | Dominican College of Buda | Hungary |
| 1308 | Coimbra | Portugal |
| 1308 | Perugia | Italy |
| 1332 | Cahors (in French) | France |
| 1333 | Stamford | England |
| 1336 | Camerino | Italy |
| 1339 | Grenoble | France |
| 1343 | Pisa | Italy |
| 1347 | Prague (Charles University, in German and Czech) | Czech Republic |
| 1349 | Firenze | Italy |
| 1350 | Perpignan | France |
| 1354 | Huesca (in Spanish) | Spain |
| 1361 | Pavia | Italy |
| 1364 | Cracow | Poland |
| 1365 | Orange | France |
| 1365 | Vienna | Austria |
| 1367 | Pécs | Hungary |
| 1369 | Lucca (in Italian) | Italy |
| 1386 | Heidelberg | Germany |
| 1388 | Cologne | Germany |
| 1389 | Erfurt | Germany |
| 1391 | Ferrara | Italy |
| 1395 | Budapest | Hungary |
| 1396 | Zadar | Croatia |

### 15th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| 1402 | Würzburg | Germany |
| 1404 | Turin | Italy |
| 1409 | Leipzig | Germany |
| 1409 | Aix-en-Provence | France |
| 1412 | Parma | Italy |
| 1413 | St Andrews | Scotland |
| 1419 | Rostock | Germany |
| 1422 | Dole | France |
| 1425 | Leuven | Belgium |
| 1431 | Poitiers | France |
| 1432 | Caen | France |
| 1434 | Catania | Italy |
| 1441 | Bordeaux | France |
| 1450 | Barcelona | Spain |
| 1451 | Glasgow | Scotland |
| 1452 | Valence | France |
| 1453 | Istanbul | Turkey |
| 1454 | Trier | Germany |
| 1456 | Greifswald | Germany |
| 1457 | Freiburg | Germany |
| 1459 | Basel | Switzerland |
| 1459 | Ingolstadt | Germany |
| 1460 | Nantes | France |
| 1464 | Bourges | France |
| 1465 | Bratislava | Hungary (now Slovakia) |
| 1470 | Venice | Italy |
| 1471 | Genoa | Italy |
| 1474 | Zaragoza | Spain |
| 1476 | Mainz | Germany |
| 1476 | Tübingen | Germany |
| 1477 | Uppsala | Sweden |
| 1479 | Copenhagen | Denmark |
| 1483 | Palma, Majorca | Spain |
| 1489 | Sigüenza | Spain |
| 1495 | Old Aberdeen | Scotland |
| 1498 | Frankfurt on the Oder | Germany |
| 1499 | Alcalá de Henares | Spain |
| 1500 | Valencia | Spain |

## List of universities created in the early modern age
### 16th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| 1502 | Wittenberg | Germany |
| 1505 | Seville (Santa María de Jesús) | Spain |
| 1506 | Frankfurt (Oder) | Germany |
| 1516 | Seville (Santo Tomás) | Spain |
| 1521 | Toledo | Spain |
| 1526 | Santiago de Compostela | Spain |
| 1527 | Marburg | Germany |
| 1531 | Granada | Spain |
| 1534 | Sahagún | Spain |
| 1537 | Lausanne | Switzerland |
| 1538 | Debrecen | Hungary |
| 1539 | Nîmes | France |
| 1540 | Macerata | Italy |
| 1540 | Oñate (in Spanish) | Spain |
| 1542 | Baeza | Spain |
| 1544 | Königsberg (disbanded 1945) | Poland, Prussia |
| 1547 | Gandía | Spain |
| 1548 | Reims | France |
| 1548 | Messina | Italy |
| 1548 | Tournon | France |
| 1548/9 | Osuna | Spain |
| c.1550 | Irache | Spain |
| 1550 | Almagro (in Spanish) | Spain |
| 1551 | Tortosa | Spain |
| 1551 | National University of San Marcos | Peru |
| 1552 | Orihuela (in Spanish) | Spain |
| 1553 | Dillingen | Germany |
| 1555 | Burgo de Osma | Spain |
| 1556 | Milan | Italy |
| 1556 | Prague (Collegium Clementinum) | Czech Republic |
| 1556 | Rome (Gregorianum) | Italy |
| 1557/8 | Jena | Germany |
| 1558/9 | Évora | Portugal |
| 1559 | Geneva | Switzerland |
| 1559 | Nice | France |
| 1559/60 | Douai | France |
| 1560 | Mondovì | Italy |
| 1562 | Ancona | Italy |
| 1565 | Estella | Spain |
| 1568 | Braunsberg | Poland |
| 1570 | Olomouc | Czech Republic |
| 1572 | Pont-à-Mousson | France |
| 1574 | Oviedo | Spain |
| 1574 | Tarragona | Spain |
| 1575 | Leiden | Netherlands |
| 1575/6 | Helmstedt | Germany |
| 1576 | Ávila | Spain |
| 1576 | Ostroh | Ukraine |
| 1577 | Rome, Collegium Divi Thomae, (Angelicum) | Italy |
| 1578 | Palermo | Italy |
| 1579 | Vilnius | Poland-Lithuania |
| 1581 | Cluj-Napoca, Babeș-Bolyai University | Principality of Transylvania (now Romania) |
| 1582/3 | Edinburgh | Scotland |
| 1583 | Orthez | France |
| 1585 | Fermo | Italy |
| 1585 | Franeker | Netherlands |
| 1585/6 | Graz | Austria |
| 1587 | El Escorial | Spain |
| 1587 | Girona | Spain |
| 1592 | Malta | Malta |
| 1592 | Trinity College Dublin | Ireland |
| 1592 | Fraserburgh | Scotland |
| 1593 | Marischal College | Scotland |
| 1594 | Zamość | Poland |
| 1596/1604 | Saumur | France |
| 1598 | Montauban (in French) | France |
| 1599 | Vic | Spain |
| 1599/1602 | Sedan | France |

### 17th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| 1601/4 | Die | France |
| 1603 | Aix-en-Provence (Collège royal Bourbon) | France |
| 1607 | Giessen | Germany |
| 1612/4 | Groningen | Netherlands |
| 1614 | Solsona | Spain |
| 1615 | Kyiv (Mohyla Academy) | Ukraine |
| 1614/6 | Paderborn | Germany |
| 1617 | Sassari | Italy |
| 1617/8 | Molsheim | France |
| 1619 | Pamplona | Spain |
| 1620 | Rinteln [de] | Germany |
| 1620/5 | Salzburg | Austria |
| 1620 | Cagliari | Italy |
| 1621 | Strassburg | France |
| 1622/3 | Altdorf | Germany |
| 1625 | Mantua | Italy |
| 1629/32 | Osnabrück | Germany |
| 1632 | Tartu (Dorpat) | Estonia |
| 1633 | Kassel [de] | Germany |
| 1634 | Iași | Moldavia |
| 1635 | Trnava (became ELTE, PPCU and SE) | Hungary (now Slovakia) |
| 1636 | Utrecht | Netherlands |
| 1640 | Turku | Finland |
| 1647/8 | Harderwijk | Netherlands |
| 1648 | Bamberg | Germany |
| 1652 | Kiel | Germany |
| 1653 | Durham | England |
| 1654 | Duisburg | Germany |
| 1655 | Nijmegen | Netherlands |
| 1657 | Košice | Hungary (now Slovakia) |
| 1661 | Lviv | Ukraine |
| 1665 | Prešov | Hungary (now Slovakia) |
| 1666/8 | Lund | Sweden |
| 1668 | Innsbruck | Austria |
| 1669 | Zagreb | Croatia |
| 1671 | Urbino | Italy |
| 1671 | Montbéliard | France |
| 1674 | Linz | Austria |
| 1685 | Strasbourg | France |
| 1691 | Besançon | France |
| 1693/4 | Halle | Germany |

### 18th century

| Recognized | University | Modern country |
| 1701 | La Laguna | Spain |
| 1702 | Breslau | Poland |
| 1707 | Iași | Romania |
| 1710 | Charité (University of Medicine) | Germany |
| 1714/7 | Cervera | Spain |
| 1722 | Dijon | France |
| 1722 | Pau | France |
| 1724 | Saint Petersburg | Russia |
| 1727 | Camerino | Italy |
| 1732/4 | Fulda | Germany |
| 1733/7 | Göttingen | Germany |
| 1735 | Rennes | France |
| 1742/3 | Erlangen | Germany |
| 1745 | Braunschweig (Technische Hochschule) | Germany |
| 1748 | Altamura | Italy |
| 1755 | Moscow | Russia |
| 1760 | Bützow (in German) | Germany |
| 1765 | Corte | France |
| 1765 | Freiberg (Technische Hochschule) | Germany |
| 1768 | Nancy | France |
| 1769 | Malta | Malta |
| 1770 | Berlin (Technische Hochschule) | Germany |
| 1771 | Münster | Germany |
| 1772/3 | Modena | Italy |
| 1773 | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 1775 | Clausthal (Technische Hochschule) | Germany |
| 1777 | Bonn | Germany |
| 1781 | Stuttgart | Germany |
| 1782 | Budapest University of Technology and Economics | Hungary |