Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/157

UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER CENTRES OF LEARNING 145 cardinal : ' Within the walls of Eome are buried the ashes of a German whom the Fatherland still mourns as one of its noblest sons. In virtue of his great learning Eegiomontanus belongs to the whole world ; and other nations will envy Germany the honour of having given birth to such a genius. He was a great, a noble man, and his spotless life has earned him an everlasting crown.' At Nuremberg, where Eegio- montanus had been universally honoured as the ' father and benefactor of the town,' the news of his death threw the whole population into the deepest grief. Under his influence intellectual life had flourished luxuriantly there. The study of art received a new and vigorous impulse, and in respect of science the town had become a star of the first magnitude. An overpowering bent for mathematical science seemed to have taken possession of the place, and a delight in calculations and measurement pervaded all classes. Amongst the many pupils whom Eegiomontanus's school sent forth, Bernhard Walther, Johann Werner, Johann Schoner, and Conrad Heinfogel worked vigo- rously on in their master's steps. Walther, after the latter's death, became chief of the German astronomers ; Werner acquired a leading position in mathematics and physics. For the number and importance of the scholars who distinguished themselves in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and cosmography, Nuremberg was long without a rival in Germany. Even such men as Wilibald Pirkheimer and Albert Diirer, whose vocations were of so opposite a nature, could not resist the prevailing strong attraction of mathematics and astronomy. With a zeal which was peculiar to that century, they applied themselves to VOL i. L