Faculty Recruitment and Retention in the Early Modern Era: The Zurich Lectorium, c. 1560-1610

Abstract

Using records from the Zurich Staatsarchiv, this article investigates the faculty of the Zurich Lectorium between 1560 and 1610. The author argues that this period was important as an epoch of both stability and transition for the school, a time when the memory and influence of Zwingli was still strong, but when the school was also developing into a formal institution of higher learning. Most professors in this era taught at the school while also holding pastoral positions in and around the city. Consequently, many were overworked, underpaid, and had little time for scholarship.