Studying theology in Perugia. The Peregrinatio of the hungarian friars to Perugia between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries

Abstract

This essay aims to examine the peregrinatio academica of Hungarian students to Perugia between the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century, situating it within the broader context of the academic mobility of Hungarian students to universities outside the Kingdom of Hungary. Drawing on the prosopographical data of the Repertorium Academicum Hungariae and of Onomasticon. Prosopografia dell’Università degli Studi di Perugia, the analysis shows that a large proportion of the Hungarian students in Perugia belonged to the mendicant Orders, particularly the Dominican Order. The role of the Dominican convent of San Domenico in Perugia and of its studium in attracting friars from the Hungarian province is then explored in greater detail, especially in the second half of the fifteenth century, when the flow of Hungarians to Perugia was at its height. Finally, the academic careers of individual friars are briefly retraced, offering concrete examples of the broader dynamics highlighted in the essay. The resulting picture is one in which Perugia emerges as a significant node within a wider European network of circulation of people and knowledge between East and West.