''Studentes'' is a theatrical

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

interlude Interlude may refer to: *a short play or, in general, any representation between parts of a larger stage production *''Entr'acte'', a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production *a section in a movement of a musical piece, se ...

in five acts, written

1545 Year 1545 ( MDXLV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * February 22 – A firman of the Ottoman Empire is issued for the dethronement of Radu ...

by Christoph Stummel (1525-1588), a 19-year-old student at

Alma Mater Viadrina European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (german: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on ...

. The full title of the comedy was ''Studentes, comœdia de vita studiosorum (The Students, a comedy about student life)''. The play was printed in 1549 by Johann Eichorn, a printer and publisher in

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

. With his

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

comedy, Christoph Stummel created the first student comedy and, along the way, founded a genre that today is mainly served in cinemas.

Morality play

Christophorus Stimmelius - Frantz Friderich

The play is about the temptations of student life. Three fathers send their sons to the nearby university. While Philomates eagerly attends lectures and learns, the two others go to the pub and gamble away their money. Then Acrates is injured in a brawl, while Acolastus impregnates the innkeeper's daughter and has to marry her.

Dramatis personae

All names originate from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

and indicate the character of the person. * Philargyrus (the moneylover), father. * Eubulus (the good adviser), father. * Philostorgus (the fond-of-children), father. * Philomathes (the nerd), son of Philargirus. * Acolastus (the dissolute), son of Eubulus. * Acrates (the excessive), son of Philostorgus. * Colax (the flatterer), student. * Myspolus (Walks-like-a-mouse), student. * Philostasius (the quarrelsome), student. * Musopolus (the servant of the mus), student. * Euprositus (the accessible), father. * Eleutheria (the unprejudiced), mother. * Deleastisa (the alluring), both daughter. * Paedeutes (the teacher), university professor. * Phrontistes (the attendant), his servant. * Danista (the moneylender), innkeeper. * nameless journeymen craftsmen.

Editions

* ''STVDENTES, COMOEDIA DE VITA STVDIOSORVM, nunc primum in lucem edita autore M. Christophoro Stummelio, F. Eiusdem carmen de iudicio Paridis. Addita est Praefatio Jodoci Willichii et Epilogus a M. Christophoro Cornero. Francoforti ad Viadrum in officina Joannis Eichorn anno MDXLIX.'' (First edition 1549
Digitalisat
an
Google Books
) * ''STVDENTES, COMOEDIA DE VITA STVDIOSORVM. Excvdebat Iohannes Eichorn Francofordii ad Viadrum, Anno MDL.'' (1550.)

* ''STVDENTES, COMOEDIA DE VITA STVDIOSORVM. Excudebat Ioannes Verwithaghen'', Antwerpen 1551.
Google Books
* ''STVDENTES, COMOEDIA DE VITA STVDIOSORVM. Coloniæ. In ædibus Petri Horst. Anno 1552.''
Google Books
* ''STVDENTES, comoedia de vita studiosorum, excudebat Io. Eichorn'', Frankfurt/Oder 1554. * ''STVDENTES, COMOEDIA DE VITA STVDIOSORVM. Excudebat Petrus Horst, Coloniae 1561.''
Google Books
* ''STVDENTES. Comoedia de vita studiosorum. Nunc primum in lucem ædita, authore M. Christophoro Stummelio, F. Eiusdem carmen de iudicio Paridis. Addita est Præfatio Iodoci VVilichÿ et epilogus à M. Christophoro Cornero. Coloniae, Apud Petrum Horst, 1579.''
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* ''Comoedia duae: I. ISAAC. De immolatione Isaac. II. STVDENTES. De vita & moribus Studiosorum. Stetini in Officina Andreae Kellneri, Anno 1579.''
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Reception

An unknown Dutch author published his own interpretation under the pseudonym "Ignoto Peerdeklontius" (Dutch Lat. ''Unknown horse dumpling'' or ''Anonymous horse apple''). Lachmann called it a

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and though ...

, since it largely corresponds to the original and also bears the almost identical title: ''Studentes sive Comoedia de vita Studiosorum autore Ignoto Peerdeklontio. Alentopholi.'' (1647, 1662, 1775; probably in Amsterdam). The fictitious place of printing Alentopholis probably goes back to a printing error and would then stand for ''Alethopolis'' (''truth city'').Dr. Fritz Richard Lachmann: ''Die "Studentes" des Christophorus Stymmelius und ihre Bühne.'' Dissertation, Leipzig 1926, p. 56. Acrates is here called Isgeestus and the final scene has also been considerably changed. * ''Studentes sive Comoedia de vita Studiosorum Autore Ignoto Peerdeklontio. Alentopholi. In Aedibus Iberiorici Nobilimi 1647.'' * ''Studentes sive Comoedia de vita Studiosorum Autore Ignoto Peerdeklontio. Alentopholi. In Aedibus Iberiorici Nobilimi 1662.''
Digitalisat

External links

* Drew Thomas
''Early Modern Student Debauchery''
* Christoph Stummel
''Studentes – Die Studenten''
Berlin 2021. ISBN 9783754923306

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Studentes Medieval drama 16th-century books in Latin 1549 books 1540s plays