| Administrative History | The Nova Fundatio was the production of Andrew Melville (1545-c 1622), educational reformer, graduate of St Andrews University, and principal of Glasgow University. He wrote it in collaboration with John Knox (c 1513-1572), founder of the Scottish Reformation, in order to apply it to the Scottish universities and to eradicate any perceived pre-Reformation influence on Scottish education that might have remained after Knox's First Book of Discipline had been published. The Nova Fundatio was based at least partly on the ideas of Peter Ramus (1515-1572), a French Huguenot, and abolished the teaching of medicine and law, limiting the university curriculum to arts and theology and making clear the aim of the universities solely to produce parish ministers. It also promoted the interests of poor students, reformed the fee structure and reinforced the teaching of languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldee). St Andrews and Glasgow Universities had accepted these reforms in the 1570s but King's College, Aberdeen, was reluctant to take up a course of reform which went against some of the tenets of the founding (and pre-Reformation) charters of the university and Bishop Elphinstone (1431-1514). While King's quarrelled over its adoption, Marischal College, Aberdeen, was founded entirely with the Nova Fundatio in mind, as its founder, George Keith (1553-1623), Earl Marischal, had studied and admired Peter Ramus in his youth. Though briefly abolished, the posts of mediciner and civilist were re-established at King's in 1619, and the post of canonist, who lectured on church law, was always sustained in some form as it was argued that the laws relating to marriage and inheritance were still relevant even in post-Reformation Scotland. |