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Collegium for Medieval & Early Modern Studies

450 years Juliusspital. Nursing – Healing – Teaching

Lecture series of the Collegium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies in the summer semester 2026

The Juliusspital in Würzburg, whose foundation stone was laid on 12 March 1578, was one of the most modern large-scale hospital buildings of its time, alongside similar institutions in France, Italy and the Netherlands. Like all hospitals, it was primarily a care and nursing facility, but over time it became a teaching hospital for the Faculty of Medicine in Würzburg.

The lecture series takes the 450th anniversary of the Juliusspital as an opportunity to shed light on various aspects of hospital life in the early modern period. The triad of nursing - healing - teaching already refers to the numerous actors whose activities characterised hospital life. To complement the varied programme, the Würzburg City Archive is organising a small exhibition of historical hospital objects in cooperation with the Medical History Collections of the University of Würzburg.

14.04.2026 Sabine Schlegelmilch (Würzburg)
Who owns the sick? The rivalry between hospital and university
21.04.2026 Riccardo Altieri (Würzburg)
Gravestones, spoils and museum artefacts - the history of the medieval Jewish cemetery in Würzburg
28.04.2026 Sabrina Zinke (Würzburg)
Files, alms, medicines - searching for clues in the files of the Bürgerspital and Juliusspital hospitals
05.05.2026 Stefan Bürger (Würzburg)
Mercy - The Juliusspital as part of a great virtue programme
19.05.2026 Karen Nolte (Würzburg)
Medical perspectives on nursing in the 18th century
26.05.2026 Ulrich Schlegelmilch (Würzburg)
Between princely court, hospital and university: Würzburg senior surgeons
02.06.2026 Annemarie Kinzelbach (Munich)
Merciful Surgery: The Cutting House of the Fuggers in Augsburg
09.06.2026 Gisela Drossbach (Augsburg)
The Liber Regulae of the Roman Hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia and the Law
16.06.2026 Fritz Dross (Erlangen)
The differentiated hospital system in the imperial city of Nuremberg
23.06.2026 Teresa Novy (Würzburg)
The Juliusspital in the artefacts of the Museum für Franken
30.06.2026 Benjamin Müsegades (Würzburg)
There are always miracles. Healing and miracles in Franconia around 1500
07.07.2026 Dominik Burkard (Würzburg)
Medicinal art of faith: Religious care in the Juliusspital
14.07.2026 Carlotta Posth (Würzburg)
Literature as an aid to dying: The art of dying beyond the ars moriendi

Programme folder, poster

Time and place

The lecture series takes place on Tuesdays at 19:00 in lecture theatre 318 of the New University(Sanderring 2).

Registration is not necessary. Admission is free.

It is possible to take part in the lecture series online:

Link to the Zoom meeting
Meeting ID: 615 5298 2071
Password: 895072

Recognition for the degree programme

The lecture series can be credited towards your degree programme. Please note the information on crediting.

Organisation and contact

Prof. Dr phil. Sabine Schlegelmilch
Institute for the History of Medicine

E-mail: ringvorlesung.mfn@uni-wuerzburg.de