Founding charter of the University of Vienna dated 12 March 1365, Latin version

This charter, which was laid before the papal curia in Rome, was signed personally by Duke Rudolf IV: ‘Wir der vorgenant herzog Ruodolf sterken disen prief. mit dirr underschrift unser selbs hant.’ (‘We, the aforementioned Duke Rudolf, do strengthen this deed with the signature of our own hand’). He desired to elevate the status of Vienna as a city by establishing a ‘studium generale’. The document establishes the organisational structures – the division of the teaching staff according to faculty and that of the students according to academic ‘nation’, the autonomous administration of the institution – as well as the relationship between university and city. The regulations drew extensively on those of the University of Paris.