Stretching from Basel to Cologne, the Rhine formed the geographical

axis of a broad cultural realm in the late Middle Ages, lending vitality not

only to its cities and universities but also to the two great Councils to which

it played host. Already in the fourteenth century, the lives of such famous

German mystics as Meister Eckhart, Heinrich Seuse and Johannes Tauler

testify to the presence of an advanced intellectual culture in the cities of

the upper and lower Rhine. In the fifteenth century, the most famous Councils

of the late Middle Ages took place along the Rhine, namely the Councils

of Constance and Basel, which formed loci of intellectual exchange

and which became seedbeds of philosophical ideas that engaged and influenced

such participants as Heymericus de Campo and Nicholas of Cusa.

With the establishment of the Universities of Cologne (1388), Freiburg

(1457), Basel (1459) and Mainz (1476), the intellectual culture of this region

took an institutional form that continues to exist to this day, and symbolizes

the stability of the intellectual culture of the Rhineland. The main

purpose of this volume is to explore the intellectual richness and vitality

of the Rhineland in its various facets and on its different levels.