Minutes
The minutes of the Council and the Senate meetings from 1574 to 1927 have been digitised and made available in a total of 131 digital volumes. The Academic Council, later on the Senior Council and later still the Academic Senate were the central constitutional and self-regulatory bodies of the University. The minutes of their meetings provide richly detailed insights into the history of the University. All issues regarded as significant enough to warrant detailed discussion among the professors of the University were discussed and negotiated in person within the Council. The minutes were directly recorded by hand during negotiations. They also document the reports that the Rector regularly provided to the Council regarding academic, political, legal, staff and economic aspects of university life, as is still the case today. The minutes often provide an initial starting point for researchers who are looking at the history of the University as a whole and wish to get their bearings within a specific historical period.