De feudis theses LVI

and since I have known, not from ancient fables but from the very arguments of reality, and still know daily, I thought that much certain effort and time should be placed by me in the investigation of this philosophy, so that I might expect from it both public and private benefit. Just as common experience does not admit that the remaining cultivators of it are defrauded of such benefits, so it also affects and hastens to bestow its rewards upon me in part at the present time. But that my speech may turn to where it is intended, I would wish to make known to Your Highness, submissively, that by a certain laudable statute and decree of the most ample Faculty of JURISTS of this most celebrated University of BASEL, it is received and approved that those who, through the greatest vigils and continuous labors devoted to and expended upon the study of true philosophy, now have the opportunity to be adorned with that highest dignity remaining in this study as a recompense for the same, must present some specimen of their learning before the public and solemn act, with everyone gathered in a public place. This is customarily done through a certain succinct disputation, contained within the bounds of conclusions. Since, therefore, the same is happening to me now, with God’s approval, for the benefit of this science, I have decided to propose a short disputation according to the tenor of that most ample statute. But while I was looking around here and there as to what material should be chosen above all, the feudal customs offered themselves, as they were deservedly considered worthy of examination and deeper investigation,