ABSTRACT
Georg Eder was one of sixteenth-century Vienna’s most prominent figures.1 His rise was swift: by 1552, within a mere two years of his arrival in Vienna, the 29-year-old Bavarian jurist was elected to his first post at the city’s university, as Prokurator of the German nation.2 Entry to office at the Habsburg court came just two years later, with the position of Kammerprokurator, while nine years later, at the age of 40, Eder received promotion to one of the court’s and indeed the Holy Roman Empire’s highest positions: that of Reichshofrat.3 Eder was to remain active in this prestigious legal post for 20 years, while his university career was one of equal longevity. By his death in 1587 he had been elected university rector a total of 11 times, a role that placed him right at the heart of one of the city’s key institutions.4
