Kappa Sigma History

Kappa Sigma in Europe

Kappa Sigma traces its roots back to the year 1400, in the city of Bologna, Italy. Bologna was renown throughout the Western world for its University, the University of Bologna, and for this reason, it was also known as "The City of Letters". Bologna has been home to some of the greatest thinkers of all time, including Dante, Petrarch, Galileo, Copernicus, and many others that contributed to its academic reputation. Unfortunately, the students of Bologna were terrorized by the unscrupulous governor, Baldassarre Cossa. Cossa and his followers would lay in waiting on dark streets to rob students. Manuel Chrysoloras, a teacher of language at the University, formed in 1400 a society of students for mutual protection against Cossa. These students devised secret signs, words, and a ritual to protect themselves for Cossa's spies and henchmen, and it was this ritual that bound them as brothers in fellowship, the fellowship of Kappa Sigma.

The Order of Kappa Sigma expanded to many other great European universities throughout the Renaissance, but was barely active by the 19th century. In the mid-1800s, an American traveler to Europe was revealed the secret of the order, and from this, Kappa Sigma in North America was born.

Kappa Sigma in America

Kappa Sigma in America was founded one chilly evening in the fall of 1869, as five students attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville gathered in William Grigsby McCormick's room at 46 East Lawn and planted the seed of Brotherhood. For many weeks the bonds of friendship had drawn these five together; now the need became clear for a formal structure to contain their feelings. Thus, not only did the Founders formalize their friendship, but they also created a fraternity steeped in the traditions of the past and dedicated to the Pursuit of Learning. The new brothers recorded their bond in a Constitution and in an Oath which set forth the ideals and principles to all Kappa Sigmas today.

From these humble origins and five friends and brothers, the Order of Kappa Sigma has come to dominate the fraternal world, and is currently the largest and most successful fraternity in North America.