Western Humanities: Analyzing Primary and Secondary Sources
Medieval Universities and Education
Image 1: Merton chapel
[Tom Murphy]
Chapel at Merton College, part of the University of Oxford in England. Construction on the chapel began in 1290. The college is one of the earliest at Oxford, established in 1264.
Image 2: Merton College quadrangle
[Tom Murphy]
Quadrangle at Merton College known as the "Mob Quad." Construction of the quad was begun shortly after Merton College was established in 1264 and was completed in the mid-14th century. University quadrangles around the world are modeled after this early example.
Image 3: Medieval students
[Web Gallery of Art]
Detail of a tomb relief depicting students at the University of Bologna, about 1383.
Image 4: Lecture at the Sorbonne (from an illuminated manuscript)
[Corbis]
Fourteenth-century illustration of a lecture at the Sorbonne from Grandes Chroniques de France. The Sorbonne, one of the most famous colleges of the University of Paris, was established in 1257.
The university was a
quintessentially medieval institution, which developed from the late 12th
century in places like Bologna, Paris, and Oxford. The term "university" was
rather fluid, originally commonly denoting a corporation or guild, but latterly
meaning a community of scholars with the authority to confer degrees.
Universities were distinct from "colleges," which at this stage were no more
than halls of residence, such as the Sorbonne in Paris or Balliol College in
Oxford. Unlike today, medieval universities were not marked by campuses or
buildings. People rather than places were key, with students congregating around
individual
masters, and
teaching
facilities and accommodation organized in a rather organic and ad hoc fashion.
Over the course of the Middle Ages, Western Europe witnessed an unprecedented
expansion in university provision as part of the so-called "educational
revolution" of the 12th and 13th centuries. Organizational developments led to
the creation of universities with formal schools of liberal arts and fixed
curricula as well as faculties of law, medicine, and theology; other
institutions, however, such as Salerno, never progressed beyond the distinction
of being a medical school.
As
universities emerged across Europe from the shadows of previous educational
incarnations, they tended to follow two dominant structural and organizational
traditions of incorporation. The first was the University of Bologna, where the
students themselves constituted the corporation, a model copied throughout
Southern Europe in Italy, Spain, and southern France. In this situation ultimate
authority was vested in the student body to hire and fire, regulate and fine
teachers. Reprimands and punishments were meted out for teachers who were absent
without leave, who failed to start and end lectures on time, who deviated from
the subject or had the misfortune to be boring – perish the very thought! This
was the epitome of student-power, and the young voted with their feet. An
entirely different form of organization was prevalent in Northern European
countries where universities developed along the Parisian pattern of teacher-led
guilds. In Paris, masters and scholars retained the right to license teachers
and control examinations, and the university attained a four faculty structure
(arts, theology, law, and medicine) with each faculty headed by a dean. Patterns
of university development were uneven geographically, intimately connected to
issues of peace and patronage. Relatively stable, prosperous conditions
sponsored the 13th-century development of universities such as Oxford,
Cambridge, Montpellier, and Padua. Indeed, the University of Naples was
established by Frederick II in order to be "useful to us for the administration
of Justice and of the laws"; the Holy Roman emperor recognized the link between
the new learning and secular power. Elsewhere, however, progress was slower. The
German states and Eastern Europe, for example, did not acquire universities
until the 14th century with the emergence of Prague in 1348, Vienna in 1365, and
Heidelberg in 1385. This slower pace of educational development no doubt
reflected the degree of instability and disorganization within these regions.
While
organizationally universities broadly differed across medieval Europe, there
were great continuities and similarities in terms of curriculum and pedagogy.
University students imbibed a scholarly regimen derived from classical tradition
inherited from the foundational texts bequeathed to later generations by
Boethius. The main staple of intellectual rigor was an immersion in the seven
liberal arts, which were made up of the trivium (consisting of grammar,
rhetoric, and logic) and the quadrivium (comprising arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, and music). Echoes of this traditional broad based education are
still evident today in liberal arts programs in the North American academic
system. Once this basic course of study was completed, students could then opt
to proceed to advanced instruction in medicine, philosophy, or law.
Pedagogically, medieval universities are far removed from the innovative
teaching techniques of classrooms today. Printed books were prohibitively
expensive and textbooks as we know them were unheard of. Emphasis was placed
upon modes of oral transmission. Lectures were the dominant form of delivery
along with formal public disputations or debates, where rivals formulated vying
arguments over questions or theses. Reading was aloud rather than silent; texts
were generally copied in manuscript rather than printed; and rote memorization
was central to the student learning experience. It is also possible to
reconstruct student life outside of the medieval classroom from a range of
sources, including songs, visual images, student exercise books, financial
accounts, letters to parents, and contemporary descriptions. Indeed, Jacques de
Vitry has left a particularly rich account of the life of students at Paris.
Students customarily attended university in their early teens. Student life to
all intents and purposes emerges as rather raucous and rowdy; scholars and
students formed a separate community from townspeople, which in many cases
exacerbated the divide between "town" and "gown."
The
High Middle Ages undoubtedly witnessed the so-called "rise of the university"
and the development of new learning, but the degree to which this represents an
educational revolution must surely be called into question. Organizationally and
structurally great improvements were made; and the medieval universities formed
immensely productive environments for intellectual advancements, housing
scholars such as Thomas Aquinas. However, much intellectual life existed outside
of the hallowed walls of these scholarly institutions, which could in fact breed
an air of comfortable complacency. Scholasticism, for example, which took hold
of medieval universities, was attacked by Renaissance humanists for its methods
of inquiry and viewed as staid and parochial in its aims and outlook.
Furthermore, attendance at university during this period was socially
restricted. Women were precluded from becoming students, a restriction that
remained in place until the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America.
Although some provision was made for the education of the "poor," this term is
misleading and most students were from wealthy families, the sons of landowners,
well-to-do merchants, and artisans. Lastly, these new educational institutions
were largely dominated by the church; most students and teachers were members of
the clergy. Far from being centers of intellectual innovation and instrumental
in facilitating social mobility, medieval universities were marked by inertia
and conservatism.
If a modern university
student were to travel back in time to Europe of the fourth century CE, that
student would find a world tightly bound with endless miles of well maintained
roads, heavily traveled sea routes safe from piracy, and well organized and
constructed
civic
centers just a day's journey apart. The people of this era would be reasonably
literate and certainly familiar with mathematics, natural science, philosophy,
history,
medicine,
agriculture, politics,
and the theater. Though religion, both pagan and Christian, was ever prevalent,
it served more as a companion to scholastic pursuit than as an alternative. This
was the world of the vast Roman Empire, stretching from England in the north to
Egypt in the south and modern-day Turkey in the east.
The
acquisition of knowledge was pursued both formally and informally as the
children of wealthy families completed a great breadth of formal studies under
the watchful eye of a Greek slave or hired tutor, while members of the less
fortunate general public organically absorbed the theories of their social
betters with whom they shared their complex urban lives. Universities as we know
them today did not exist, but the level of communication was so robust that
general knowledge was transferred from province to province with the rapidity of
an Iron Age Internet. Yet by the end of the fifth century, this energetic and
intellectual world was about to come crashing down. A combination of decline
within the Roman Empire and continual harassment by migratory Germans on its
periphery led to what many historians call the fall of Rome in 476. Along with
the ascension of Odoacer, the first barbarian king of Rome, came the rapid
decline of Roman trade, Roman communication, Roman government and above all,
Roman knowledge.
By
the end of the eighth century, however, Europeans were poised to awake from
their academic slumber. By order of Charlemagne, schools were to be established
in every monastery in the Carolingian Empire. This decree marked the beginning
of the resurgence of learning in the West. Focusing on the studies of religious
philosophy, law, and architecture, the new scholars began to standardize vulgate
Latin into a common educational language. Intellects were attracted to the
Carolingian court and a resurgence of the study of classical Greek helped unlock
the secrets of the once mute classical past. In these early years of reemerging
education, Scholasticism dominated the pedagogical landscape. This pursuit
functioned by teaching acolytes to poise seemingly contradictory philosophical
arguments (sententiae) side by side and then to systematically unify them
into a single statement. Although this premise may seem limited in scope, it
served as the academic prototype for the formal rational analysis that would
ultimately supplant faith as the basis for accepted academic and scientific
truth.
By
the 11th and 12th centuries, these early medieval schools were beginning to
develop into what we might now term universities. The word university, which
loosely translated means "guild," is a testament both to the medieval roots and
the sense of professionalism surrounding the emergence of these institutions. In
the Middle Ages, guilds were a tightly knit group of professionals dedicated to
a high quality of goods or service. Just so, the faculties and student bodies of
these developing intellectual centers were determined to establish domains of
expected rigor and intellectual respectability. The types of universities varied
throughout Europe, some founded and supported by the Catholic Church and others
by the civil government. Likewise, in some universities such as that in Bologna,
the students themselves hired the teachers and designated the curriculum. In
others, such as the Sorbonne, the faculty established the subjects of study and
academic expectations.
Just
as in modern universities, students would often begin their education with a
compulsory study of the humanities. This pursuit, often referred to as the
Faculty of Arts, consisted of topics such as grammar, logic, philosophy,
arithmetic, music, geometry, and science. Today these same topics often comprise
an undergraduate's mandatory breadth requirements before he or she may move onto
upper division or graduate work. Once a student of the Middle Ages completed
these entry level courses, he might specialize in any of the common higher level
studies, primarily in law, medicine, or theology. Bachelor's, master's, and
doctoral degrees were awarded based on the level of subject matter completion.
Beyond the pursuit of comparable, though considerably updated, core academic
studies there are other areas in which medieval traditions are alive and well.
Students then as now could get considerably rowdy. One might picture a medieval
school room as a place of somber Latin language lectures. Indeed there were
undoubtedly many such situations, but students were also encouraged to engage in
debate and even to challenge their professors energetically. Likewise, young men
of medieval colleges came from great distances and social life was undoubtedly
robust and aggressive left in the hands of 20-year-olds free from the restraints
of their families' watchful eyes. Frequent trouble would arise between townsfolk
and the youthful temporary tenants of the local universities. Public brawling,
destruction of property, and unfortunately even rape were not uncommon; over
time, many universities were moved to larger cities to protect the students from
the wrath of small town civic leaders. This medieval struggle between the "town"
and the "gown" in some instances seems to have changed little. As today,
students of the 13th century might even strike against a university's faculty or
academic policies, taking their intellect and consequently their purses to other
institutes of higher learning or simply enjoying the time off.
Today, many universities deliberately seek to echo their medieval forbears.
Using Gothic architecture for dining halls and dormitories; dark robes, mortar
boards, and colorful hoods for graduation ceremonies; and even divided, subject
specific colleges within a larger university context, institutional leaders send
the message that the roots and traditions of the school's fabric are stable,
unchanging and by association worthwhile. Commencement ceremonies and diplomas
of the older universities still see their share of medieval Latin, and apart
from the admission of women and amplified microphones, one might swear for just
a moment that we were living in the 13th century.
Source: Mullin, Chris. "Universities and Medieval Cathedral Schools." World History: Ancient and Medieval
Eras. 2009. ABC-CLIO. 8 Mar. 2009 <http://www.ancienthistory.abc-clio.com>.
The following selections are excerpts from late medieval correspondence concerning university life. While attending a university, some students wrote to their parents to ask for money, clothes, supplies, or to simply describe their situation at school. Other examples show parents scolding students for unruly or lazy behavior, while some are letters of reassurance that what may have been a long and dangerous journey to school was conducted safely, or that the difficult transition to student life was going well.
Excerpts from Medieval Letters Regarding Student Life
:
"A
student's first song is a demand for money, and there will never be a letter
that does not ask for cash." (208-209)
"B.
to his venerable master A., greeting. This is to inform you that I am studying
at Oxford with the greatest diligence, but the matter of money stands greatly in
the way of my promotion, as it is now two months since I spent the last of what
you sent me. The city is expensive and makes many demands; I have to rent
lodgings, buy necessaries, and provide for many other things which I cannot now
specify. Therefore, I respectfully beg your paternity that by the promptings of
divine pity you may assist me, so that I may be able to complete what I have
well begun. For you must know that without Ceres and Bacchus, Apollo grows
cold." (210)
"To
his son G., residing at Orleans, P. of Besançon sends greeting with paternal
zeal. It is written, 'He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him
that is a great waster.' I have recently discovered that you live dissolutely
and slothfully, preferring license to restraint and play to work and strumming a
guitar while the others are at their studies, whence it happens that you have
read but one volume of law while your more industrious companions have read
several. Therefore, I have decided to exhort you to repent utterly of your
dissolute and careless ways, that you may no longer be called a waster and your
shame may be turned to good repute." (214)
"I
have learned—not from your master, although he ought not to hide such things
from me, but from a certain trustworthy source—that you do not study in your
room or act in the schools as a good student should, but play and wander about,
disobedient to your master and indulging in sport and in certain other
dishonorable practices which I do not now care to explain by letter." (214)
"After my departure from your gracious presence, the circumstances of my journey
continued to improve until by divine assistance I arrived safely in the city of
Brunn, where I have had the good fortune to obtain lodgings with a certain
citizen who has two boys in school and provides me with food and clothing in
sufficient amount. I have also found here an upright and worthy master, of
distinguished reputation and varied attainments, who imparts instruction
faithfully; all my fellow pupils, too, are modest, courteous, and of good
character, cherishing no hatred but giving mutual assistance in the acquirement
of knowledge and in honor preferring one another." (215)
"To
their dear and respected parents M. Martre, knight, and M. his wife, M. and S.
their sons send greeting and filial obedience.This is to inform you that, by
divine mercy, we are living in good health in the city of Orleans and are
devoting ourselves wholly to study, mindful of the words of Cato, 'To know
anything is praiseworthy.' We occupy a good dwelling, next door but one to the
schools and marketplace, so that we can go to school every day without wetting
our feet. We have also good companions in the house with us, well advanced in
their studies and of excellent habits—an advantage which we well appreciate, for
as the Psalmist says, 'With an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.'"
(215)
Source: Haskins, Charles H., trans. "The Life of Medieval Students as
Illustrated by their Letters." The American
Historical Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (January 1898): 203–229.