This is part of the Medieval European History Metanode.
Universities and scholasticism were among the developments of Medieval Europe. Prior to 1050 CE, schools were in monasteries and cathedrals. The monastery schools were predominate initially; they were founded beginning with the Renaissance of the Carolingian Dynasty, but it was the cathedral schools that grew into universities in the High Middle Ages.
It was the influence of Islamic scholarship that created a renewed interest in scholasticism. The Crusades and the re-conquering of Spain brought Europeans into contact with Moslems, who had preserved Greek and Roman math, science, and medicine. The Moslems brought Aristotle to the West in the 12th century, and Gerard of Cormona translated many Arabic texts into Latin. These were added to the core curriculum of the monastery and cathedral schools.
An increased demand for educated clergy and administrators led to the invention of the universities. The oldest four universities are:
The University of Salerno, which offered a degree in medicine by 1050;
The University of Bologna, which was the first to offer a degree in Roman law;
The University of Paris, which was the first to offer all four degrees - arts, theology, medicine, and law; and
The University of Oxford, founded in 1167.
These first universities offered a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and Doctorate degrees. To get a BA, students had to complete four years of trivuum: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. The MA required studies in the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The MA degree allowed one to teach. Doctorate degrees were available only in theology, medicine, and law.
The organization of the Italian schools was geared toward the students. There were student guilds to prevent teachers and townspeople from exploiting students; the guild had the power to move the university if students were mistreated. In the Northern schools, the Masters' guilds were in control. There were four faculties in the Northern schools, each under a Dean: arts, canon law, medicine, and theology.
The idea of colleges was created by Robert Sorbonne at the University of Paris. It was a way to combat the high cost of housing and food and a way to control the students, who were prone to run wild in the streets (Medieval boys will be Medieval boys). Each college was housed in a single building, complete with classrooms, a dining room, and living space for students and faculty. The colleges were also responsible for granting degrees. Eventually, the nobility would grant endowments to individual colleges, which would be named after them. Both the students and the faculty were primarily attached to their college; the university was there only for administration. |
