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.