Fig. 9.-The temple of wisdom.

An allegorical representation of the medieval course of study reproduced from the Margarita Philosophica of Gregorius Reisch, Freiburg, 1504. Donatus (elementary grammar) on the first floor; Priscian (advanced grammar) on second; Aristotle (logic), Cicero (rhetoric), and Boethius (arithmetic) on the third; Pythagoras (music), Euclid (geometry), and Ptolemy (astronomy) on the fourth; Pliny (natural history) and Seneca (ethics) on the fifth; and Peter the Lombard (theology) on top.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Graves, During the Transition (Macmillan, 1910), chap. VI; Monroe, Text-book (Macmillan, 1905), pp. 292-313. For a good account of all The Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages (Hodder, London, 1881), see the work of Townsend, W. J.; for the beginnings of scholasticism, Mullinger, J. B., The University of Cambridge (Longmans, Green, 1888), vol. I, pp. 47–64; for the life and influence of Abelard, Compayré, G., Abelard (Scribner, 1893), chap. I; McCabe, J., Abelard (Putnam, 1901); and Rashdall, H., The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1895), vol. I, chap. 11.

CHAPTER IX

THE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

OUTLINE

Universities began to spring up toward the close of the Middle Ages. Through local conditions, a course in medicine arose at Salerno; in civil and canon law at Bologna; and in theology at Paris. Bologna became the pattern for numerous universities in the South; and Paris for many in the North.

Popes and sovereigns granted privileges by charter to the various universities. The term 'university' originally signified a 'corporation' of students and teachers, and the students were usually grouped according to 'nations.' The teaching body was divided into four or five 'faculties.'

The course in arts included the seven liberal arts and portions of Aristotle; in civil and canon law, the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian and the Decree of Gratian respectively; in medicine, the treatises of Greek and other medical writers; and in theology, mostly the Sententia of Peter the Lombard. The texts were read and explained by the lecturers, and a practical training in debate was furnished.

While the courses and methods were narrow and formal, the mediæval university contained the germ of modern inquiry and did much to foster independence of thought and action.

The Rise of Universities.-A most important effect upon subsequent education came through the foundation of the medieval universities. These institutions grew out of the old cathedral and monastic schools, but found their models largely in the liberal and pro

fessional courses of the Moorish colleges. In general,

product of all

in the Middle

they came into existence through the many broadening In general a influences of the later Middle Ages. Their rise was in- that was best timately connected with the stimulus of the Moslem Ages. presentation of Greek philosophy and science, with the interest in dialectic and theological discussions, which led to the development of scholasticism, with the reaction from 'otherworldliness' resulting from the ideals of chivalry, and with the growth of cities and wealth, and the consequent emphasis upon secular interests and knowledge (see chap. xi). However, while they were all more or less the product of the same factors, no two sprang from exactly the same set of causes, and special conditions played a part in the evolution of each university.

medical school

The Foundation of Universities at Salerno, Bologna, and Paris.-The oldest of these institutions, that at Salerno, near Naples, was simply a school of medicine, and originated through the survival of the old Greek Causes of the medical works in Southwestern Italy, and through the at Salerno. attraction of the mineral springs and salubrity of this particular place. By the middle of the eleventh century Salerno was well known as the leading place for medical study. It was, however, never chartered as a regular university, although in 1231 Frederick II recognized it as the school of medicine for the university he had created at Naples some seven years earlier.

On the other hand, Northern Italy became known as a center for the study of Roman law. The cities here, in order to defend their independence, were led to study this Origin of the subject, and endeavored to find some special charter, Bologna

grant, or edict from the old Roman emperors upon which to base their claims. Several northern centers were

courses at