EQ: What lasting influences did medieval cathedral schools and

monasteries have on higher education in the west?

Out of the Darkness…

Remember this?

Medieval Centers of Education in Europe

What do the maps suggest about roman values and the modern European identity?

The institution that we today call the University began to take shape in Bologna at the end of the eleventh century, when masters of Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic began to devote themselves to the law.

University of Bologna 1088.

University of Bologna

Anatomical theatre

The heart of the city marked by the two leaning towers, Asinelli and Garisenda.

The University of Bologna

Oxford University 1264

• Located along the upper Thames River in the town of Oxford, approximately 50 miles northwest of London

• Throughout the first half of the 13th century, the leading religious orders, most notably the Franciscans' and Dominicans established a strong educational presence in the town of Oxford, lecturing principally in churches and whichever spare buildings could be found

• Merton, Oxford's first residential college, was founded in 1264

Cambridge University 1231

• As had been the case at Oxford, tensions soon arose between Cambridge's rowdy students and the townspeople, who were known to take advantage of students by charging excessively for room and board.

• King Henry III granted special protection to Cambridge's students in 1231; he also required that any university students residing in the town be under the supervision of a university master.

• Throughout the medieval period, the curriculum for Cambridge students included the trivium and the quadrivium, which culminated in bachelor's and master's degrees.

Cambridge University

Kings College Cathedral at Cambridge

Sorbonne 1257 • Founded in Paris, France in 1257

• In its early years, the Sorbonne's purpose was the same as that of the cathedral schools: to train priests and abbots for higher ranks in the Catholic Church.

• received official sanction from Pope Alexander IV in 1259 and an endowment from wealthy benefactors

• expanded its subject matter to include law, medicine, and philosophy. At its peak in the Middle Ages, the university may have had as many as 20,000 students enrolled.

• Considered one of the most prestigious universities in medieval Europe (explains why Henry forbids Englishmen to study there…)

• Throughout the Middle Ages, the Sorbonne was at the center of French intellectual developments in philosophy, literature, and science.

• The students at universities like the Sorbonne were largely from the urban middle class and also less wealthy landowners

The “New” World

Harvard UniversityFounded in 1636

Cambridge Massachusetts

College of William and Mary 1693 Williamsburg, VA

YaleNew Haven, CTFounded 1701

EQ: What lasting influences did medieval cathedral schools and

monasteries have on higher education in the west?

So….