User:Bluap/History of the University of Cambridge

Background

Further information: Renaissance of the 12th century and Medieval university

The eleventh to thirteenth centuries were a period of prosperity for Europe. The climate was warm, agriculture was productive, and the population was growing rapidly. Wilderness was being cleared, villages were growing into towns, and the first mercantile guilds and corporations were being formed.

Following the Gregorian reform of the Catholic Church, there was a demand for well-educated clergy. To meet this demand, cathedral schools were established. Clusters of these schools in major cities caused a dissemination of knowledge that had previously been confined within monasteries. Meanwhile, the re-conquest of Spain gave Christian scholars access to the great Islamic libraries of Toledo and Cordoba. These libraries contained copies of works by classical philosophers such as Aristotle, that had previously been lost to the Christian world, along with commentaries on these works by Islamic scholars. Attempts to reconcile Latin translations of this newly rediscovered classical philosophy with medieval Catholic theology led to the development of scholasticism.

During this period, teachers were extremely mobile. Most teachers had no formal association with any institution, simply giving lectures where they perceived a demand, and charging by the lecture. Consequently, a teacher's personal reputation was extremely important, since a poorly received teacher would obtain little income. Gradually, guilds of scholars formed. At Bologna, a guild of students collectively hired teachers; at Paris, an guild of teachers provided collective bargaining with city authorities and the church. These guilds were the first universities, from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium ("the whole body of teachers and scholars").

The common medieval term for such institutions was a studium, meaning a school with formal facilities for advanced study. Gradually a distinction was drawn between a studium particular (a purely local institution), and a studium generale (a prestigious institution with an international reputation, and with faculties in at least two of the three senior disciplines of theology, law and medicine). In 1209, a school's status was purely a matter of reputation, and seven or eight European schools were generally regarded as studia generalia – Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Montpellier, Palencia, Reggio Emilia, Vicenza, and possibly Salerno. In the late thirteenth and forteenth centuries, once legal force was given to the term, instututions would be granted the status of studium generale by the emperor or pope.

Some of these studia were secular, but most were ecclesiastical bodies. The scholars and masters enjoyed the benefits of clergy: they were answerable to Church authorities, but enjoyed immunity from civil courts. Individual masters were still only loosely bound to a given institute, and frequently migrated (sometime en masse). However, the guild monopoly ensured that no master could teach in a city without belonging to the local universitas. Following the prejudices of the time, women were excluded: a state of affairs that would continue until the nineteenth century.

Foundation of the University

The foundation of the University of Cambridge is obscured by a lack of early documents, and by fabricated legends. The most probable account is that given by contemporary chronicler Roger of Wendover as follows: In 1209, two Oxford scholars were convicted of the death of a townswoman, and hanged by the town authorities, with the apparent consent of the king. In protest at the executions, the University of Oxford (which would normally have held juristiction over prosecuting the scholars) went into voluntary suspension. Many scholars, fearing the hostility of townsmen, migrated to other cities. Some followed the Oxford Chancellor to his home town of Cambridge; others fled to Paris, or to Reading. Five years later, the University of Oxford reformed itself, and many of the dispersed scholars returned. However, enough remained in Cambridge to provide the nucleus of the new university.

At this time, Cambridge was a prosperous county town. Commerce was strong: located at the edge of the Fens, the docks and warehouses on the River Cam were accessible to sea-going trading vessels, while a network of local and long-distance roads provided access as far as London. The several monsteries in the town would have been attractive to scholars, ???Nearby cathedral city of Ely??

Before the arrival of the scholars in the thirteenth century, Cambridge certainly had at least one school of grammer, and possibly occasional advanced study. However, there is no evidence of any systematic study of advanced topics, nor of any formal association of the masters – the traditional requirements of a studium generale.

The Medieval University

Medieval students typically arrived at the university aged fourteen or fifteen. The majority were either training to be clergy, or were the sons of small landowners: nobles felt no need for a university education. On arrival at university, the student was only expected to know how to read, write, and have limited (if any) knowledge of latin: all further education would be provided by the masters at the university. As schools spread around the country, arriving students were expected to have a better knowledge of Latin, and the average entrance age increased.

The early university offered two elementary courses: in grammar (i.e. Latin, probably intended to train future school-masters – the grammar course was disbanded in 1600), and in Liberal Arts. There were also advanced degrees in Theology, in Law, and in Medicine, which required the student to have already completed the masters course in Liberal Arts.

The degree in Liberal Arts was a seven-year course, leading to recognition of the candidate as a Master of Arts – someone who is qualified to teach the Liberal Arts course. (In fact, newly qualified masters of arts were required to teach as a regent master for two years.) The structure of the course dated to ancient time: three years studying the trivium of grammar (Latin), logic and rhetoric, leading to a Bachelor's degree, followed by four years studying the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Only a minority of students completed the course: most left with a Bachelor's degree after three years (in early times, this would have been at the age of eighteen).

At this time, books were hand-written, and therefore both rare and expensive. (Short commentaries on the texts were more common: if a student could not afford to buy a commentary, he would copy one for himself.) In all faculties, the primary instruction was by the means of lectures and disputations. Lectures fell into three categories: cursory lectures, a near-verbatim reading of the text, usually by a bachelor, with a minimum of commentary; ordinary lectures, where a regent master would paraphrase and discuss one of the prescribed texts; and extra-ordinary lectures, given occasionally on texts not deemed central to the syllabus. Great emphasis was placed on disputations, where one student (the respondent) would propound a theological or philosophical position, and defend it against any opponent who wished to challenge him. Each disputant would argue their position via extended logical syllogisms, citing authoritative texts to prove their position. At the end of the disputation, the determinor would summarise the arguments and determine the logical value of the arguments of respondent and opponent. Skill in these disputations was regarded as a sign of academic distinction, and ambitious students would take on the onorous task of a respondent defending a controversal position.

The degree in Liberal Arts was a seven-year course, leading to a Master of Arts. Only a minority of students completed it: most leaving with a Bachelor's degree after three years.

• • Structure dates back to ancient times, popular in France & Italy, used at Oxford
  • 3 years: trivium
  • 4 years: quadrivium

• Hostels / Colleges
  • Initially no buildings; rent from locals; high rent (due to increase in demand), intervention from King, Taxors
  • Hostels; Master rent house, sub-let to students etc
  • Colleges: initially small foundations of scholars, pray for souls of benefactors (similar to many medieval monasteries / abbies)
  • Hostels eventually bought by colleges, eventually no independent hostels - all students members of college
  • Types of people at college: (pay their own way)
  • [Choking of trade in town] - properties by river, owned by wealthy merchants, eventually donated to colleges, eventually colleges separated the town from the river, moving trade center to quayside [not sure if this section is needed]

• • Recreation
  • How students supported themselves
• Governing structure
  • Chancellor / Vice-chancellor / proctor / bedells
• The university took advance of its growing influence at court to establish its own authority, in a number of disputes against the nearby authorites of the town, monasteries and bishop of Ely

Plan

• Tudor
  • Introduction of printed texts
    • Effect on courses
    • Effect on type of learning (closer to original text)
    • Effect on religion
  • Early people: John Fisher, Erasmus
  • Religion
  • Henry VIII
  • Mary / Elizabeth religious stuff
  • Type of students
  • Reformed courses
  • Lecturing + Increasingly college teaching
  • Last hostels vanished as they were absorbed by the richer colleges
  • Town vs Gown (include effect on trade)

References

"University of Cambridge: A Brief History". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 7 March, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

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Bryan, Peter (1999). Cambridge: The Shaping of the City. Privately published.

Haslam, Jeremy (1982). "The Development and Topography of Saxon Cambridge". Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. 72: 13–29.

Leedham-Green, Elizabeth (1996). A Concise History of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43978-7.

Mitchell, J. B. (1965). "Cambridge: its origin and growth". In J. A. Steers (Ed.), The Cambridge Region: 1965, pp. 162–179. The British Association for the Advancement of Science. Printed at the University Printing House, Cambridge.

Royal Commision on the Historical Monuments of England (1959). An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge: Part I. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office. ISBN 0-11-300023-5.

Sager, Peter (2005) [2003: German]. Oxford & Cambridge: An Uncommon History. translated D.H. Wilson. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-51249-4.

Taylor, Alison (1999). Cambridge: A Hidden History. Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-1914-5.