Asher Sisneros

Medieval universities developed during the 12th-century Renaissance. The specific origins of many of the universities are vague, at best. A lot of them evolved from the cathedral schools Charlemagne developed during the Carolingian Renaissance and monastic schools. During the 8th and 9th centuries, there was a tremendous need for clergy. As zealous as some aspiring clergymen were, they were not well-versed in canon law, logic, and rhetoric. The cathedral and monastic schools educated the students in those topics, equipping them to become ordained ministers. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the cathedral and monastic schools slowly bred medieval universities which taught a wider array of subjects. Other universities evolved naturally as student bodies hired professors. However, while the specifics of who started which school and when are obscurely lost in history, modern historians have a vast understanding of how the universities structured themselves. 

The University of Bologna, University of Paris, and Cambridge represent the three university structures that existed during the Middle Ages. The University of Bologna was a student-run institution. Professors were hired by students who could penalize them. Penalization often occurred when teachers had taught insufficiently. It was especially prominent for students pursuing careers in law. If a professor’s teaching was insufficient, the students could graduate without the necessary skills to practice law. For that reason, the University of Bologna was student-funded and student-run. However, not all medieval universities were structured like that. The University of Paris was church-funded, and students could not penalize or expel professors. As a church-funded institution, the University of Paris became a major theological university known for the number of philosophers and clergymen who once attended the university. Finally, Cambridge and Oxford represent the third university type, which was state-funded. One might suspect that because many of the universities developed from cathedral schools, all of them would be church-funded. However, as one can see, there was a wide variety of university funding structures that existed during the Middle Ages. They ranged from being student, church, and state-funded. 

It was common for universities to obtain papal charters because popes exercised authority over all Christendom. By being chartered by a pope, the universities established themselves as a respected institution whose degrees were acknowledged by other intellectuals. German emperors also chartered universities, occasionally. The emperors were seen as God’s elected civil rulers. Similarly, the popes were seen as God’s elected rulers over the Church. Local monarchs could charter universities, but it wasn’t ensured that their degrees would be accepted across Christendom. Universities chartered by local monarchs were only respected within the monarch’s kingdom. By receiving an imperial or papal charter, the university ensured their degrees were universally respected. Moreover, graduate students retained the right to teach at any university they wanted. So long as someone had a master’s degree, they could teach at any university in the West without question. The right to teach was certainly an interesting phenomenon in medieval universities, and it was only possible because of papal and imperial charters. 

Medieval universities taught their students seven liberal arts that were divided into two groups. It was a practice developed by the cathedral schools, but the universities did not disregard it. The trivium was the first group of the seven liberal arts. It consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. However, while modern universities might study literature to understand grammar, logic, and rhetoric, medieval universities focused on philosophy. Aristotle’s philosophy was particularly what captivated the West. The quadrivium was the second group of the seven liberal arts, and it included geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music. The seven liberal arts were divided into trivium and quadrivium so students could study subjects that complement each other. 

It was common for students to retain immunity from civil law and civil prosecution. By and large, the students were young. It was not uncommon for people to enter university at fourteen years of age. Some were older, but the majority of medieval university students were teenagers or young adults. As such, they developed reputations for being debaucherous. The localities surrounding universities loved the money students brought. However, they despised the students themselves. It was not uncommon for undergraduate students to get drunk, hire prostitutes, steal, or even kill. Not all of the students were debaucherous, but those with poor character tainted the reputation of all university students. In time, towns around universities developed resentment for the crime that accompanied students. Some citizens openly retaliated by declaring personal vengeance on the student body without trial. When students were taken to trial, it was common for the judge/jury to be partial. To intervene with the injustice innocent students suffered on behalf of their unruly colleagues, churches gave university students immunity from civil law. If there was a case against a student, it was brought before a church’s ecclesiastical court, which was considered more impartial. 

In conclusion, the specific origins of each university that was developed between the 11th century and the 13th century can be obscure. However, many of them organically evolved from cathedral schools and monastic schools. There were three ways that universities were funded. Some were student-funded, some were church-funded, and others were state-funded. Unlike the schools in Ancient Greece or Classical Rome, there were physical degree certificates that medieval universities produced, and they were widely accepted if the school had an imperial or papal charter. Moreover, people with a master’s degree from a university that was chartered by a pope or emperor retained the right to teach anywhere. At university, the students studied the seven liberal arts. Those liberal arts were divided into two groups: the trivium and the quadrivium. The trivium consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Students also received immunity from civil courts to mitigate partiality in cases against debaucherous students. Instead, those cases were brought before ecclesiastical courts. All of that should provide one with an elementary understanding of how medieval universities functioned.