Life in the Medieval University | Page 4

In Spain great schools grew up at
Palencia, Salamanca, and Valladolid; in France at Montpellier, Orleans,
Angers, and Toulouse, and at Lyons and Reims. The impulse given by
Bologna and Paris was thus leading to the foundation of new Studia or
the development of old ones, for there were schools of repute at many
of the places we have mentioned before the period with which we are
now dealing (c. 1170-1250). It was inevitable that there should be a
rivalry among these numerous schools, a rivalry which was accentuated
as small and insignificant Studia came to claim for themselves equality
of status with their older and greater contemporaries. Thus, in the latter
half of the thirteenth century, there arose a necessity for a definition
and a restriction of the term Studium Generale. The desirability of a
definition was enhanced by the practice of granting to ecclesiastics
dispensations from residence in their benefices for purposes of study; to
prevent abuses it was essential that such permission should be limited
to a number of (p. 008) recognised Studia Generalia.
The difficulty of enforcing such a definition throughout almost the
whole of Europe might seem likely to be great, but in point of fact it
was inconsiderable. In the first half of the thirteenth century, the term
Studium Generale was assuming recognised significance; a school
which aspired to the name must not be restricted to natives of a
particular town or country, it must have a number of masters, and it
must teach not only the Seven Liberal Arts (of which we shall have to
speak later), but also one or more of the higher studies of Theology,
Law and Medicine (cf. Rashdall, vol. i. p. 9). But the title might still be
adopted at will by ambitious schools, and the intervention of the great
potentates of Europe was required to provide a mechanism for the
differentiation of General from Particular Studia. Already, in the
twelfth century, an Emperor and a Pope had given special privileges to
students at Bologna and other Lombard towns, and a King of France
had conferred privileges upon the scholars of Paris. In 1224 the
Studium Generale of Naples was founded by the Emperor Frederick II.,
and in 1231 he gave a great privilege to the School of Medicine at
Salerno, a Studium which was much more ancient than Bologna, but
which existed solely for the study of Medicine and exerted no influence

upon the (p. 009) growth of the European universities. Pope Gregory
IX. founded the Studium at Toulouse some fifteen years before
Innocent IV. established the Studium of the Roman Court. In 1254
Alfonso the Wise of Castile founded the Studium Generale of
Salamanca. Thus it became usual for a school which claimed the status
of a Studium Generale to possess the authority of Pope or Emperor or
King.
A distinction gradually arose between a Studium Generale under the
authority of a Pope or an Emperor and one which was founded by a
King or a City Republic, and which was known as a Studium Generale
respectu regni. The distinction was founded upon the power of the
Emperor or the Pope to grant the jus ubique docendi. This privilege,
which could be conferred by no lesser potentate, gave a master in one
Studium Generale the right of teaching in any other; it was more
valuable in theory than in practice, but it was held in such esteem that
in 1292 Bologna and Paris accepted the privilege from Pope Nicholas
IV. Some of the Studia which we have mentioned as existing in the first
half of the thirteenth century--Modena in Italy, and Lyons and Reims in
France--never obtained this privilege, and as their organisation and
their importance did not justify their inclusion among Studia Generalia,
they never took rank among the universities of Europe. The status of
Bologna and of Paris was, of course, (p. 010) universally recognised
before and apart from the Bulls of Nicholas IV.; Padua did not accept a
Papal grant until 1346 and then merely as a confirmation, not a creation,
of its privileges as a Studium Generale; Oxford never received, though
it twice asked for, a declaratory or confirmatory Bull, and based its
claim upon immemorial custom and its own great position. Cambridge,
which in the thirteenth century was a much less important seat of
learning than Oxford, was formally recognised as a Studium Generale
by Pope John XXII. in 1318; but its claim to the title had long been
admitted, at all events within the realm of England. After 1318
Cambridge could grant the licentia ubique docendi, which Oxford did
not formally confer, although Oxford men, as the graduates of a
Studium Generale, certainly possessed the privilege.
Long before the definition of a Studium Generale as a school

possessing, by the gift of