The development of medieval cities, as well as other changes that took place in the life of society, was always accompanied by changes in education. If during the early Middle Ages it was received mainly in monasteries, later schools began to open in which law, philosophy, medicine were studied, students read the works of many Arabic and Greek authors, etc.
History of occurrence
The word "university" in Latin means "collection", or "association". I must say that today, as in the old days, it has not lost its significance. Medieval universities and schools were communities of teachers and students. They were organized for one purpose: to give and receive education. Medieval universities lived by certain rules. Only they could award academic degrees, gave graduates the right to teach. This was the case throughout Christian Europe. Medieval universities received a similar right from those who founded them - popes, emperors or kings, that is, those who at that time possessedsupreme authority. The foundation of such educational institutions is attributed to the most famous monarchs. It is believed, for example, that Oxford University was founded by Alfred the Great, and Paris University by Charlemagne.
How the medieval university was organized
At the head was usually the rector. His position was elective. Just as in our time, medieval universities were divided into faculties. Each was headed by a dean. After listening to a certain number of courses, students became bachelors, and then masters and received the right to teach. At the same time, they could continue their education, but already at one of the faculties considered “highest” in the speci alties of medicine, law or theology.
The way the medieval university was organized is practically no different from the modern way of getting an education. They were open to everyone. And although children from rich families predominated among the students, there were also many people from the poor class. True, many years passed from the moment of entering medieval universities to receiving the highest degree of a doctor, and therefore very few went through this path to the end, but the academic degree provided the lucky ones with both honor and opportunities for a quick career.
Students
Many young people in search of the best teachers moved from one city to another and even went to a neighboring European country. I must say that ignorance of languages did not bother them at all. European medieval universities taught inLatin, which was considered the language of science and the church. Many students sometimes led the life of a wanderer, and therefore received the nickname "vaganta" - "wandering". Among them were excellent poets, whose works still arouse great interest among contemporaries.
The students' daily routine was simple: lectures in the mornings, and repetition of the studied material in the evenings. Along with the constant training of memory in the universities of the Middle Ages, great attention was paid to the ability to argue. This skill was practiced during daily disputes.
Student life
However, the life of those who had the good fortune to enter medieval universities was not only made up of classes. There was time for both solemn ceremonies and noisy feasts. The students of that time were very fond of their educational institutions, here they spent the best years of their lives, gaining knowledge and finding protection from strangers. They called them "alma mater".
Students usually gathered in small groups according to nations or communities, bringing together students from a wide variety of regions. Together they could rent an apartment, although many lived in colleges - colleges. The latter, as a rule, were also formed according to nationalities: representatives from one community gathered in each.
University science in Europe
Scholasticism began its formation in the eleventh century. Its most important feature was considered to be boundless belief in the power of reason in the knowledge of the world. However, over timetime in the Middle Ages, university science became a dogma, the provisions of which were considered final and infallible. In the 14-15 centuries. scholasticism, which used only logic and completely denied any experiment, began to turn into an obvious brake on the development of natural scientific thought in Western Europe. Almost completely the formation of medieval universities was then in the hands of the monks of the Franciscan and Dominican orders. The educational system of that time had a rather strong influence on the evolution of the formation of Western European civilization.
Only centuries later, the medieval universities of Western Europe began to contribute to the growth of public consciousness, the progress of scientific thought and individual freedom.
Legality
To qualify as an educational institution, an institution had to have a papal bull approving its establishment. By such a decree, the pontiff removed the institution from the control of secular or local church authorities, legitimizing the existence of this university. The rights of the educational institution were also confirmed by the privileges received. These were special documents signed either by popes or by roy alty. Privileges secured the autonomy of this educational institution - a form of government, permission to have its own court, as well as the right to grant academic degrees and exempt students from military service. Thus, medieval universities became a completely independent organization. Professors, students and employees of an educational institution, in a word, allthey were no longer subordinate to the city authorities, but exclusively to the elected rector and deans. And if the students committed some misconduct, then the leadership of this locality could only ask them to condemn or punish the guilty.
Alumni
Medieval universities made it possible to get a good education. Many well-known figures studied there. The graduates of these educational institutions were Pierre Abelard and Duns Scott, Peter of Lombard and William of Ockham, Thomas Aquinas and many others.
As a rule, a great career awaited those who graduated from such an institution. After all, on the one hand, medieval schools and universities were in active contact with the church, and on the other hand, along with the expansion of the administrative apparatus of various cities, the need for educated and literate people also increased. Many yesterday's students worked as notaries, prosecutors, scribes, judges or lawyers.
Structural unit
In the Middle Ages, there was no separation of higher and secondary education, so the structure of the medieval university included both senior and junior faculties. After 15-16-year-old young people were deeply taught Latin in elementary school, they were transferred to the preparatory level. Here they studied the "seven liberal arts" in two cycles. These were the "trivium" (grammar, as well as rhetoric and dialectics) and the "quadrium" (arithmetic, music, astronomy and geometry). But only after studying the course of philosophy, the student had the right to entersenior faculty in law, medicine, or theology.
Teaching principle
Today the traditions of medieval universities are used in modern universities. The curricula that have survived to this day were drawn up for a year, which in those days was divided not into two semesters, but into two unequal parts. The large ordinary period lasted from October to Easter, and the small one - until the end of June. The division of the academic year into semesters appeared only towards the end of the Middle Ages in some German universities.
There were three main forms of teaching. The lectio, or lectures, were the complete and systematic exposition, at fixed hours, of a particular academic subject according to a predetermined statute or charter of a given university. They were divided into ordinary, or mandatory, courses and extraordinary, or additional. Teachers were classified according to the same principle.
For example, obligatory lectures were usually scheduled for the morning hours - from dawn until nine in the morning. This time was considered more convenient and designed for the fresh forces of students. In turn, extraordinary lectures were read to the audience in the afternoon hours. They started at 6pm and ended at 10pm. The lesson lasted one or two hours.
Traditions of medieval universities
The main task of teachers of medieval universities was to compare different versions of texts and give the necessary explanations along the way. statutes for studentsit was forbidden to demand repetition of the material or even slow reading. They had to come to lectures with books, which were very expensive in those days, so the students rented them.
Already from the eighteenth century, universities began to accumulate manuscripts, copying them and creating their own sample texts. Audiences did not exist for a long time. The first medieval university in which professors began to arrange school premises - Bologna - already from the fourteenth century began to create public buildings to house lecture rooms in it.
Before that, students were grouped in one place. For example, in Paris it was the Avenue Foir, or Straw Street, called by this name because the listeners sat on the floor, on the straw at the feet of their teacher. Later, semblances of desks began to appear - long tables at which up to twenty people could fit. Pulpits began to be arranged on a dais.
Grading
After graduating from a medieval university, students passed the exam, which was taken by several masters from each nation. The dean supervised the examiners. The student had to prove that he had read all the recommended books and managed to participate in the amount of disputes required by the statutes. The commission was also interested in the behavior of the graduate. After the successful passage of these stages, the student was admitted to a public debate, in which he had to answer all the questions. As a result, he was awarded the first bachelor's degree. Two academic yearshad to assist a master's degree in order to qualify to teach. And six months later, he was also awarded a master's degree. The graduate was supposed to give a lecture, take an oath and have a feast.
This is interesting
The history of the oldest universities dates back to the twelfth century. It was then that such educational institutions as Bologna in Italy and Paris in France were born. In the thirteenth century, Oxford and Cambridge arose in England, Montpellier in Toulouse, and already in the fourteenth and fourteenth centuries the first universities appeared in the Czech Republic and Germany, Austria and Poland. Each educational institution had its own traditions and privileges. By the end of the fifteenth century, there were about a hundred universities in Europe, which were structured into three types, depending on from whom the teachers received their salaries. The first was in Bologna. Here, students themselves hired and paid for teachers. The second type of university was in Paris, where teachers were funded by the church. Oxford and Cambridge were supported by both the crown and the state. It must be said that it was this fact that helped them survive the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538 and the subsequent removal of the main English Catholic institutions.
All three types of structures had their own characteristics. For example, in Bologna, for example, students controlled almost everything, and this fact often gave teachers great inconvenience. In Paris it was the opposite. Precisely because the teachers were paid by the church, the main subject at this university was theology. But inBologna students chose more secular studies. Here the main subject was the law.
