User:Bluap/History of the University of Cambridge

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[edit] Background

Main article: Medieval university

The first universities in Western (i.e. Catholic) Europe were established in the late 11th and the 12th centuries. These universities evolved from much older instutions: the single-teacher cathedral schools established to train clergy following the Gregorian Reform of the Catholic Church; and monasteries, which had sustained intellectual study during the early middle ages.


  • Some were secular, but most were ecclesiastical bodies
  • Scholars as clergy
    • Immunity from civil courts
    • women very rare
    • No marriage
  • Migrations
  • Studium Particular
  • Studium Generale
  • Individual masters vs universities

Reference.[1]

[edit] Foundation of the University

The foundation of the University of Cambridge is obscured by a lack of early documents, and by fabricated legends.[2] The most probable account is that given by contempory chronicler Roger of Wendover[3] 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.[4]

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 vessels, while a network of local and long-distance roads provided access as far as London.[citation needed] ???Monasteries attractive to scholars???  ???Nearby cathedral city of Ely?? ???Home to Oxford chancellor???

Before the arrival of the scholares in the thirteenth century, Cambridge certainly had at least one school of grammer[5][citation needed], and possibly occasional advanced study.[citation needed] 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 status corresponding to the modern meaning of "university")??[citation needed]

[edit] The Medieval University

Medieval students typically arrived at the university aged fourteen or fifteen.[citation needed] The majority were either clergy, or the sons of small landowners: nobles felt no need for a university education.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Since students had the legal status of clergy, women were barred from entry by Canon Law.

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

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
    • Newly-qualified masters of arts were required to teach for two years.
  • Teaching method
    • Books rare, inherited, not even a BA would have own copy
    • Instead read by master
    • Commentaries
  • Disputations
  • Only once graduated as a Master of Arts could a student pass to the higher faculties: Law, Theology, Medicine.
    • 7 years
  • Chancellor / Vice-chancellor / proctor / bedells

[edit] Plan

  • Medieval University
    • Course structure
    • Type of Undergraduate
      • Fees, ?poor students?
    • Teaching method
    • Town vs gown
    • Hostels
    • Foundation of first colleges
      • Aims of colleges
      • Poor ?students?
  • Tudor
    • Introduction of printed texts
      • Effect on courses
      • Effect on type of learning (closer to original text)
      • Effect on religion
    • 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)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The majority of this section summarises information given the in article Medieval university.
  2. ^ Leedham-Green (1999), p. 1; VCH, p. 150; Sager (2005) p. 205. Many legends relating to the origins of the university were fabricated during fourteenth to seventeenth-century disputes on the relative seniority of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
  3. ^ Roger of Wendover is sometimes unreliable source (Leedham-Green 1999, p. 3) but his account is widely believed to be reasonably plausible. The troubles at Oxford are documented by other chroniclers (see VCH p. 151)
  4. ^ Leedham-Green 1999 pp. 3–4; VCH p. 151; Brief History (Early Records); Sager (2005) p. 205; RCHME p. xlv. The VCH and the RCHME cite the original account as Roger de Wendover Flores historiarum (Rolls. Ser., ed. H.G. Hewlett, 1887) ii. 51, 94. Other citations are given by the VCH as Cooper Annals i. 34, and Rashdall Univs. iii. 276–7.
  5. ^ Glomery Hall: for more details of which see ????

[edit] References

University of Cambridge: A Brief History. University of Cambridge. Retrieved on 7 March 2007.

??? VCH??

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 [2003: German] (2005). 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. 

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