The University as educational institution developed in western Europe starting in the 11th century and still exists in a remarkably similar form today.    Some have even directly linked the peculiarities of governance, structure, and privileges that are part of the University to specific scientific and intellectual advancement in the regions where they were present.

Some of the exceptional things about the way higher education works in modern times are indeed rigid traditions that have extended unbroken since the Middle Ages.  However, you’ll see that personalities and proclivities of students and professors today are much the same as they have been for the past thousand years, and there’s a reason the university system fits both groups so well.

In this class, we’ll look at the history of the university, the reasons it came to exist the way it did, and what still persists in education today.  We will discuss the background of students and teachers, their daily life, what they studied, and the rules under which they lived.  Many institutions in society had stakes in universities in service of their religious, economic, social, and political goals.  We’ll see how church, state, and monied interests shaped the universities and were shaped by them to further their own needs.

Header Image: Laurentius de Voltolina. 1350. Liber Ethicorum Des Henricus de Alemannia, Single Sheet. Scena: Henricus de Alemannia Con i Suoi Studenti. On  parchment. Kupferstichkabinett Berlin. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laurentius_de_Voltolina_001.jpg#mw-jump-to-license.

Image: “Statutenbuch.” 1537) 1562-1600 1477. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen. https://doi.org/10.20345/DIGITUE.22866.