756 



UNIVERSITIES. 



Montpellier. The school of Salerno (schola Saler- 

 nitana), at a later period, acquired celebrity, even 

 in foreign countries, by the dietetic rules published 

 under its name. At Bologna, the first instruction 

 in Roman law was given. Irnerius (Werner) taught 

 it here in (lie twelfth century with great applause. 

 To all these places many young men resorted. 

 The relations between the students and teachers, 

 and between the schools and the government, 

 were similar to those in Paris. The constitutions 

 which they had made for themselves were confirmed, 

 and their privileges even increased in the twelfth 

 century. At the same time when the teachers and 

 students constituted themselves into one body, the 

 division of students into nations originated. These 

 were associations of those who were natives of the 

 same nation. They had their separate heads (pro- 

 curatores), funds and regulations. This division 

 into nations is an essential feature in the original 

 constitutions of the oldest universities. The time 

 of its origin cannot be accurately settled. The 

 university of Paris, however, is the one in which 

 the division into nations is earliest mentioned in 

 diplomas and in historical works. In 1206, the 

 division into four nations bad become established. 

 These were the French (in which, also, the students 

 from Italy and Spain were included), the Picard, 

 the Norman and the English. The last compre- 

 hended also the Germans, and all students from the 

 north of Europe. At a later period, this nation 

 was called the German. This number, probably at 

 first merely accidental, was subsequently adopted 

 also in the German universities. In the Italian 

 universities, a similar division into nations took 

 place. Equally uncertain with the origin of this 

 division is also the origin of the distribution of aca- 

 demic honours, and the institution of distinct 

 faculties. Probably they also originated in Paris, 

 in the second half of the twelfth century. The 

 first public teachers (Abelard in Paris, Irnerius in 

 Bologna, and others) had received no invitation 

 nor permission to teach from any one. But, sub- 

 sequently, the state, as well as the members of the 

 university, were careful that only well-qualified 

 persons should lecture. Examinations were there- 

 fore established. He who was found qualified to 

 teach, received a formal permission to lecture pub- 

 licly, accompanied with certain symbols in the spirit 

 of the age. The first academical degree was that 

 of baccalaureus (see Bachelor") ; the second that of 

 licentiati. (See Licentiate.) If the licentiate af- 

 terwards received the cap of magister (for which a 

 certain sum was paid), he became a colleague of 

 his former teachers, and participated in all their 

 privileges. Such examinations and solemn distri- 

 butions of academic honours (promotiones) were 

 customary in Paris as early as the beginning of the 

 thirteenth century. The title of magister (master) 

 at Paris corresponded to that of doctor at Bologna. 

 These promotiones, with the previous examinations, 

 gave rise to the faculties. Thefacultas artium (the 

 faculty of the seven liberal arts, or what is now 

 called the philosophical faculty) existed long before. 

 As these sciences had been taught in Paris from a 

 very early period, the faculty qf arts had the pre- 

 cedence of the others, which, however, has been 

 subsequently denied to it. The other faculties 

 were, as they still are, those of theology, law and 

 medicine. The year 1259 is considered as the time 

 of the establishment of faculties. In this year, 

 the mendicant orders and secular clergy united, ! 

 and formed a sort of corporation of teachers of 



theology. In 12CO, the teachers of medicine 

 imitated them, as did those of the canon law ; and 

 the four nations, which remained in the posses-ion 

 of all their privileges, formed the faculty <>i 

 The faculties elected deans from among their num- 

 ber, who, with the procurators of the nation 

 presented the university. Among the public in- 

 stitutions which were established in the univei 

 in the thirteenth and the following century, were 

 the colleges (collegia), buildings in which students, 

 especially poor ones, might live together, under 

 superintendence, without paying for their lodging. 

 In some cases, they also received their board gratis, 

 or had still further allowances. The first and 

 distinguished of these colleges were at Paris ; but 

 here, as in other places, they degenerated by de- 

 grees, and did not remain the asylum of poor stu- 

 dents. In England, the colleges have acquired u 

 greater extent and importance in fact, there, the 

 whole university consists of a number of separate 

 colleges, in which the business of instruction is 

 mainly carried on. In German universities, some- 

 thing similar was introduced, namely, the bursar 

 (charitable establishments, in which students could 

 live for a very low rent). The name bursa was 

 also given to certain boarding-houses, established 

 by professors. Those who lived in such bursee were 

 called bursarii ; hence the German word Burscke. 

 The first teachers of the ancient universities were 

 not paid by government : they were supported en- 

 tirely by fees received from the students. A teacher 

 of high reputation could then acquire wealth, as 

 the number of students was generally very great. 

 At a later period, scholars sometimes received pre- 

 sents from the magistrates of a town, to induce 

 them to remain in it : at a still later period, a fixed 

 salary was given to them. In the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century, in most universities, the number 

 and salaries of the professors were increased ; but 

 they were now enjoined to deliver public lectures 

 gratis. In the Protestant German universities, 

 which advanced far beyond the Catholic, these 

 public lectures were, after a time, found insuffi- 

 cient, and more lectures were delivered privatim ; 

 that is, these were lectures for which fees were 

 received from students, so that a stronger spirit of 

 competition was excited among the teachers. These 

 lectures delivered privatim are, at present, far more 

 numerous and important than the public ones in 

 German universities. Before the invention of the 

 art of printing, in the fifteenth century, the profes- 

 sor dictated and the students wrote after him. Much 

 time was lost, and a course of lectures on a particu- 

 lar branch always lasted a long term. Manuals 

 became frequent after printing was in vented. What 

 has been said respecting the origin of the ancient 

 universities of France and Italy, is true also of those 

 of England Oxford, founded about 1200, and 

 Cambridge, about the same time. The disturbance 

 which took place in the university of Paris, as men- 

 tioned above, in 1229, was advantageous to the Eng- 

 lish universities. Several distinguished teachers of 

 Paris accepted the invitation of Henry III. of Eng- 

 land, and went to Oxford. The first universities 

 founded in Germany were those of Prague, 1348, 

 and Vienna, 1365, both after the model of that of 

 Paris : in both the division into four nations was 

 adopted. This circumstance caused the decline of 

 the former, and the foundation of a new one. The 

 emperor Charles IV. had divided the teachers and 

 students, when the university of Prague was found- 

 ed, into the Bohemian, Polish, Bavarian and Saxon 



