r.A7i7/A'.s7///--.v, 



defending with ardour, but 'at the same time with impartiality, the am -it 'in 

 privileges of the University of Paris, had proved, ill concert with Loisel the 

 advocate nnd Andre Duchesne the historian, iliat tlicv glorious traditions had 

 no real foundation. It must be said, v however, that such distinguished savants 

 as Du Cangc, Mabillon, and G'revier did their best to revive the legendary 

 origin of the University; but, all questions of patriotism apart, it became 

 clear that the academic or scholastic establishments of Charlemagne; like 



Fig. 1.- Grand Initial, design? d by pen (end of Fifteenth Century), representing Typea of 

 Students, in one of the Manuscript Registers of the German Nation. 



University Archives. 



many other creations of his universal genius, did not survive the indomitable 

 will of their founder, and that the famous schools of Paris came into exist- 

 ence and developed themselves under the immediate influence of the Church. 

 The etymology of the word itiurrrsifi/ must be sought in the Latin word 

 Hi'iri'rxifiis, which, in the Middle Ages, signified a reunion or category of 

 persons. Thus, in the acts and ordinances published in the name of the 

 schools of Paris, the form generally employed was, "Noverit universitas 



