During the latter years of the first millenium, AD, intellectual activity was restricted to the protected confines of monasteries and cathedrals. The focus of activity was first and foremost on the preservation of Christian learning; namely, the study of the scriptures, theology, and canon law. Though education was primarily focused on meeting the needs of the church, some of the educated found positions in secular institutions.

Some centers of learning, especially monasteries, were also concerned to preserve the more secular texts of the the Greek and Roman past. Access to these materials and interest in their contents was facilitated by exposure to the Byzantine and to Arab traditions at many points around the Mediterranean.

European expansion, both military and commercial, after 1100 brought some stability and prosperity to cities throughout the Christian West. The growing prosperity was accompanied by an increasing need for learning of a more secular character. The study of Roman law, science, medicine, mathematics, and the philosophy of the ancient Greeks followed. Nonetheless, ecclesiastical authorities retained considerable control of the curriculum and of the faculty.

Already in the late 14th Century, ecclesiastical and temporal authorities recognized the growing demand for secular knowledge among more prosperous elements of the population. To meet that demand they organized the establishment of universities and contributed to the support of scholars who taught in them. University foundations were prompted not only by prestige associated with naming the university, but also by the growing needs of the bureaucratic and commercial elite for an educated posterity. Through the award (Stiftung) of privileges, the popes were able to exert a certain influence on academic instruction and appointments. In some cases (e.g., in Toulouse) the church also used the foundation of a university to secure Christian belief. Temporal authorities, monarchs and princes soon followed the example set by the church. Renewed religious impulses insured that theology remained central and vital to the curriculum.

As universities were established, scholars traveled in search of knowledge, students, and employment.  Prospering cities with major cathedrals and their respective scriptoria (place where manuscripts could be stored and copied) constituted natural centers for scholarly activity.  Moreover, well to do residents of cities could afford the education which made it possible to achieve high office and include themselves among the new urban elite.

During the Reformation both Protestant and Catholic authories wished to retain control of universities and to insure that the curriculum and faculty reflected their particular persuasion. The first half of 16th century marks the end of the "Golden Age" of wandering scholars as institutions stabilized and scholarly mobility was less relevant. This period also witnessed the rise of universities with a distinctly secular character. Padua, for example, was widely recognized as a center of medical study and its anatomists enjoyed considerable prestige and popularity.

During the 17th and 18th Centuries there was dissatisfaction with the university system. To meet the new instructional needs, Jesuits founded 'colleges' throughout the Catholic world. At the same time, scholars, especially those who were interested in science, were attracted to the new Academies (see module on this site devoted to Academies) founded the royal and aristocratic patronage.

A series of wars in the late 17th and early 18th centuries greatly restricted the mobility of scholars and students. In the late 17th century research was still prominent in academies, but as the neo-humanism movement gained strength it began to attract faculty back to the universities. An increase in commerce during late 17th century created a need for an educated merchant class, which created a renewed interest in the university and a shift in institution's aims.

In the 18th century foundations of universities were increasingly less dependent on religious factors. Secular motivations for research begin to return to the university during the early 18th century. In the late 18th century the Enlightenment movement gained popularity in Europe, making science and technology the leading sciences rather than religion. The foundations of two universities, Halle (1697) and Göttinger (1737) would prove significant with the revival of universities in the early 19th century.

 

The Catholic Church recognized the growing influence of university instruction on the educated and more prosperous elements of the population.  Through the award (Stiftung) of privileges, the popes were able to exert a certain influence on academic instruction and appointments. In some cases (e.g., in Toulouse) the Church also used the foundation of a university to secure the Christian belief. 

 

Imperial privileges were only occasionally the basis for the foundation of a university.  For some emperors, the foundation of a university was motivated by the need to compete with papal influence especially in northern Italy. Moreover, the universities also served as a structure for training jurists who could enter the imperial service.

 

There was a special situation in the kingdoms of Castile and Leon in connection with the Reconquista. To facilitate the development to develop a new cultural identity among their new subjects, the kings took the lead to establish universities that would promote new Christian order.  At the same time, they served as a symbol of the special royal position of power at the frontier of the “Christian Occident.”

 

Regional powers hoped for increased activity in their domains by promoting urban universities. The incentive for doing so was based on the perception that well-educated personnel could serve the interests of court and economy, and moreover enhance the perceived political power of the founder/ruler. Some of the latter (for example, bishops) were dependent on the consent of one of the two highest authorities in the Middle Ages (Emperor or Pope), and needed their financial support, or were not willing to forgo it for other reasons (for example, the support of a theological faculty).

 

“A large number of these “unofficial foundations” arose following disputes among professors whereby a dissident group seceded from the older university (for example, Angers and Orleans out of secessions from Paris). In northern Italy the power struggles among the powerful city-states were primarily responsible for such secessions. The prestige associated with universities was considerable, hence communities and potentates competed with one another to attract the most prestigious professors to enhance the reputation of the institutions they supported.

 

Before the foundation of universities, scholars traveled in search of knowledge, students, and employment.  The cities constituted a center of interest as commercial centers that usually had large churches with their respective scriptoria (collection of manuscripts).  Moreover, well to do residents of cities could afford the education which made it possible to achieve high office and included themselves in a self evident way as members of the community of cities, universitas civium. 

 

The prospect of cultural influence and trained staff makes the authorities pay attention to universities.  On the Iberian Peninsula the kings also want to demonstrate their reclaimed power over Islam.  In Italy the Pope, Emperor, and city aristocracies expanded and firmed up their sphere of influence through the promotion of universities.

 

The growth of cities in Europe allowed for further formation of universities through ecclesiastical and secular lords.  However, more and more universities were financially dependent on their worldly patrons or ecclesiastical benefactors.  The earlier privileges and independence of the universities were increasingly restricted.  The first centers of study were abandoned or destroyed in the wars.

 

At the latest and since the disruptions caused by the reformation, universities increasingly became symbols of royal power and territorial expansion.  Denominational conflicts or violent confrontations (e.g. the Revolt of the Hussites) were punished by withdrawal of benefactions and protection. The European universities lost much of their prestige and the growing strength of humanism had a decisive affect on instruction.  With the end of the 15th century, the long decline of the medieval university had begun.

 

The many new foundations after 1450 reflect secular and religious interest in the pre-modern university as preparatory institution both for clerics and for the elite class.

 

During this period some French universities under the Paris model integrated the disciplines of medicine, anatomy and surgery. Religion and theological considerations had until this time denied these disciplines full and equal status at chartered universities. Despite this increased interest in medicine, theology remains the leading science for societies of this time.

 

As the focus of the universities was increasingly removed from the funding of research and publication, despite the inclusion of more secular disciplines, scientists began their exodus from universities to the better funded academies. The study of Roman law begins to emerge as new leading science.

 

Divisions between Catholic and Protestant during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation had a profound effect on the direction of curriculum and on the foundation of new universities. Proximity of opposing religious institution greatly influences placement of new universities.

 

The formal study of Roman law introduced in paris.

 

Smaller universities find it more difficult to attract faculty due to limited funds for research, publication and salaries.

 

The rate of new foundations peaked in the early 17th century and levelled off into the 18th century. Even then universities are densely distributed over the European landscape with the heaviest concentration along the axis northwest to southeast extending across Great Britain, Eastern France and the Rhineland into Northern Italy. This axis correspondes closely to a similar distribution of commercial and industrial activity. The distribution of academies is concentrated also along this same axis.