UNIVERSITIES
1. Now, just as the tide flows and ebbs, so in England did interest in
learning rise and fall during the Middle Ages. Schools of all kinds had
their good times and their bad times. Sometimes we find the thirst for
learning being shown in one direction; then it almost died away for a
time; revived again, and took another direction.
2. At first we see it going in the direction of making monks and
priests and missionaries; then in making able men who could take part
in the civil business of the manor, the town, and the country; and
then, in the thirteenth century, it began again to take a turn towards
learning for learning's sake.
3. As we get near to the thirteenth century, we find the beginnings of
our English =universities=. A university was a corporation or body of
learned men who bound themselves together to teach, and who got the
sole right of appointing teachers in their districts. A man could only
have leave to teach after his knowledge and ability had been well tried
by them; and when that leave was given he was said to take his =degree=.
4. The opportunity of getting wider knowledge and higher teaching
attracted scholars, lads and young men who had had their early teaching
in the small college and grammar-schools. They were encouraged and in
many ways helped to go to the university. Gifts were left to their old
schools to help the likely boys to go to the university; many of the
monasteries and colleges sent their pupils there, and it was looked
upon as a pious work and a work of mercy to help poor scholars in this
way.
5. Scholars flocked in hundreds to various universities, and we find
Oxford and Cambridge rising as university towns. We cannot say exactly
when this began, but we read that in King John's reign, in the year
1209, there was a great "town and gown" riot at Oxford. Three of
the gownsmen were hanged as a punishment; so about 3000 of the rest
left Oxford and went to other universities, and Oxford was deserted
for a time. These facts show that by the beginning of the thirteenth
century, just when the Early English style of architecture was coming
into fashion, universities, with their "higher education", were very
important.
[Illustration: Photo. Taunt & Co., Oxford
CLOISTER QUADRANGLE, MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD (page 136)]
6. At first it seems that the scholars at the university lived in the
town, where they chose or where they could, attending the various
lecture-halls. Then various people seem to have hit upon the plan of
setting up houses in the town, and letting the rooms to the scholars,
so that a number of them might live together. Thus they were divided up
into different sets. These houses were called =hostels=, and we find
them at Cambridge in the beginning of the thirteenth century.
7. Early, too, in this same century a new religious order found
its way to England--the =Friars=. The Dominican Friars were a very
learned teaching order, and when they settled at Oxford they greatly
strengthened the work of the university and kept it alive and active.
8. A Surrey man, Walter de Merton, Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester,
was the inventor or founder of =colleges= at the universities as we
know them to-day. In the hostels the scholars did pretty much as they
pleased, chose their own officers, and made their own rules. There
was much disorder after a while; many quarrels and fights took place
between one hostel and another, as well as with the townsfolk. Merton
spent twelve years in thinking out his plan, and at last, in the year
1264, he founded or established the first of the Oxford Colleges.
9. The old monasteries and colleges in the early times had been
founded to keep up a continual round of worship, work, and learning;
the special work of these new colleges was to promote learning and
fellowship. In many ways they were like the older convents; but the
work of education was the chief object of these new foundations, and we
find teachers and taught, governors and pupils, living under the same
roof, under rule and order.
10. Merton's idea was soon afterwards followed at Cambridge, where
Peterhouse College was opened in the year 1284. During this century,
too, we find a rival university springing up at Stamford; but, owing
to the opposition of Oxford and Cambridge, it was snuffed out,
though there are still standing some interesting buildings which were
connected with it. College after college, at both Oxford and Cambridge,
has been founded since then; each one has its own special laws and
government, which have been altered from time to time, and for many
centuries now they have been cities of colleges, unlike anything else
in the country.
11. Many old customs are kept up still at Oxford and Cambridge; the
scholars and officials of the colleges and universities go about in
their gowns, as they have done for centuries, and each university has
still rights and privileges in the government of the town which have
naturally come to it in the course of time. The town and the townsfolk
have their interests and government; so that there are two authorities,
side by side, responsible for law and order. The gown and the town
depend upon each other; and in days gone by they have, times without
number, misunderstood each other, and quarrelled, and fought.
12. In the reign of King Edward III Oxford was the most famous seat
of learning in Europe. Many of its students were foreigners, but, as
everyone could talk Latin as well as he could his native language, they
had no real difficulty in making themselves understood.
=Summary.=--Our _universities_ began about the thirteenth century.
A university is a corporation, or body of learned men banded
together to teach. Scholars were attracted to the universities
from the schools, and encouraged and helped to go to them.
_Hostels_ were gradually started for scholars in the university
town. The Dominican Friars were a great teaching order. Walter
de Merton was the founder of the first Oxford College; by that
means the teachers and taught lived together. The object of these
colleges was to promote learning. Stamford had a university for
a time. Many old customs are still observed in a university
city. Oxford in the reign of King Edward III was the most famous
university in Europe.