University of Paris (Plenary 4/8/16)

Definition: “Universitas” is the Latin name for union. After the chancellor in Paris refused to help the teachers (masters) and students after a skirmish in the streets, the masters and students joined together as a guild with common interests and declared themselves The University of the Masters and Students of Paris (The Sorbonne in the Middle Ages”). In addition to the unity that this name provided, this union wanted to control who attended and who taught at Paris to preserve the reputation of the group (Nelson). Theology, liberal arts, medicine, and canon law were all taught beginning in the 1200s.

Importance: If universities like Paris, Oxford, and Bologna were not established, odds are that all of us would not be sitting in the same room in Baltimore, Maryland every Tuesday and Thursday. By the end of the Middle Ages, there were over 20,000 students in Paris and the only person who had more books than Paris was the pope. The culture of the university also changed the urban organization of Paris. What is now known as the Latin Quarter of Paris was named for the language that the inhabitants spoke—the intellectual language of Latin.

source: Ellie Mallory