Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/877

Rh in Europe. Prior to the 13th century it had been famed for its classical learning; and Angers, which received its charter at the same time, also once enjoyed a like reputation, which, in a similar manner, it exchanged for that of a school for civilians and canonists. The roll of the university forwarded in 1378 to Clement VII. contains the names of 8 professors utriusque juris, 2 of civil and 2 of canon law, 72 licentiates, 284 bachelors of both the legal faculties, and 190 scholars. The university of Avignon was first recognized as a "studium generale" by Boniface VIII. in the year 1303, with power to grant degrees in jurisprudence, arts, and medicine. Its numbers declined somewhat during the residence of the popes, owing to the counter attractions of the "studium" attached to the curia; but after the return of the papal court to Rome it became one of the most frequented universities in France, and possessed at one time no less than seven colleges. The university of Cahors enjoyed the advantage of being regarded with especial favour by John XXII. In June 1332 he conferred upon it privileges identical with those already granted to the university of Toulouse. In the following October, again following the precedent established at Toulouse, he appointed the scholasticus of the cathedral chancellor of the university. In November of the same year a bull, couched in terms almost identical with those of the Magna Charta of Paris, assimilated the constitution of Cahors to that of the oldest university. The two schools in France which, down to the close of the 14th century, most closely resembled Paris were Orleans and Cahors. The civil immunities and privileges of the latter university were not, however, acquired until the year 1367, when Edward III. of England, in his capacity as duke of Aquitaine, not only exempted the scholars from the payment of all taxes and imposts, but bestowed upon them the peculiar privilege known as privilegiumfori. Cahors also received a licence for faculties of theology and medicine, but, like Orleans, it was chiefly known as a school of jurisprudence.It was as a "studium generale" in the same three faculties that Grenoble, in the year 1339, received its charter from Benedict XII. The university never attained to much importance, and its annals are for the most part involved in obscurity. At the commencement of the 16th century it had ceased altogether to exist, was reorganized by Francis of Bourbon in 1542, and in 1565 was united to the university of Valence. The university of Perpignan, founded, according to Denifle, in 1379 by Clement VII. (although tradition had previously ascribed its origin to Pedro IV. of Aragon), and that of Orange, founded in 1365 by Charles IV., were universities only by name and constitution, their names rarely appearing in contemporary chronicles, while their very existence becomes at times a matter for reasonable doubt.

To some of the earlier Spanish universities such as Palencia, founded about the year 1214 by Alfonso VIII.; Huesca, founded in 1354 by Pedro IV.; and Lerida, founded in 1300 by James II. the same description is applicable; and their insignificance is probably indicated by the fact that they entirely failed to attract foreign students. Valladolid, founded in 1346 by Pope Clement VI., attained, however, to some celebrity; and the foreign teachers and students frequenting the university became so numerous that in 1373 King Henry II. caused an enactment to be passed for securing to them the same privileges as those already accorded to the native element. But the total number of the students in 1403 was only 116, and grammar and logic, along with jurisprudence (which was the principal study), constituted the sole curriculum. Whatever reputation, indeed, was enjoyed by Spain for nearly five centuries after the commencement of the university era, centred mainly in Salamanca, to which Seville, in the south, stood in the relation of a kind of subsidiary school, having been founded in 1254 by Alfonso Wise, simply for the study of Latin and of the Semitic languages, especially Arabic. Salamanca was founded in 1243 by Ferdinand III. of Castile as a "studium generale" in the three faculties of jurisprudence, the arts, and medicine. Ferdinand extended his special protection to the students, granting them numerous privileges and immunities. Under his son Alfonso (above named) the university acquired a further development, and eventually included all the faculties save that of theology. But the main stress of its activity, as was the case with all the earlier Spanish universities, excepting only Palencia and Seville, until the commencement of the 15th century, was laid on the civil and the canon law. But, notwithstanding the favour with which Salamanca was regarded alike by the kings of Castile and by the Roman see, the provision for the payment of its professors was at first so inadequate and precarious that in 1298 they by common consent suspended their lectures, in consequence of their scanty remuneration. A permanent remedy for this difficulty was thereupon provided, by the appropriation of a certain portion of the ecclesiastical revenues of the diocese for the purpose of augmenting the professors salaries. The earliest of the numerous colleges founded at Salamanca was that of St Bartholomew, long noted for its ancient library and valuable collection of manuscripts, which now form part of the royal library in Madrid.

The one university possessed by Portugal had its seat in mediæval times alternately in Lisbon and in Coimbra, until, in the year 1537, it was permanently attached to the latter city. Its formal foundation took place in 1309, when it received from King Diniz a charter, the provisions of which were mainly taken from those of the charter given to Salamanca. In 1772 the university was entirely reconstituted.

Of the German universities, Prague, which existed as a "studium " in the 13th century, was the earliest, and was at first frequented mainly by students from Styria and Austria, countries at that time ruled by the king of Bohemia. On 26th January 1347, at the request of Charles IV., Pope Clement VI. promulgated a bull authorizing the foundation of a "studium generale" in all the faculties. In the following year Charles himself issued a charter for the foundation. This document, which, if original in character, would have been of much interest, has but few distinctive features of its own, its provisions being throughout adapted from those contained in the charters given by Frederick II. for the university of Naples and by Conrad for Salerno,—almost the only important feature of difference being that Charles bestows on the students of Prague all the civil privileges and immunities which were enjoyed by the teachers of Paris and Bologna. Charles had himself been a student in Paris, and the organization of his new foundation was modelled on that university, a like division into four "nations" (although with different names) constituting one of the most marked features of imitation. The numerous students—and none of the mediaeval universities attracted in their earlier history a larger concourse—were drawn from a gradually widening area, which at length included, not only all parts of Ger many, but also England, France, Lombardy, Hungary, and Poland. Contemporary writers, with the exaggeration characteristic of mediaeval credulity, even speak of thirty thousand students as present in the university at one time,—a statement for which Denifle proposes to substitute two thousand as a more probable estimate. It is certain, however, that Prague, prior to the foundation of Leipsic, was one of the most frequented centres of learning in Europe, and Paris suffered a considerable diminution in