For the next three weeks we'll be looking at high medieval religious culture
from three different perspectives: the perspective of the school/university,
the perspective of the courts of the nobility, and the perspective of the
well-established medieval city somewhat later (fourteenth c.). Since both
courtly and urban religious cultures were shaped in part by the theologians,
we begin there. The reading this week is heavy, as one might expect given
the subject, but I've thrown in some easy entertainment as well, in the
form of Peter Abelard's Story of My Calamities.
On Wednesday we turn to Anselm (d. 1109) and Abelard (d. 1142). Anselm
was active at a time when the locus of learning in the west was just shifting
from monastery to cathedral school and he is among the most important of
the early scholars. For a brief biographical sketch, click
here. The Proslogium contains Anselm's well known ontological
argument for the existence of God. As you read, concentrate less on the
philosophical problems and implications of his argument and more on the
spirituality and world view evident in the text. Try to get a sense of
Anselm's understanding of and relationship to God and to see how his embrace
of "philosophy" and learning is employed in the pursuit of God
(as we did with the song of St. Alexis or "Our Lady's Tumbler").
Peter Abelard was active at the moment when learning was literally bursting
out from the constraints of the cathedral schools and moving into the streets
of Paris and a handful of other cities. This was the moment leading up
to the rise of actual universities (which would not come into existence
for about half a century after Abelard's death and on which see Stephen
of Bourbon's critique above!). The excerpt from Peter Abelard's Sic
et Non is very very brief and is meant just to give you a taste of
his enterprise. It will not be difficult for you to see the contrast between
that and the work of Anselm a generation earlier. The Story of My Calamities will
give you a sense of the culture of the new schoolmen/theologians, though
please remember that it should not be read too literally. As the introduction
reminds us, it is written in the style of Augustine's Confessions (sort
of!) and we should keep Abelard's rhetorical purpose in mind when reading
the text. For a biographical sketch of Abelard, click
here.
Aquinas represents the assimilation of Aristotelian philosophy into Christian
learning, the synthesis between reason and revelation as ways of understanding
and reaching God. Aquinas made use of earlier Islamic and Jewish scholars
in his endeavor, frequently citing them by name in his works. For a biographical
sketch of Aquinas, click
here.
Finally, some brief comments on the rise of university culture in Europe:
The Rise of Universities in Newly Urbanized Europe
Edward Grant (The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages ) makes
the point that universities, perhaps the most enduring of all medieval institutions,
are also distinctively European,. The cathedral schools of newly urbanized
Europe in the twelfth century created an enthusiasm for learning which eventually
seemed to require a more formal and consistent management. Universities were
modeled after the guilds which regulated business and trade in medieval cities
and created a structure within which intellectual culture could thrive. They
provided a way of establishing and regulating curriculum as well as ensuring
that only qualified individuals were out teaching in public. The structure
of the university encouraged systematic treatment of the new knowledge pouring
into Europe and controlled the way in which readers could/would encounter
this material.
The Course of Study in Medieval Universities
Paris, the prototypical northern European university, emerged out of an
earlier cathedral school, enhanced by its location in an important center
of trade in a city protected by the presence of the royal house of France.
In southern Europe, universities had emerged earlier, alongside cathedral
schools as centers for advanced, specialized study. The university at Bologna,
for example, originally served as a school of law in the late eleventh century.
By the mid-thirteenth century, though, it had adjusted its curriculum to
include the arts and theology and looked more like Paris and other universities
beginning to dot the landscape. While the overall structure of most universities
was similar, each had its own unique character and educational focus. Throughout
the thirteenth century and well into the fourteenth, Paris was the undisputed
seat of arts and theological study while Montpellier and Salerno were strong
in medicine and Bologna in law.
Most students went to university around fourteen or fifteen years of age,
and they entered the faculty of arts. (Students were expected to have mastered
the basics of grammar and rhetoric before arriving, at grammar school.) When
they arrived, they embarked on a four year undergraduate program of advanced
study in the trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. The student attended
readings (lectures) of texts on these subjects (as well as a bit of introductory
Aristotle) and listened to advanced students and masters engage in disputations
(highly structured "sic et non" type discussions) on specific questions.
At the end of this period, the student was examined and, if successful, was
admitted to become a bachelor. He continued (and yes, he was always a he,
though women could and sometimes did attend lectures informally) to attend
readings and disputations but now began to study more of Aristotle's natural
philosophy and metaphysics as well as texts on the quadrivium (arithmetic,
geometry, music, and astronomy). By this time, the student also was called
upon to serve as a respondent in disputations. After around three years as
a bachelor, the student would be examined again, and if successful would
incept as a master, which entailed teaching on the arts faculty for at least
two years.
By this time, the newly incepted master would be around 24 or 25 years old.
He was now considered ready for advanced study in theology, He would spend
about 6 or 7 years attending readings of Bible, as well as readings of Peter
Lombard's Sentences (a commentary on the Bible which ranged widely over philosophical
and theological issues arising from the text, using again the "sic et
non"
or "question" format for discovery) and attending theology disputations.
After this period he would become a bachelor in theology and begin another
eight years of study, gradually taking a larger role in the teaching as well
as learning of theology. At the end of this period, the student, approaching
forty, would finally incept as master and spend the requisite two years as
regent master in the faculty of theology.
A university education, as you can see, was not for the faint-hearted. In
fact very few of those who began study at university actually finished a
degree. Many students simply wanted to learn enough to make them valuable
assets at court somewhere. The university could be a path to success in the
world as well as in the Church. This will be relevant for our look at court
literature next week.
Controls on Learning
In our culture, control of knowledge is perceived as an unequivocally "bad
thing." Our educational system, at least at the higher levels, is built
on the premise that instructors ought to have free reign to express their
views publicly. Debate is a cornerstone of intellectual culture, and perceived
as enriching. We tend not to see free expression as dangerous but as productive.
It can be challenging, therefore, for us to understand medieval concerns
for truth in the context of education.The concern over popular heresy which
we've already observed extended also to the activities of the schools, and
there was a great deal of concern to keep theology free of error. Many aspects
of modern university life emerged precisely out of the desire to control
learning and prevent the spread of heretical ideas. Things we take for granted--fixed
curricula, organized faculties, and the awarding of degrees--all emerged
as part of a system of control. While the universities did patrol the boundaries
of acceptable pursuit in the schools, in so doing they freed up vast territory
for exploration. And those boundaries were clearly responsive to the demands
of scholars. In the 1270's restrictions on the teaching of Aristotle were
pushed through the university of Paris, but by 1300, Aquinas's integration
of Aristotelian philosophy had been thoroughly embraced.
