Episcopal Control in the Mediaeval Universities of Northern Europe

A. B. Cobban

doi:10.1017/S0424208400004678

Episcopal Control in the Mediaeval Universities of Northern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016

A. B. Cobban

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A. B. Cobban*: Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

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Episcopal control proved to be a very mixed blessing for the mediaeval universities of northern Europe. When tempered with understanding and restraint, episcopal power was a most benevolent force which could serve to promote the best interests of nascent university structures. In so many instances, episcopal aid was a veritable sine qua non of university survival. For example, it is hard to imagine that the fifteenth-century Scottish universities could have survived at all without the sustained, enlightened treatment that they received at the hands of their episcopal sponsors. In this sense, the term ‘episcopal control’ bears misleading connotations. For the Scottish bishops had no thought of effecting a permanent episcopal stranglehold over the universities they had brought into being. On the contrary, they freely gave of their wealth and energies in the realization that adequate endowments and organizational maturity would inevitably bring full independent status to these university guilds. To this extent, the bishops who founded the universities of St Andrews (1413), Glasgow (1451), and Aberdeen (1494–5) are truly representative of the magnanimous and liberal episcopal outlook which pervaded the university scene in northern Europe towards the close of the mediaeval period. This contrasts strikingly with earlier episcopal attitudes. For in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries episcopal authority had all too often been channelled in a direction aggressively antithetical to the growth of the corporate independence of the university guilds. The notorious efforts of the bishop of Paris and the chancellor of Notre Dame to stifle the independence of the Parisian masters is but an extreme example of the kind of complete divorce that could arise between the academic guild and the ecclesiastical authorities.

Type: Research Article
Information: Studies in Church History , Volume 5: The Church and Academic Learning , 1969 , pp. 1 - 22

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0424208400004678 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1969

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^{Page 1 of note 1} Cf. e.g. Hannay, R. K., ‘Early University Institutions at St Andrews and Glasgow: A Comparative Study’, Scottish Historical Review, XI (1914), 266ff.Google Scholar; R. G. Cant, The University of St Andrews (Edinburgh, 1946); J. D. Mackie, The University of Glasgow 1451—1951 (Glasgow, 1954). Brief surveys of the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen are given by Rashdall, H., The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (3 vols., ed. by Powicke, F. M. and Emden, A. B., Oxford, 1936), II, 301-20Google Scholar.

^{Page 2 of note 1} The conflict is outlined by Rashdall, op. cit., ed. cit., I, 298ff.

^{Page 3 of note 1} Cf. Rashdall, op. cit., II, 207-10.

^{Page 3 of note 2} For the constitutional arrangements at Caen, cf. ibid., II, 197.

^{Page 4 of note 1} Cf. ibid., II, 189. The statutes of 1420-40 are printed by Fournier, M., Les Statuts et Privilèges des Universités françaises depuis leur fondation jusqu’en 1789 (3 vols., Paris, 1890-2), III, no. 1582 Google Scholar.

^{Page 4 of note 2} See the remarks of Rashdall, op. cit., II, 208.

^{Page 4 of note 3} Cf. e.g. the settlement imposed by Clement V on the university of medicine at Montpellier in 1309 in favour of the masters, Fournier, op. cit., II, nos. 911, 912; cf. also Rashdall, II, 124.

^{Page 5 of note 1} On this point, see Kibre, P., The Nations in the Mediaeval Universities (Mediaeval Academy of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1948), 129ffGoogle Scholar.

^{Page 6 of note 1} Cf. e.g. Rashdall, I, 164.

^{Page 6 of note 2} Quotations on this matter from the commentaries of mediaeval civil lawyers are given by von Savigny, F. E., Geschiehte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, III (Heidelberg, 1834), ch. XXI, 174, n. aGoogle Scholar.

^{Page 6 of note 3} Cf. P. Kibre, op. cit., 133.

^{Page 6 of note 4} Ibid., 129; Fournier, II, no. 923.

^{Page 7 of note 1} On the shortcomings of the student rectorship, cf. e.g. V. Laval, Cartulaire de l’Université d’Avignon, I (Avignon, 1884), 25n.; evidence for the evils of the rectorship is cited by Abbé Nadal throughout his Histoire de l’Université de Valence (ed. M. Aurel, Valence, 1861).

^{Page 7 of note 2} The constitution and statutes of 1398 are printed by Fournier, I, nos. 430-7; the particular point of student indiscipline at Angers is discussed by Kibre, op. cit., 152.

^{Page 8 of note 1} Cf. Rashdall, II, 129.

^{Page 8 of note 2} This royal brief is printed by Fournier, II, no. 883.

^{Page 8 of note 3} Cf. supra, p. 6, n. 4.

^{Page 9 of note 1} Cf. Kibre, 129; Rashdall, II, 131.

^{Page 9 of note 2} The statutes of 1339 embodying the new constitution are printed by Fournier, II, no. 947.

^{Page 9 of note 3} See the remarks of Rashdall, II, 131.

^{Page 9 of note 4} Cf. Kibre, 148.

^{Page 9 of note 5} Loc. cit.

^{Page 9 of note 6} For the main features of the constitution at Angers, cf. Rashdall, II, 155-6.

^{Page 9 of note 7} Cf. Rashdall, II, 156-7; Kibre, 148.

^{Page 10 of note 1} Cf. Rashdall, II, 176, n. 2.

^{Page 10 of note 2} Cf. Fournier, I, nos. 430-7.

^{Page 10 of note 3} Cf. Rashdall, II, 158.

^{Page 10 of note 4} Ibid., II, 144-5.

^{Page 10 of note 5} For the nations at Orléans, cf. Kibre, 133ff.

^{Page 10 of note 6} Cf. Rashdall, II, 145-6.

^{Page 11 of note 1} The bull of Clement V is printed by Fournier, I, no. 19.

^{Page 11 of note 2} Cf. e.g. Fournier, I, no. 22; Rashdall, II, 146.

^{Page 11 of note 3} Judging from the aforementioned series of disputes between the doctors and the bishop, it would appear that the former were prepared to adopt a much less conciliatory attitude towards episcopal control than were their colleagues in contemporary French universities.

^{Page 12 of note 1} The constitutional features of Avignon are discussed by Rashdall, II, 175-6. The head of the university at Avignon, the equivalent of the scholasticus of Orléans and Angers, was given the title of primicerias. Rashdall discusses this interesting designation, II, 175, n. 5.

^{Page 12 of note 2} Cf. ibid., II, 176-7.

^{Page 12 of note 3} The bull of Urban V of 18 March 1367, maintaining the powers of the primicerius and the doctors against the claims of the scholars, is printed by Fournier, II, no. 1249; the confirmatory bull of Gregory XI of 23 August 1376 is printed, op. cit., II, no. 1257 and by Laval, op. cit., 24-6.

^{Page 12 of note 4} Two cardinal legates were authorised to dispense scholars from the obligation of their oath not to attend the lectures of the doctors: Fournier, II, no. 1268; Rashdall, II, 177 and n.

^{Page 12 of note 5} Cf. Rashdall, II, 177.

^{Page 12 of note 6} Cf. Kibre, op. cit., 156.

^{Page 13 of note 1} See the remarks of C. E. Smith, The University of Toulouse in the Middle Ages (Milwaukee and Wisconsin, 1958), esp. 76-9.

^{Page 13 of note 2} Cf. ibid., 78.

^{Page 14 of note 1} Their constitutions are described by Rashdall, II, 186ff.

^{Page 14 of note 2} E. g. at Prague (1347-8) the archbishop was chancellor and exercised considerable authority in the early years. In 1397, however, the university obtained a complete exemption from all episcopal and archiepiscopal jurisdiction (Rashdall, II, 218, 220). At Würzburg (1402) the bishop became chancellor but, by the founder’s charter of privileges of 1410, both spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over all students were conferred on the rector (Rashdall, II, 257). The bishop of Merseburg was made chancellor at Leipzig (1409) and delegated jurisdiction over the students to the rector at an early stage; here, degrees were usually conferred by a vice-chancellor (Rashdall, II, 259). The chancellor at Rostock (1419) was the bishop of Schwerin, but by 1468 the rector had acquired extensive jurisdictional powers from the bishop (Rashdall, II, 261 and n. 2).

^{Page 15 of note 1} See the accounts of the universities of Upsala (1477) and Copenhagen (1478) in Rashdall, II, 298-300.

^{Page 15 of note 2} Cf. Kibre, op. cit., esp. 163-7.

^{Page 16 of note 1} E.g. Innocent VI founded the college of St Martial (1358) at Toulouse (Fournier, I, no. 617) and Urban V founded the colleges of St Benedict (1368) and Mende or Douze-Médecins (1369) at Montpellier (Fournier, II, nos. 1004, 1025). Cardinal Talleyrand de Périgord was the founder of the college of Périgord (or St Front) (c. 1360) at Toulouse (Fournier, I, nos. 642, 694). Also at Toulouse, the cardinal of Pampeluna established the college of St Catharine (or Pampeluna) (c. 1378) and the cardinal of Foix the college ofthat name in 1440 (Fournier, I, nos. 707, 840). At Montpellier, the college of St Ruf (1364) had as its founder cardinal Angelico Grimouard, brother of Urban V (Fournier, II, nos. 992, 1006). The archiepiscopal and episcopal founders of French provincial colleges are too numerous to list.

^{Page 16 of note 2} E.g. at Toulouse, the college founded by Vidal Gautier in 1243 was entrusted to the supervision of the bishop and the prior of the Dominicans (Fournier, I, no. 517); and the college of Montlezun, founded by two bro thers of that name in 1319, was vested in the combined hands of various university and ecclesiastical authorities (Fournier, I, nos. 549, 699).

^{Page 17 of note 1} For the Oxford situation, cf. Rashdall, III, 114; for Cambridge, see the excellent discussion by Peacock, G., Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge (London, 1841), 17–18 and 18, n. 4Google Scholar.

^{Page 17 of note 2} For Oxford, see Gibson, S., ‘Confirmations of Oxford Chancellors in Lincoln Episcopal Registers’, EHR, XXVI (1911), 501 ff.CrossRef Google Scholar, and Hill, R. M. T., ‘Oliver Sutton, Bishop of Lincoln, and the University of Oxford’, TRHS, 4th ser., XXXI (1949), 1 ffGoogle Scholar. For Cambridge, cf. Rashdall, III, 280-2.

^{Page 17 of note 3} Cf. Rashdall, loc. cit.

^{Page 18 of note 1} Merton (1263 or 1264; Merton’s founder became bishop of Rochester in 1274); Exeter (1314-16); New College (1379); Lincoln (1429); and Magdalen (1448).

^{Page 18 of note 2} All Souls, founded by Henry Chichele, archbishop of Canterbury.

^{Page 18 of note 3} University College, founded c. 1280 by William of Durham, sometime archbishop-elect of Rouen.

^{Page 18 of note 4} Peterhouse (1284); Trinity Hall (1350); Jesus (1497).

^{Page 18 of note 5} Gonville was founded in 1349 by Edmund Gonville, sometime rector of Terrington, Norfolk; Godshouse was founded in 1439 by William Byngham, rector of St John Zachary, London.

^{Page 18 of note 6} Edward II was the founder of the Society of the King’s Scholars (c. 1317), which became the endowed College of the King’s Hall in 1337; Henry VI established King’s College in 1441.

^{Page 18 of note 7} Queens’ was first founded by Margaret of Anjou in 1448 and refounded by Elizabeth Woodville in 1475.

^{Page 18 of note 8} Lady Clare and the countess of Pembroke, respective foundresses of Clare (1326) and Pembroke (1347).

^{Page 18 of note 9} Hervey de Stanton, founder of Michaelhouse in 1324.

^{Page 18 of note 10} Robert Woodlark, who founded St Catharine’s in 1475.

^{Page 18 of note 11} Corpus Christi was founded in 1352 by the guild of ‘Corpus Christi and the Blessed Mary’ of the town of Cambridge.

^{Page 19 of note 1} Information derived from Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford (3 vols., ed. by the Queen’s Commissioners, Oxford and London, 1853) and supplemented by the articles on the colleges in Victoria County History of Oxford, III (ed. H. E. Salter and M. D. Lobel, London, 1954).

^{Page 19 of note 2} cf.Garrod, H. W., ‘Merton College’, VCH (Oxford), cit., III, 103, and n. 47 Google Scholar.

^{Page 19 of note 3} Information derived from Documents relating to the University and Colleges of Cambridge (3 vols., ed. by the Queen’s Commissioners, London, 1852). In the case of Peterhouse, however, the bishop of Ely was visitor.

^{Page 19 of note 4} For such instances, cf. e.g. the statutes of Clare, Gonville Hall and Trinity Hall in Camb. Docs., cit., II, 124, 128-9, 137-8, 232, 421, 426. In times of constitutional difficulty the regent masters at Oxford found it useful to invoke the assistance of the bishop: on this point, cf. R. M. T. Hill, art. cit., 9.

^{Page 20 of note 1} Although the Oxford masters were specifically concerned with the powers of the bishop of Lincoln, one feels that the diverse ecclesiastical authorities to which the college fellows were subject must have added fuel to the central conflict.

^{Page 20 of note 2} For an investigation of this whole issue of ecclesiastical exemption at Cambridge, see my forthcoming book, The King’s Hall within the University of Cambridge in the later Middle Ages, to be published by the Cambridge University Press in 1968.

^{Page 21 of note 1} On this point, cf.Ullmann, W., ‘The University of Cambridge and the Great Schism’, JTS, IX (1958), 53ff.CrossRef Google Scholar, and my article, ‘Edward II, Pope John XXII and the University of Cambridge’, BJRL., XLVII (1964), 49ff., at p. 75.

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