Cities and towns -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- History, Local; Great Britain -- Social conditions; Villages -- Great Britain
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account