Medieval Universities Essay

The English universities were ace of the most significant creations of Medieval England. The scholars who attended eitherOxford or Cambridge Universities set an expert standard that contrasted markedly with the norm of Medieval England. Oxford University came into being some 20 years before Cambridge University. The church building had a major impact at Oxford. The town came within the diocese of Lincoln, yet Oxford had its own archdeaconry. It was the input of the church that lead to the first recorded student/university authority clash at Oxford. The universities led to major growth in two Oxford and Cambridge as towns and both became important philias. No-one is quite sure why Oxford was chosen as the town for Englands first university however, the town had a number of distinct advantages. Oxford was the centre of communications within its region and both royalty and foreign scholars much visited the town.There were also many religious houses/centres around the town and th e inelegant land was rich and farming did well at this time. Oxford was considered to be in a civilised part of England it was near to London and getting to atomic number 63 was not necessarily a major journey. Oxford also held strategic importance, which led to the building of a castle there. In 1167, a quarrel surrounded by Henry II and Thomas Becket led to a temporary evict on English scholars going to study in France. For whatever reason, scholars and academics collected in Oxford to continue with their work fifty of them. As journeying to the university in Paris was not allowed, more scholars and academics arrived in Oxford. Sometime after 1167 Giraldus Cambrensis visited Oxford and started breeding there. He taught three times a day.He took poor students for lectures he then taught academics from different faculties, and lastly he taught knights and the likes. His clientele became larger than the popular monastic or cathedral school. In 1180, Prior Philip of St. Friesw ade, Oxford, recorded that a scholar had left his family in York to study at Oxford. Within 12 years, the importance of a good education was clearly having an impact. In 1192, Richard of Devizes wrote Oxonia vix suos clericos, non dico satiat, sed sustenat. Richard was essentially stating that there were so many scholars in Oxford that the town could barely draw them. By 1209, it was estimated that there were 3,000 students in Oxford. It was also in 1209 that students in Oxford started to migrate to Cambridge. This occurred after some students killed a woman in Oxford.At this time, business leader John and Pope Innocent III were quarrelling over a red-hot Archbishop of Canterbury. Innocent put England under an interdict. With such worries, John had few thoughts for students in Oxford. He gave his permission for the execution of three students in Oxford involved in the womans death. However, in the delay that took pace, the students fled to Reading, Cambridge of Paris. Others fo llowed to Cambridge and by 1284, Peterhouse College was founded. Unlike the spacious university of its time the university in Paris Oxford was not connected to either a cathedral or a religious house.The Sorbonne was supervised by ecclesiastical men while Oxford was supervised by masters, though these were usually in holy orders. Regardless of this, Oxford developed with a degree of practical independence. By the end of what is considered to be Medieval England, the following colleges had been created at Oxford University College, Balliol, Merton and Exeter. In Cambridge, Peterhouse College was created. educatee life in both towns was to transform Oxford and Cambridge. The lifestyle of the students was to frequently lend both universities into conflict with the church.