In the middle ages 65

ened this elaboration of doctrine. Among these

there are three to be especially noted. Namely, the

rise of the University of Paris; the establishment

of the two great religious orders, both of them de-

voted to learning; and the circulation of a large

number of new philosophical works, which were

brought from the Orient and which had been un-

known to the Occident before that time in the Mid-

dle Ages. These three causes cooperated in a

unique manner. For, the University of Paris was

the centre of learning; the new orders supplied the

same University with professors; and the books

brought from the Orient made a notable increase in

its working library.

II

During the last years of the twelfth century, the

French metropolis monopolized, to its advantage,

the intellectual activity which previously had been

scattered in the various French centers. The Uni-

versity eclipsed the episcopal and monastic schools,

and thereby replaced the spirit of localism with that

of centralization in study .^

Towards the middle of the twelfth century the

schools of Paris were divided into three groups: (a)

the schools of the cathedral of Notre Dame, mider

the authority of the chancellor and, through him, of

1 See Rashdall's excellent work: The Universities of Europe in the

Middle Ages. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1895. Cf. H. Denifle, Die

Universitdten des Mittelalters bis I4OO, Berlin, 1885.

66 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

the bishop of Paris; (b) the schools of the canons

of St. Victor, which had become the throbbing cen-

tre of mysticism, but wliere also William of Cham-

peaux had opened a school in which he had been

teaching philosophy for some time; (c) the outside

schools of the abbey of St. Genevieve. But the

schools of Notre Dame occupied the foremost place,

and it was from them that the University sprang.

It arose not indeed through a decree of the govern-

ment or a committee of trustees, but as a flower

grows from its stem, by a natural convening of

masters and pupils; for their number had multi-

plied as a result of the constant development of

studies. Masters and pupils were grouped in four

faculties according to their special interests — the

University documents compare them to the four

rivers of Paradise, just as the iconography of the

cathedrals symbolically represents the four evange-

lists as pouring water from urns toward the four

points of the compass. These are the faculties of

Theology, of Arts (thus called in memory of the

liberal arts of the early Middle Ages) , of Law, and

of Medicine.

The program of studies in the University is a

living and moving thing. It takes form in the

second half of the thirteenth century, and at that

moment it is revealed in great purity of outline, like

something new and fresh, a distinctive and pleas-

ing product of the Middle Ages. If one should

take, as it were, a snap-shot of the faculty of arts —