INTRODUCTION. THE thirteenth century embraces within its limits an eminently eventful era in European history. It was an ageof turbulence and confusion, of revolution and contention, wherein, amid the strife of elements, it is often d:lt to discern the tendencies for good that were undoubtedly at work, and where the olmrver is apt to lose sight of the real onward progress of the current as he marks the agitations which trouble the surface of the waters But that a great advance was then achieved it is in poble to deny. The social, the religious, and the intellectual life of Europe were roused by a common im, alse from comparative stagnation. The Church, threatened by its own degeneracy, took to itself other and more potent weapons; scholasticism, enriched by the influx of new learning, entered on its most brilliant phase; onental influences, the reflex action of the Orisales, stirred men to fresh paths of thought, and England, no longer regarded as a subjugated nation, grew rapally in strength and freedom To this entury the University of Car br. ige traces back its first recorded recognition as a legally e insti tuted body, and refers the foundation of its most znesent college, and, in the absence of authentie records concerning her early in tory, it becomes exper ay desirable to arrive at a clear conception of the er umstances that belong to so important a commencement It will accordingly be devirdie, in this introductory chapter, to pass under review the lyding features of education and learning in those ages, which DUCTION. INTRO preceded the university era; to trace out, as far as may be conducive to our main purpose, the habits of thought and traditional belief that necessarily found expression in the first organisation and discipline of the universities themselves; to estimate the character and direction of these innovations which the universities inaugurated; and in order to do this, however imperfectly, we shall find it necessar to go back to that yet earlier time which links the civilization of Paganism with that of Christianity. Set cols of Empire. The university age commences in the twelfth century; and it is a fact familiar to every student, that nearly all learning had up to that period been the exclusive possession The Imperial of the Church. In the third and fourth centuries indeed the Roman traditions of Roman culture were still preserved in full vigour in Transalpine Gaul; Autun, Trèves, Lyons, and Bordeaux were distinguished as schools of rhetoric and their teaching was ennobled by many an illustrious name; but with the invasion of the Franks the imperial schools were swept away, and education when it reappeared had formed those associations which, amid so many important revolutions in thought and the decay of so many ancient institutions, have retained their hold with such remarkable tenacity and power up to our own day. The four centuries that precede the reign Game of Philip Augustus have been termed, not inaptly, the edicine Benedictine era'. In the monasteries of that great order, ment of the which rose in the sixth century, was preserved nearly all 1 Léon Maitre, Les Ecoles Episcopales et Monastiques de l'Occident, p. 174. Relieves posterity will do him more justice His prediction fulfilled excite The subject of Grock continues to excite the chief interest at 816 517 6 Bryan lectures in the schools from the new versions of Aristotle Aristotle 519 Sense of the importance of Greek induced by the controversy FOUNDATION OF C›upt « Curisti COLLEGE, OXFORD, A. D. 1516 521 Bolness of has túnovations on the customary studies Appearance of 1 rasmiss N ram Teatrinentum He dosare Volgate translation. STATE OF PLLIN, AT ÖNƏLD The car or teachers of Greek no longer resident Croke elected for life JOHN SKELTON Ilis satirical verses on the attention now given to Greck at Contrast presented between the two prelates on that oc ib. 543 iv. ib. 544 545 546 ib. Wolsey's victims at the universities Stafford, Skelton, and Pace . Oxford surrenders its statutes to be altered at Wolsey's 547 ib. 548 549 ib. ib. 550 551 ib. 552 A humiliating episode in the history of both universities Royal visits to Cambridge Foundation of Cardinal College, Oxford Scholars from Cambridge placed on the foundation CHAP. VI. CAMBRIDGE AT THE REFORMATION. Different theories respecting the origin of the Reformation The Reformation not a developement of Lollardism but to be traced to the influence of Erasmus's New Testament Copy affixed by Fisher to the gate of the common schools ib. ib. 557 ib. ib. Events of the year 1510 Commencement of a new movement at Cambridge Thomas Binky › His eccentric character His account of his spiritual experiences Over importance attached to his description by Protestant writers. He reads the New Testament of Erasmus Change in his religious views His character as drawn by Latimer Ilis converts at Trinity Hall,-Arthur, Paget, and Smith His induence especially perceptible among natives of his Jealousy of the cut scrvatives Barres returns to kong and with Paynell His lectures on the Latin classics and on the Epistles of He lectures Becom ́s estimate of the value of his services |