Parisian Scholars in the Early Fourteenth Century: A Social Portrait

by William J. Courtenay

Overview

This study of the social, geographical, and disciplinary composition of the University of Paris in the early fourteenth century—the most detailed of its kind ever attempted—is based on the reconstruction of a remarkable document: the financial record of tax levied on university members in the academic year 1329-1330. After a thorough examination of this document, the book explores residential patterns, the relationship of students, masters, and tutors, social class and levels of wealth, interaction with the royal court, and the geographical background of university scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521642125
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/25/1999
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series , #41
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

List of maps and figures; Preface; Introduction: Paris in 1329; Part I. The Recovery and Context of a Document: 1. The computus of 1329–1330; 2. Collectae and university finance; 3. Precipitating event: the rape of Symonette; Part II. A window in a Lost World: 4. Academic space: the topography of the university community; 5. Lodging and residential patterns; 6. The sociology of the university community; 7. The geographical origins of the university community; Conclusion; Part III. Biographical Register: Appendices; Select bibliography; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"...this book is a model of historical reclamation and careful research. The reediting of the list of contributors to the Unversity of Paris computus will be useful in itself; the conclusions drawm about the social and topographical composition of the Unversity of Paris will ispire future debate; and the biographical register of over three hundred Parisian scholars will form the groundwork for all forthcoming prosopographical work on the medieval university." Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

"a path-breaking book." Catholic Historical Review

"Courtenay provides enthusiasts of the medieval university with a valuable service...enormously helpful..." Andrew Traver, The Medieval Review

"This is a first-rate history that not only advances our understanding of the University of Paris, but provides scholars with wonderful material for future research..." William Chester Jordan, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...in addition to enhanced understanding of the specific case of Paris, we now have a reliable benchmark for future comparative studies of other universities." History of Education Quarterly

"...Courtenay provides enthusiasts of the medieval university with a valuable service. This work provides a brilliant window into the academic community at Paris at 1329-30." Andrew G. Traver, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"...Courtenay offers an in-depth look at the University of Paris at a little-studied but defining moment in its history and development." Larissa Juliet Taylor, Church History

"[Courtenay] has illuminated many aspects of fourteenth-century university life, and laid the groundwork for much fruitful future research." Medieval Prosopography

"Courtnay's book as a whole, will be valuable for social, economic and intellectual historians." Catholic Historical Review

From the Publisher