COLLEGE
108
COLLEGE
ence has been pointed out by Mr. Rashdall: "in
place of the strict limitation of spheres established by
the American Constitution, the jurisdiction of both
University and College, if either chose to exercise them,
is legally 'unlimited." Expulsion from a College would
not mvolve expulsion from the University, unless the
University chose so to enact; nor could expulsion
from the University prevent a man from continuing to
be a member or even a Fellow of a College. The Uni-
versity's monopoly of the power of granting degrees is
the oiily connecting link which ensures their harmoni-
ous co-operation" (Universities of Europe, II, 793).
The professors at Oxford are university officials; tu-
tors and lecturers are college officials; these two
bodies form two different systems. The majority of
students receive the greater part of their education
from the tutors and lecturers. (For further details
see "The University of Oxford" in "Ir. Eccl. Rec",
Jan., 1907.)
Although at the present day the collegiate system is peculiar to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, it was not so formerly, nor can England claim the hon- our of having had the first colleges. This distinction belongs to the University of Paris, the greatest school of medieval Europe. To understand the origin of the colleges and their character, it is necessary to know the social conditions in which the medieval students lived. Large numbers of youths flocked to the fa- mous university towns ; there may have been 6000 or 7000 students at Paris, 5000 ai Bologna, 2000 at Tou- louse, 3000 at Prague, and betweeijr2000 and 3000 at Oxford. Writers of the latter part of the Middle Ages have, it is true, asserted that in preceding cen- turies Paris had over 30,000, and Oxford from 20,000 to 30,000 students; some popular writers of our days have repeated these statements, but the foremost his- torians who have dealt with this subject, as Rashdall, Brodrick, Paulsen, Thorold Rogers, and many others, have proved that these fabulous numbers are gross exaggerations (Rashdall, op. cit., II, 581 sqq.). Still the numbers were large, many students very young, some not more than fourteen or fifteen years old; many lived in private houses, others in halls or hostels; the discipline was lax, and excesses and riots were fre- quent; above all, the poorer students were b.adly lodged and badly fed, and were at the mercy of un- scrupulous and designing men and women. Generous persons, inspired by the spirit of active charity, which was very pronounced during these centuries, sought to alleviate the lot of the poor students. The result was the foundation of the "houses of scholars", later called colleges. Originally they were nothing but en- dowed hospicia, or lodging and boarding-houses for poor students; the idea of domestic instruction was absent in the early foundations. The first Parisian colleges were homes for ecclesiastical students, "aca- demical cloisters specially planned for the education of secular clergy". About 1180 the College of the Eighteen was founded (so called from the number of students); then Saint-Thomas de Louvre (1186), and several others in the first half of the thirteenth century. The most famous of the colleges in Paris was the Sor- bonne (see Sorbonne, College of the) founded about 1257, and intended for sixteen, later for thirty- six, students of theology. In succeeding centuries the Sorbonne came to stand for the whole theological faculty of the ITniversity of Paris. In the course of time the university set aside the original autonomy of the colleges and gained com|ilete control over them ; in this the colleges of Paris differed widely from the English colleges. Another difference lay in the fact that most I';iiglish rollct'es admitted students for fac- ulties other than the tlunlogical. The first English college, Halliol, founded about 1261, at Oxford, was largely an imitation of the earlier foundations of Paris, and differed from the general t yp(> of Fnglish colleges. The real beginning of the English college system was
the foundation of Walter de Merton, who' afters\-ards
became Bisho]) of Rochester. Merton College, estab-
lished 1263 or 1264, became the archetype of the col-
leges of Oxford and Cambridge. The scholars were
to begin the study of the arts, and then to proceed to
theology, a few to the study of canon and civil law.
Besides the thirteen full members of the society (the
socii, or Fellows), a nimiber of young boys were to be
admitted (twelve at first), as "secondary scholars",
who were to be instructed in "grammar" until they
were enabled to begin the study of arts.
The foundation of the secular colleges was greatly stimulated by the presence of the regular colleges, i. e. the establishments of the religious orders in connexion with the universities. The religious orders early prof- ited by the advantages offered in these educational centres, and in their turn had a considerable share in the further development of the universities, particu- larly the Dominicans and Franciscans. (See Univer- sity.) The Dominicans established a house of study in the University of Paris in 1218, the Franciscans
1219, the Benedictines 1229, the Augustinians in 1259. At Oxford the Dominicans opened a house
1220, the Franciscans 1224. Their example was fol- lowed by the Benedictines, who founded Gloucester Hall and Durham College. These religious houses formed each a miniature Studium in the midst of a great university. The young members of the orders lived in well-organized communities which gave free- dom from cares and favoured quiet study, whereas other students were left to contend with the many hardships and temptations which surrounded them on all sides. It was natural that men who realized the advantages of such a well-regulated life should en- deavour to adapt this system to the needs of students who had no intention of entering religious communi- ties. " The secular college would never perhaps have developed into the important institution which it act- ually became but for the example set by the colleges of the mendicants" (Rashdall, op. eit., I, 478). An er- roneous view has been expressed by some writers, viz., that the foundation of the colleges was a symptom of the growing opposition to ecclesiastical control of edu- cation, and especially a sign of hostility to the reli- gious orders. The majority of secular colleges were founded by zealous ecclesiastics, in England especially by bishops, most of whom were very friendly to the religious orders. Mr. Bass Mullinger admits that Trinity Hall, Cambridge, seems to have been founded with the intention of furthering "Ultramontane inter- ests" (Hist, of Un. of Cambridge, 41). Hugh de Bal- sham, a Benedictine, was the founder of Peterhouse, the first college at Cambridge (1284) ; the third Cam- bridge college, Pembroke Hall, was founded in 1347 by Marie de Valence, a friend of the Franciscans; one of two rectors was to be a Friar Minor, and the foundress adjured the fellows to be kind, devoted, and grateful to all religious, "especially the Friars Minor". Gon- ville Hall, Cambridge, was founded in 1350 by Ed- mund Gonville, an equally warm friend of the Do- minicans, for whom he made a foundation at Thet- ford. The same can be shown with regard to Oxford. To give an instance, according to the statutes of Bal- liol, one of the outside "procurators" was to be a Franciscan. The indirect influence of religious insti- tutions is discernible also in the semi-monastic fea- tures of colleges, some of which have survived to our own times, as the common life and obligatory attend- ance at chapel. With regard to the latter point it is surprising to learn that the earlier colleges enjoined attendance at Mass only on Sundays, Holy Days, and vigils. At Oxford, the statutes of New College are. as far as is known, the first whi<'h re(iuire daily attend- ance at Mass; towards the end of the fifteenth century this daily attendance was enforced also on the stu- dents living in the Malls (Rashdall, op. cit., II, 506, 651).
