The question now was, where could these new subjects be adequately studied? The ordinary range of instruction in the monastic and cathedral schools was too narrow to admit them. A few religious houses there were, doubtless, in which churchmen of exceptional gifts and attainments responded in some measure to the new desire; but these were inadequate to satisfy the wants of the age. Associations began to be formed, specially devoted to purposes of study. Such an association was commonly designated by one of two names; Studium Generale and Universitas. Studium Generale, meaning a place of study not merely local, but open to all comers; or Universitas, a corporation or guild, implying that teachers and learners formed a definitely incorporated body. The term Universitas being a general one, this special sense of it was defined by some addition; we find such phrases as Universitas Magistrorum et scholarium, a corporation of masters and scholars; or Universitas literaria. It was not probably till the close of the fourteenth century that the word Universitas came to be commonly used alone, in the sense of "University."
The earliest example of such a body dates from a time antecedent to the general awakening of the European mind, and is associated with the most indispensable of the practical sciences. The school of Medicine at Salerno in Southern Italy can be traced to the ninth century. But the twelfth century is that in which the first great Universities of Europe take their rise. Two of these are respectively typical