Parisian Scholars in the Early Fourteenth Century: A Social Portrait

by William J. Courtenay

• ISBN13: 9780521642125
• ISBN10: 0521642124
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This study of the social, geographical and disciplinary composition of the scholarly community at the University of Paris in the early fourteenth century is based on the reconstruction of a remarkable document: the financial record of tax levied on university members in the academic year 1329-1330. Containing the names, financial level and often addresses of the majority of the masters and most prominent students, it is the single richest source for the social history of a medieval university before the late fourteenth century. After a thorough examination of the financial account, the history of such collections, and the case (a rape by a student) that precipitated legal expenses and the need for a collection, 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.

Table of Contents

List of maps and figures	ix
Preface	xi
List of abbreviations	xvi
Introduction: Paris in 1329	1	(8)
Part I: The recovery and context of a document
The Computus of 1329--1330	9	(19)
Dating the computus	14	(3)
Relationship of computus to university population	17	(11)
Collectae and University Finance	28	(21)
Precipitating Event: The Rape of Symonette	49	(10)
Part II: A Window on a lost world
Academic Space: The Topography of the University Community	59	(22)
The parish of St-Benit	59	(12)
From Cordeliers to the Seine: the parishes of St-Cosme and St-Andre	71	(2)
The parish of St-Severin	73	(4)
The parish of St-Hilaire	77	(4)
Lodging and Residential Patterns	81	(11)
Cui bono? Taxationes domorum and rent control	81	(4)
The socii	85	(3)
Tutors, family, and familia	88	(2)
Residential choice	90	(2)
The Sociology of the University Community	92	(15)
Rich and poor	93	(7)
Student dignitaries	100	(3)
The king's men: university clerks and royal service	103	(4)
The Geographical Origins of the University Community	107	(20)
The thirteenth-century pattern	111	(4)
The witness of the 1329-30 computus	115	(9)
Conclusion	124	(3)
Part III: Biographical register	127	(91)
Appendix 1 The computus of 1329-30	218	(29)
Appendix 2 Analysis of the computus text	247	(8)
Select bibliography	255	(7)
Index of persons and places	262	(20)
Subject index	282