This corresponds exactly with the situation in modern universities,
although at present the variations in studies for the same degree are
greater and the changes in any given university are usually more rapid
than they were in the universities of the Middle Ages.
It is necessary to remember that all the text-books were in Latin. Those
written originally in other tongues were translated into Latin. All
university exercises were conducted in that language, and frequently the
regulations required students to use Latin in conversation outside the
lecture halls. Latin was, in short, the universal academic tongue.
Obviously, the use of the same language everywhere facilitated the
migration of students and teachers from one university to another.
7. Although the first universities were not established as organized
institutions until the latter part of the twelfth century, the
intellectual movement which gave rise to them was well under way a
century earlier. It showed itself first in the rise of great teachers,
some of whom were also notable scholars. There has never been a clearer
demonstration of the central importance in education of the
distinguished teacher:
At the beginning of the twelfth century three schools are
distinguished in the contemporary literature above the multitude
which had sprung into new life in France and were connected with
so many of her cathedrals and religious houses.
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