A medieval university was a corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education. The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy, including the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples, and the Kingdoms of England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries for the study of the arts and the higher disciplines of theology, law, and medicine. These universities evolved from much older Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools, and it is difficult to define the exact date when they became true universities, though the lists of studia generalia for higher education in Europe held by the Vatican are a useful guide.
The University of Siena in Siena, Tuscany, is the first publicly funded university as well as one of the oldest in Italy. Originally called Studium Senese, the institution was founded in 1240. It had around 16,000 students in 2022, which is nearly one-third of Siena's total population of around 53,000. Today, the University of Siena is best known for its schools of law, medicine, and economics and management.
A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are often structured so that the inflation-adjusted principal or "corpus" value is kept intact, while a portion of the fund can be spent each year, utilizing a prudent spending policy.
The history of writing traces the development of writing systems and how their use transformed and was transformed by different societies. The use of writing prefigures various social and psychological consequences associated with literacy and literary culture.
Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, also referred to as Mediterranea University or University of Reggio Calabria, or simply UNIRC, is an Italian public research university, located in Reggio Calabria, Italy. In 2021, it is the third best university in the state.
Aix-Marseille University is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of Anjou, Count of Provence, petitioned the Pisan Antipope Alexander V to establish the University of Provence, making it the fourth-oldest university in France. The institution came into its current form following a reunification of the University of Provence, the University of the Mediterranean and Paul Cézanne University. The reunification became effective on 1 January 2012, resulting in the creation of the largest university in the Francophone world, with about 80,000 students. AMU has the largest budget of any academic institution in the French-speaking world standing at €750 million. It is consistently ranked among the top 200 universities in the world and is ranked within the top 5 universities in France according to ARWU, CWTS and USNWR.
The Collegio di Spagna is a college for Spanish students at the University of Bologna, Italy, which has been functioning since the 14th century. Its full original name in English translation was the College of Saint Clement of the Spaniards. It has been under the Royal patronage of the Spanish Crown since 1488, as authorized by Pope Innocent VIII.
European universities date from the founding of the University of Bologna in 1088 or the University of Paris. The original medieval universities arose from the Roman Catholic Church schools. Their purposes included training professionals, scientific investigation, improving society, and teaching critical thinking and research. External influences, such as Renaissance humanism, the discovery of the New World (1492), the Protestant Reformation (1517), the Age of Enlightenment, and the recurrence of political revolution, enhanced the importance of human rights and international law in the university curricula.
A university is an institution of higher education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. University is derived from the Latin phrase universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
The Collège de Calvi, also called Calvi or Little Sorbonne, was a college of the University of Paris.
Henry of Oyta was a German theologian and nominalist philosopher.
A History of the University in Europe is a four-volume book series on the history and development of the European university from the medieval origins of the institution until the present day. The series was directed by the European University Association and published by Cambridge University Press between 1992 and 2011. The volumes consist of individual contributions by international experts in the field and is considered the most comprehensive and authoritative work on the subject to date. It has been fully or partly translated into several languages.
Marseille or Marseilles is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region of southern France, it is located on the coast of the Gulf of Lion, part of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mouth of the Rhône river. A resident of Marseille is a Marseillais.
Hilde De Ridder-Symoens was a Belgian historian. She was Professor of Medieval History at the Free University of Amsterdam (1986–2001) and Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Ghent (2001–2008). Her research focuses on educational history and the history of universities. She edited the first two volumes of Cambridge University Press's A History of the University in Europe. Together with C.M. Ridderikhoff she published Les livres des procurateurs de la nation germanique de l'ancienne Université d'Orléans, 1444-1602.
Historia rerum ubique gestarum locorumque descriptio is an unfinished book written by Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who was later elected Pope Pius II in 1458. It was written originally in Latin, and the title roughly translates to "History of Achievements Everywhere." The original intent of the book was to record the history of human existence across the globe, as well as a historical and geographical cosmography. Piccolomini planned three sections, on Europe, Asia, and Africa. Only the sections on Europe and Asia were completed in 1458 and 1461, respectively. The incomplete book was published in Venice in 1477 after his death, as Historia rerum ubique gestarum. The published version of the book also told the work of Eratosthenes on the size of the earth and was very heavily read and annotated by Christopher Columbus on his voyages. Columbus used this as one of the many works from which he pulled his ideas about the Earth. The copy that was used by Columbus to prepare for his voyages, along with his annotations, is now kept in the Columbine Library in Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. Historia rerum ubique gestarum has been translated into many different languages today.
