A day in a university town
Imagine a young man from a modest family arriving in a university town such as Paris or Oxford, perhaps in his mid-teens, since many arts students began early. He would have traveled from home with limited money, some books if he could afford them and a letter of introduction. Because the early universities had few buildings of their own, the first task was to find a place to live and a master to follow. Lectures were held in rented rooms or in the master’s own house, and the town itself was the campus.
Dates and details differ by place and century, so the picture below is a general one.
Lodging, food and cost
Students lived in several ways. Some rented rooms in houses owned by townspeople, often sharing a room and costs with others. Some lived in hostels, or halls, run by a senior student or master. From the thirteenth century, colleges, endowed by benefactors for poor scholars, offered lodging and sometimes meals under rules of conduct. Over time they became a central part of life at Oxford and Cambridge in particular.
Costs were a constant concern. Students paid fees to masters, rent and food, plus the high cost of parchment and books. Many borrowed or rented texts, and a university often had an official system for copying books in sections to share them out. Letters survive in which students ask their families for money, which became a familiar theme. Some poorer students supported themselves by serving wealthier ones or by begging, which authorities sometimes licensed.
Lectures
The day started early, because the main lectures took place in the morning. In a lecture, the master read a passage of a set text, explained its meaning and discussed the commentary of earlier writers. Students listened and wrote notes, often on wax tablets or loose parchment. Texts were often divided into portions so that a master could complete a book in a term. Afternoons were used for less formal teaching, review and repetition.
Because books were scarce and lecture methods relied on reading aloud, the quality of a student’s learning depended in part on memory. A student who could recite and explain the text had a head start in the next stage.
Disputations
The second characteristic form of teaching was the disputation, a structured debate. A question was posed, such as whether a given statement was true. Arguments were presented on one side and then the other, using logic and authorities, and the master concluded with a decision. Regular disputations trained students in argument and exposed them to the scholastic method, and they were also a public test of ability. In the higher faculties, ceremonial disputations marked key points on the road to a degree.
Examinations and degrees
Progress was marked by degrees. After several years in the faculty of arts, a student could determine, meaning take part in a formal debate, to become a bachelor. Further study and examinations led to a license to teach, and then to the ceremony of becoming a master. Higher degrees followed in theology, law or medicine, and these could take many years. The process was costly, as new masters were often expected to provide feasts and gifts, and many students left without finishing.
Not every student wanted a degree. Some simply attended long enough for the training they needed, such as for a position in a church or noble household. Clerical status could provide a living through church positions, which is one reason students flocked to universities.
Clothes, discipline and student culture
Students were expected to dress modestly, in simple clerical gowns, and statutes forbade carrying weapons, gambling, visiting taverns and wandering at night. The repeated bans suggest the rules were often broken. Student life included songs, satirical verses in Latin and a reputation for drinking and brawling. Wandering scholars wrote lively poetry, and some collections survive. At the same time, serious students formed study groups, copied books and debated late into the evening.
Town and gown
Relations between students and townspeople were uneasy. Students were numerous, often young and under church rather than town law, which meant that townspeople could not easily punish them. Townspeople, for their part, ran the inns and shops that profited from students, but they also set rents and prices, and disputes over these were common. The phrase “town and gown” arose from this divide.
Violence sometimes erupted. In Oxford, a quarrel in a tavern in 1355 grew into several days of rioting on St. Scholastica’s Day, with serious casualties. The outcome favored the university, which gained new powers over the town. In Paris, a clash in the early thirteenth century led to a suspension of lectures and a temporary departure of masters, and the dispute was resolved with papal and royal support. These episodes show that a university’s privileges were often won by force of circumstance and through the backing of powerful patrons.
What students gained
For those who stayed the course, a university education led to jobs as clerics, lawyers, doctors, teachers and administrators. The training in Latin, logic and disputation was useful in courts and councils, and the network of former students gave a career structure that did not rely solely on birth. The sense of university life as a place of ideas and exchange, rather than just job training, is also reflected in the writing of the time. Many details remain uncertain, but the pattern of lectures, debates, degrees and rivalry is well documented, and it produced institutions that have lasted ever since.