The first half-century in the life of the University of Paris has become a subject of renewed interest in recent years. Jacques Verger's and Olga Weijers's Les Débuts de l'enseignement universitaire à Paris (1200-1245 environ) (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), Spencer E. Young's Scholarly Community at the Early University of Paris. Theologians, Education and Society, 1215-1248 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), and Nathalie Gorochov's most recent book, Naissance de l'université. Les écoles de Paris d'Innocent III à Thomas d'Aquin (v. 1200-v. 1245) (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2012) have all contributed to a more thorough knowledge of the early years of the university. Those books have, for the most part, referred readers to texts and documents in Latin. Bermon's book has, for the first time, provided French translations of the most important documents as well as ones less known, followed by extensive commentary that sets forth the context and explores the content and meaning of each document. The work resulted from the collective effort of those participating in a course in the École de Langues et de Civilisation de l'Orient Ancien at the Institut Catholique de Paris in 2013-2014.
After an introduction covering the development of the University of Paris from the late twelfth-century schools, both the cathedral school on the Île-de-la-Cité as well as the independent and canonical schools on the Left Bank, the remainder of the book is divided into four chronological sections, each with a summary of the major events of those years, followed by chosen texts and their analysis. The first section, entitled "Des filières gratuites d'enseignement aux premiers statuts conservés de l'université de Paris" includes ten documents: canons from Lateran III and IV requiring cathedral chapters to establish a benefice or prebend for a teacher to train clerics; the 1200 decree of King Philip Augustus acknowledging the clerical privileges of masters and students, which has often been viewed as legal recognition of the university as an institution; the account by Roger of Howden of the events in 1200; a letter of Innocent III to Parisian doctors of theology regarding the reintegration of a Master 'G' into the corporation of masters; the 1210 decree of the archbishop of Sens, the bishop of Paris, and other bishops on the exhumation and desecration of the body of Amaury de Bene, the condemnation of his followers, the burning of the works of David of Dinant, and the prohibition of the works of Aristotle in natural philosophy and French translations of the Creed and Pater noster; the heretical doctrines of the Amauricians; the report of William le Breton on the same events; the letter of Innocent III to judges delegate to resolve the conflict between the chancellor and Parisian students; the letter of the bishop of Paris describing the resolution of that conflict and the statement of the chancellor to abide by the agreement; and finally the earliest surviving statutes for the University of Paris (actually for masters and students in arts and theology) promulgated by Robert of Courson in 1215. Although other issues came up in this period, such as the origins and development of the nations in the Faculty of Arts or the limiting the number of those permitted to teach theology, the topics chosen are certainly the most important.
While the first section includes several different issues in the period leading to the statutes of 1215, the second section focuses on one crisis, the suspension of teaching and the dispersion from Paris of most masters and students from 1229 to 1231, and which ended with Gregory IX's bull, Parens Scientiarum, often referred to as the Magna Charta of the University of Paris. This section begins with translations of seven accounts of the events of 1229, followed by a sermon in 1229 by Odo of Châteauroux, regent master in theology at Paris, in defense of university clerics who form a learned bulwark against heretics; Gregory IX's letter criticizing the actions of William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris, against the university; Philip the Chancellor's sermon to exiled students at Orléans in 1230; and finally the text of Parens Scientiarum (1231). Here Bermon has added more contemporary accounts of these events than are generally used to construct their history.
Like the second section, the third focuses on one event, the entry of the Dominicans into the University of Paris. The documents provided are the letters of Jordan of Saxony, master general of the order, to Sister Diane, head of the Dominican convent in Bologna, concerning the teaching program of friars and other matters; the Dominican Constitutions outlining their program of studies; and the sermons of Humbert de Romans, master general, directed toward different groups of students. Although many interesting documents are included here, especially letters and sermons that are not well known, other important documents are missing, such as the papal letters that accompanied the Dominican arrival and facilitated the development of their teaching mission at Saint Jacques. On the other hand, Bermon uses the opportunity of Diane to expand on the issue of women in relation to the university studies with some important observations.
The final section details the teaching programs and examinations at Paris, using Jacques de Vitry's recently edited sermon to students; a sermon in defense of the liberal arts attributed to Guiard de Laon; the 1255 statute of the Faculty of Arts; and Robert of Sorbon's treatise on conscience.
Bermon has chosen the most important topics in the first half-century of the University of Paris, and their separation into four periods works well. The commentaries are more than explication de texte. Many of them are scholarly essays in their own right. In the case of other crises that occurred during these years that have not been included, such as the conflict between secular clerics, especially theologians, and the mendicant and religious orders that established houses of studies at Paris between 1220 and 1250, or the condemnation and burning of the Talmud in the 1240s, the author has directed readers to the best literature on these events and issues.
The bibliography, however, is not as user-friendly as it might be. While it includes almost all of the relevant literature on the early University of Paris, with the exception of Young's book, articles that appeared in collected volumes, listed under the author with the title of the article, have only the title of the volume in which they appear, and the pagination of the article. While those collected volumes are included in the bibliography, they are alphabetized according to the beginning article rather than the beginning noun. Thus La France de Philippe Auguste is placed between L'Enseignement de la philosophie and La Lande (Jerôme de), Le Brûlement du Talmud is placed between Le Bras (Gabriel) and Le Goff (Jacques), and Les débuts de l'enseignement is placed between Lerner (Robert) and Lesne (Émile). None of these titles will be found in on-line library catalogs under La, Le, or Les, including libraries in Paris, while they can be found under "France," "Brûlement," and "Débuts," or under the surname of the editor, if one knew that. Moreover, one article in a collected volume has an incorrect title. Gilbert Dahan's "L'enseignement de la théologie" in Les Débuts de l'enseignement is entitled "Introduction," perhaps because it is the first essay in that section. I suspect Bermon had some "help" in preparing the bibliography. By contrast, the appendices, which list condemnations at the University of Paris in the thirteenth century (Annexe 1), the academic calendar (Annexe 2), bibliographical information on the works mentioned in the arts faculty statute of 1255 (Annexe 3), the list of colleges founded before the Sorbonne (Annexe 4), and the principal masters teaching at Paris between 1200 and 1260 (Annexe 5), are very helpful and well chosen.
This work will give lycée and university students in France greater access to the sources from which the early history of the University of Paris is told and interpreted. And for readers in non-French speaking countries, it will help students whose French may be better than their Latin. Several of the documents included in this volume were translated into English by Lynn Thorndike, University Records and Life in the Middle Ages (New York: Columbia University Press, 1944), but Thorndike provided no commentary. For both groups Bermon's work is an excellent source book to help students get behind historical accounts and assess the sources used to reconstruct those accounts. And, keeping in mind the observation that every translation is an interpretation, students should still be encouraged to consult the Latin originals of these documents.