medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Gearoid,
I think the short answer is: No. I am not sure about the other places, but my
wife, who is a specialist on the university of Salamanca, informs me that
nothing of the kind happened in Salamanca. A famous "collegium trilingue" in
Salamanca was an item on the agenda of the university administrators for over a
century, but plans for it never materialized. In the sixteenth century, they
had enough difficulty in keeping up with Latin. Alcala was more succesful in
teaching Hebrew and Aramaic (which is Chaldaic - it's not that different from
Hebrew), but not until the Renaissance, when they produced the Complutensian
Polyglot.
Most of the time, you hear the Vienne canon cited as evidence that these
languages were receiving more attention in the fourteenth century, but I think
most universities simply never had a chair in these languages. I cite Paolo
Nardi, in De Ridder-Symoens _History of Universities_, p. 95: "Clement V issued
orders for the foundation of chairs of Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldean in the
studia of Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Salamanca, not all of which complied" ...
He doesn't give a refernce for this, and doesn't tell us which one did comply.
At least not Salamanca!
A quick look in Cobban, The medieval English universities, confirms that there
was no "chair" in Hebrew in Cambridge until the sixteenth century. I suspect
the same is the case with the other universities (except, of course, Salamanca,
where the advent of the Renaissance was marked by the failure to even teach in
Latin.)
This is not to say that there weren't scholars who knew these langauges. But
the official instruction in these langauges, as far as I know, is still
somewhat of a blank map. It merits further research. This would be a good Ph.D.
topic.
Frans van Liere
Department of History, Calvin College
1845 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/history/faculty/vanlieref/
>>> Gearoid Dullea <[log in to unmask]> 03/22/07 7:23 AM >>>
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At the Counil of Vienne 1311-1312, c.24 stipulated that Hebrew, Arabic and
Chaldaic be taught at the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna and
Salmanca, as well as at the place that the Roman Curia resides. Does
anyone know when these universities actually started to teach these
languages? The instruction was made part of Canon Law and renewed at the
Council of Basel-Florence.
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