eleventh century, was the centre of this classical Renaissance, and it
rose to the height of its fame under Bernard Sylvester and his pupil,
William of Conches; while the greatest representative of this learning
was a pupil of William of Conches, John of Salisbury, an historian of
philosophy rather than himself a philosopher or theologian.

[Sidenote: Origin of universities.]

It was in the twelfth century and out of the cathedral schools that
the medieval universities arose. The monastic schools had spent their
intellectual force, and during this century they almost ceased to
educate the secular clergy. St. Anselm, when Abbot of Bec in Normandy,
was the last of the great monastic teachers. But it was not from the
school of Chartres but from that of Paris that the greatest University
of the Middle Ages took its origin. Paris was identified with the
scholastic studies of dialectic and theology, and it was the fame of
William of Champeaux, and still more that of Abailard, which drew
students in crowds to the cathedral school of Paris. But no university
immediately resulted. Indeed, the Guild of Masters, from which it
originated, is not traceable before 1170, and the four Nations and the
Rector did not exist until the following century. Its recognition as a
corporation dates from a bull of Innocent III about 1210. Its
development starts from the close of its struggle with the Chancellor
and cathedral school of Paris, in which contest it obtained the papal
help. Before the middle of the thirteenth century the University had
acquired its full constitution. But its great fame as a place of
education dates from the teaching of the two great Dominicans,
Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas in the convent of their Order in
Paris during the middle years of the century. This new outburst of
philosophical studies was due to the recovery of many hitherto unknown