ABSTRACT
This chapter examines mediaeval university as an intellectual centre. This involves some account of its course of study, its methods of teaching, and the status and freedom of its teachers. The element of continuity, so clear in institutions, is often less evident in the content of learning, but even here the thread is unbroken, the contrast with modern conditions less sharp than is often supposed. The social position of mediaeval professors must be seen against the background of the social system of a different age from ours. The mediaeval professor often dealt with permanent human interests as he sharpened men's wits and kept alive the continuous tradition of learning. People come perhaps nearest to modern conditions in the cities of Italy, where there is evidence in the Middle Ages as now of the distinguished position of many professors of medicine and civil law.
