ABSTRACT
By the end of the Middle Ages, university protests were more common than ever in the Kingdom of France. They were so disruptive that, in 1499, the right of scholars to protest by suspending academic activities was revoked by the royal government. This chapter explains why these protests were so numerous. It examines the means of protest employed by medieval academics, drawing examples from the universities of Paris, Toulouse, and Caen, for which archives have been preserved. After the drawn-out conflict of 1229, Pope Gregory IX granted the Parens scientiarum bull to the University of Paris in April 1231, giving it the means to suspend academic activities legally. This bull did not end the conflicts between the university, the urban population, and the bishop or cathedral chapter. In the thirteenth century, the Parens Scientiarum bull established the basis for legal recognition of the suspension of educational activities by academics.
