Abstract

There is no general agreement on the meaning of the expression “twelfth-century schools’’ and the reality of some of them, mainly of the famous School of Chartres, has been seriously challenged. Without solving this problem, we can distinguish three types of institution: (1) The cathedral schools: Notre-Dame of Paris, Chartres, and also Laon, Orleans, Reims. These schools are, first and foremost, places where theology was taught. (2) Collegial or canonical schools: the most interesting example is the School of Saint Victor. (3) Private schools, led by independent masters, based in Paris and focusing their teaching on dialectic, logic, and the liberal arts but also interested in theology. Schools are different from each other regarding their institutional status, the authoritative texts on which they focus, and their doctrinal inclination.

The expression ‘‘twelfth-century schools’’ refers to a historical object that is difficult to outline and define. Roughly, it is used to speak of the essentially urban multiplication of institutions of teaching and training in central and northern France, mainly in the area around Paris, and of the revival of scholarly thought that came with it. However, according to the interpretation one gives To this expression, its extension may vary considerably. This is because the existence of some schools has been questioned - for example, the reality of the most famous school of the twelfth century, the School of Chartres, has been challenged by Richard Southern; Valerie Flint has given an analogous criticism of the School of Laon - but also because there is no agreement on what is meant by the word ‘‘school.’’ It is the task more of research on intellectual culture and the social history of ideas to determine what the nature of these schools may have been, than that of the history of philosophy stricto sensu. A historian of philosophy can acknowledge the fact that some authors influence others or defend the same theses, or disagree; however, it is difficult to provide proof of the reality of the institutional organization of given intellectual centers. Despite the general climate of skepticism, two facts justify our speaking about ‘‘schools’’ - at least in a weak sense - during the twelfth century. The first is obvious: in all periods of history, teaching and training in philosophy required a minimal framework and structure. The second pertains to the unquestionable activity of masters: in a way unprecedented until the twelfth century, some particularly original and charismatic thinkers initiated an intellectual movement, had an indisputable posterity and attracted around them a group which perpetuated their thought; the twelfth century is clearly, to quote the expression of David Knowles, ‘‘the age of the secular masters.’’

Previously, teaching was mainly given in monastic schools (Fleury and, more importantly, the Abbey of Bec are good examples); this type of structure began to wane, and monastic schools closed to students from outside. New structures appeared or acquired renewed dynamism: during the twelfth century, a phase of active teaching took place, in particular - and this was new - in towns, masters opened their schools and currents of thought were constituted, in which a feeling of belonging can be identified. The history of this century is particularly rich regarding the teaching of philosophy: in towns, cathedral schools developed, such as Notre-Dame in Paris, a new kind of philosophical work led by authors associated to Chartres flourished, the School of Saint Victor was founded, the Parisian schools of logic were created and grew, innovative thought such as that of Gilbert of Poitiers had a remarkable posterity, an important center for medieval spirituality developed at the Abbey of Clairvaux, and the first universities were founded (in 1200, Philip Augustus issued the privilege to the schools in Paris which marks, at least symbolically, the beginning of the University of Paris).

Grouping these diverse phenomena under the generic name of twelfth-century schools is probably imprecise, such are the differences between them. We may, however, distinguish three types of institutions:

1.  The cathedral schools: Notre-Dame of Paris, Chartres, and also Laon, Orleans, Reims. These schools are first and foremost places where theology was taught, although in the case of Chartres for example, great interest was shown for grammar and natural philosophy.

2.  Collegial or canonical schools: the most interesting example is Saint Victor.

3.  Independent or private schools, led by independent masters, also sometimes called sectae. All these schools were based in Paris and taught dialectic, logic, and the liberal arts. In many cases, theology was associated to logic; it is thus appropriate, following Yukio Iwakuma and Sten Ebbesen, to call such schools logico-theological schools.

Schools differ in their nature and history; some continue a tradition, while others reflect the innovative approach of the twelfth century. Schools can also be distinguished from each other according to the content of their teaching. Some, such as Laon, had recognized expertise in theology, whereas the independent schools became specialized in the teaching of logic, which came to be seen as their hallmark. These schools also differ through the texts that found their teaching: we can observe particularly remarkable climaxes such as the exegetical tradition of the Timaeus at Chartres or that of the Pseudo-Dionysius at Saint Victor. In contrast, the schools of dialectic, both of realist and nominalist inclination, are clearly focused on Aristotle’s logical writings. However, some thinkers cross these lines. William of Champeaux first taught at the School of Notre-Dame in Paris before founding Saint Victor; and he was interested in Aristotelian logic. Gilbert of Poitiers, who was chancellor at Chartres from 1126 to 1137, was also highly competent in logic, but had little interest in the exegesis of the Timaeus.

Let us consider these three types of schools by focusing, in the first two cases, on the examples that provided the most interesting philosophical contribution, Chartres for the first type and Saint Victor for the second. For the third type, we shall consider the case of the Porretans.