Since at least the fourteenth century, it was typical for students to live together with masters in colleges or bursae, which were owned and run by the latter. In these colleges, not only disputations, but also exercises were held. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, a substantial part of the educational programme was delivered in the colleges, including, most importantly, some of the ordinary lectures. This shift had enormous impact on the schooling of students. The increased closeness of the master-student relationship facilitated the emergence of different schools of thought, each expressing the preferences of their respective master. An example of great historical import is Cologne, founded in 1388, where attached to the Arts faculty were a number of bursae, each with their own reading of the corpus aristotelicum. The thomistae at the bursa montana commented upon Aristotle on the basis of the works of Thomas Aquinas, whereas the albertistae at the bursa laurentiana preferred the commentaries of Albert the Great. School traditions linked to institutions closely connected to the Arts faculty are a phenomenon Typical of the fifteenth century, which does not appear in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The Wegestreit
Also characteristic of the late-medieval period is the so-called Wegestreit. the debate between the via antiqua and via moderna which took shape in the second decade of the fifteenth century and determined the educational programme at many universities until the beginning of the sixteenth century. The bone of contention was the correct interpretation of Aristotle - whether it was that exemplified by Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, and John Duns Scotus (the via antiqua), or that exemplified by William of Ockham, John Buridan, and Marsilius of Inghen (the via moderna). That the debate became so intense was due largely to the fact that it bore upon the relationship between philosophy and theology. According to representatives of the via antiqua, there is a necessary connection between the two, most significantly demonstrated by Thomas Aquinas, and therefore Aristotle must be interpreted in a way that does not conflict with Christian Faith. Defenders of the via moderna denied this and referred, for example, to Marsilius of Inghen, who had argued that for Aristotle the human soul is mortal and creation from nothing an impossibility, and therefore that Aristotle’s thought cannot be completely reconciled with Revelation.
At many universities, masters and students of both ‘‘ways’’ lived in different colleges. Consequently, the same texts of Aristotle were read at the same time by two different masters, each according to their own via. Exams were also held separately, so as to avoid students being failed because they did not respond to the question in an appropriate way. This situation interfered with the operation of the Arts faculty in many ways, and the protocols of the various Arts faculties testify to the plethora of difficulties that emerged from this state of affairs. Only toward the beginning of the sixteenth century did circumstances eventually change.
World History
