At my alma mater,
the University of Naples,
born thanks to Federico II in 1224,
bearing the motto
"For Scientiarum Haustum
et Seminarium Doctrinarum "
I did mine.
University that began to form in the early decades of the twelfth century were the answer to the crisis caused by the inadequacy of training provided only under the supervision church authorities and their birth marked a turning point in the field of dissemination of culture, which ceased to be reserved almost exclusively for the church and began to spread among the laity.
The University marked a sharp break with the type of higher education known in previous centuries, characterized by the dominant role exercised by the clergy, both in private schools, both in the monastic and episcopal, who were no longer equipped to accept the growing demand for education and did not offer the material extended to the profane sciences, such as law, that a season of revival in business, was felt to be necessary.
characterized by institutionalized organization, open to students of diverse backgrounds and social classes with regard to obtaining a recognized beyond the local boundaries, the university is completely original creation that fits perfectly in the context of what Haskins has very aptly described as " revival of the twelfth century."
students, said university boys, and teachers responded to the crisis together in a sort of association or corporation, that is precisely " Universitas , creating those independent schools which has since called universities, which dealt with the teaching and various aspects of the Student of the structure itself, such as curriculum, book prices, the remuneration of teachers, housing, tax exemptions, etc..
From the thirteenth century the University spread in Europe and the major universities were known for any particular discipline.
In general, these universities were structured with a different internal structure of the studies, but each guest, in general, some of these four faculties: Arts, humanities of " crossroads" and the "scientific " of " crossroads ", and the three higher faculties of Theology, Law and Medicine.
The faculty of arts education provided a base centered on the seven liberal arts with a greater interest in the dialectic: the term refers to the liberal arts curriculum followed by "clerics " - a medieval correspond to people involved in intellectual and cultural activities that formed all ' interior of the Church and that, in order to devote entirely to their intellectual vocation without having to constantly look for economic support, they were set up in one of the minor orders - before entry to university. More generally, the liberal arts were the activities where you had to work a purely intellectual, in the face of the "mechanical arts " that requires effort fisico.
Il clima che si diffuse in queste università fu completamente differente da quello che si respirava nelle vecchie scuole vescovili.
I programmi di insegnamento erano ideati liberamente dai professori che, con l'aiuto degli studenti, preparavano anche libri di testo concepiti per una didattica pratica.
Le lezioni erano tenute in lingua latina, considerata allora la lingua della cultura ed ascoltate da allievi giunti da ogni parte attratti dalla fama dei maestri. Questi, prima di assumere l'incarico, dovevano prestare giuramento di fedeltà e impegnarsi a svolgere il proprio compito con il massimo rigore scientifico e morale e, ad un tempo, a difendere la libertà ed i privilegi dell'Università with which they operated.
The University also led to significant innovations in terms of educational levels: at these sites was, in fact, codified the " scholastic method" of higher education with which the student was initiated to follow an intellectual journey through precise:
1. the "lectio " or reading , often held in makeshift premises, was not only in reading-comment fundamental works of the authors.
2. the " quaestio " or identification of problems, in which the master, sceglieva un tema.
3. la “ disputatio ” o disputa interpretativa, in cui il maestro dava l'incarico al suo assistente, o baccelliere, di presentarlo agli studenti e di rispondere alle loro argomentazioni.
4. la “ determinatio ” che rappresentava la sintesi finale della quale, soltanto il giorno successivo sintetizzava i temi delle discussioni del giorno precedente e esponeva la propria tesi.
Nelle università medievali il rapporto fra docenti e discenti era assai gradient, not only because the dispute involved their participation, but also because the teachers were often at the same time of Arts students in the faculty " top" of theology.
In the atmosphere of stimulating support for the arts was the rediscovery of classical culture and universities, to read and discuss the works of Greek and Latin writers.
Between the end of the twelfth century to the end of the thirteenth, the cultural movement of the University spread to a large part of Europe and, in 1300, there were already 15 universities in Europe, five in Italy (Bologna, Padua, Naples , Vercelli and the Studium of the Roman Curia), five in France (Paris, Montpellier, Toulouse, Orleans and Angers), two in England (Oxford and Cambridge), two in Spain (Salamanca and Valladolid) and the University of Lisbon, then moved to Coimbra, Portugal.
It was not, however, institutions are equivalent: until the late Middle Ages, even when the number of universities grew significantly, those who had not only a local function, but it attracts students and faculty from other European countries had few, if they can identify with some certainty seven: Bologna, Paris, Montpellier, Oxford, Padua, Cambridge and Salamanca.
In the thirteenth century, however, the civil authorities, the leaders in France and England, the municipal magistrates in Italy, began to impose their control over universities, corporations now become powerful and, despite the violent reaction of the university, who also resorted to the strike weapon abandoning their homes, in the end they were seen removing their autonomy. Is emblematic in this sense, the establishment of the University of Naples, who was born in 1224 at the initiative of Frederick II through the Universities, the Swabian Emperor are to monitor the training of administrative staff of his kingdom. This point deserves attention, as representative of a future trend: the example of Frederick II, in fact, was immediately followed by the popes, who worked to exercise control of knowledge through their foundations. The Papacy put universities under its jurisdiction and protection, ensuring legal and economic privileges of the university, but the major phase of discussion and intellectual battle was over and the university intelligentsia was aimed more toward careers in church, so that in an essay, Jacques Le Goff, says' the intellectuals of the West become, to some extent, but undoubtedly the Papal staff. "
inevitable result of these developments was that universities, during the fourteenth century, entering the orbit of government, which directly salaried teachers, degenerates. The university became an institution the service of power, and this affects every point of view, since the idea of \u200b\u200bstudy and research went replacing the training. The studies are shortened, and at the same time, they are also socially limited: taxes and prohibitive costs no longer allow all students to attend classes. Even the exemptions and reductions only affect the immediate family of doctors, transforming the culture in a family heirloom.
evolving in this direction, the university became less integrated political and religious society and, consequently, the study became increasingly the preserve of members of the aristocracy.
This was especially evident when, humanistic in full swing, the exclusive horti (= gardens) patricians became points of reference for research.
Things changed significantly also in terms of teaching, since the "democratic " medieval lesson - which was held in makeshift premises and was centered on a kind of collaborative relationship between teachers and students - are replaced a private conversation with a small circle of intelligence, which will be profound distance between learner and teacher.
At the same time, universities are structured more in terms of organization, as students, custodians of less power, were replaced by new hierarchies burocratiche.
Nonostante questo manifesto mutamento, per non dire regresso, va constatato il primato che, durante il Rinascimento, l'università italiana riuscì a raggiungere, a livello europeo, una preponderanza insita nel contesto sociale che contraddistinse questo vivacissimo momento storico. La preminenza in campo universitario è insomma un riflesso di quella superiorità civile che fa guardare alla civiltà rinascimentale come a uno dei periodi di massimo splendore mai raggiunti dall'Uomo. Ruolo non secondario svolse la rivalutazione dell'antichità classica, la quale diede nuovo significato ai valori civili e umani.
Ciò non toglie comunque che, rispetto all'età medioevale, le principali università italiane, con gran parte dell'autonomia persero anche il proprio ruolo di centri di rinnovamento intellettuale. L'università non fu più all'avanguardia nel progresso culturale, e, indirettamente, lo testimonia il fatto che solo pochi dei più grandi intellettuali dell'età moderna, Bacone, Hobbes, Locke, Cartesio, Leibniz, furono docenti universitari.
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