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The Practice of Charity at the University of Paris during the Middle Ages: Ave Maria College
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Extract
Life within the Colleges of the University of Paris was a charming one, full of interesting details concerning teaching and education in medieval Paris. A manuscript buried amongst the documents of the National Archives is revealing for those who believe that the lectures on Boethius and the explanation of Donatus constituted the entire programme of the student. The present article is only a sketch intended to call attention to some of the practical methods used to implement the Christian teachings on charity.
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- Copyright © 1947 by Cosmopolitan Science & Art Service Co., Inc.
References
1 Manuscript MM.406 of the Archives Nationales, containing the Statutes of Ave Maria College, illustrated by thirty-three miniatures, is preserved in the exhibition room of the Archives. The miniatures represent the different obligations of the students during their residence in College: fols. 6–11v (fol. 9 is missing).—The manuscript contains 75 folios and fol. 32bis. The original foliation, with roman numerals, is found at the top of the pages, from I (= fol. 13) to LIXbis (=fol. 70); LVIII, LIX, LX (=fols. 71, 72, 73). Fols. LVII–LIX and LIXbis have been added later, LVII is now lost.—Especial thanks are due to Mlle. J. Vieillard, Secretary General of the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, who placed the photos of the MS at my disposal.Google Scholar
2 Map, Walter, De nugis curialium ed. James, M. R. (Anecdota Oxoniensia 14; Oxford 1914) 69.Google Scholar
3 Gabriel, A., Les Hongrois et la Sorbonne médiévale (Budapest 1940) 3–4. Gerardus Puella began his teaching career in or about 1160.Google Scholar
4 Innocent, III, Liber de eleemosyna (PL 217, 759). Chartul. Univ. Par. I, 69.Google Scholar
5 Davy, M., Les Sermons universitaires (Paris 1931): on Peter of Bar-sur-Aube, p. 247; Master Guiard, 236; Philip the Chancellor, 154; John of the Black Friars, 294–5.—L. Lallemand, , Historie de la Charité III (Paris 1906–9) 109. Dictionn. apol. de la foi cathol. I, 319–27; III, 1689.Google Scholar
6 Archives Nationales DD.8016 (Moulages); Auct. Chartul. Univ. Par. I, Introd. xiv–xv.Google Scholar
7 See the drawing in the margin of the MS Sorbonne, Archives no. 2/I, fol. 44v, showing a student drinking. Proctorship of William of Grinlow from Scotland (1342); Auct. Chart. Univ. Par. I, lvi: ‘Cantat Normannus, bibit Anglicus, est Alemannus.’—Gray Boyce, C., The English-German Nation in the University of Paris (Bruges 1927) 149.Google Scholar
8 Sorbonne, , Archives MS 91, fol. 201.Google Scholar
9 Arch. Nat. MM.406, fol. 63. Chartul. Univ. Par. II, 564 puts the foundation at June 22, 1339.— Thorndike, L., University Records and Life in the Middle Ages (New York 1944) 441; Rashdall, H., Powicke, F. M., Emden, A. B., The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (Oxford 1936) I, 510; 532n.; 538; Crevier, , Histoire de l'Université de Paris II (Paris 1761) 330–31.Google Scholar
10 John of Hubant is called councillor and clerk of the king in our MS; ‘Venerabilis vir et magister Johannes de Hubanto Domini regis clericus et conciliarius’ (fol. 63). In 1329 we find one John of Hubant living in the cloister of Sainte-Geneviève ( Chart. Univ. II, 662). His bursa was 4 sol. He is probably to be identified with, or a relative of, the councillor, for the latter says in the act of foundation: ‘… fundo, instituo, perpetuo sex pauperes pueros scolares Parisienses, unum capellanum, unum magistrum, pro ipsis pueris qui habitacionem suam habunt in domo in qua nunc inhabito, sita in claustro Sancte Genevefe …’ (MS fol. 4).Google Scholar
11 MS fol. 4: ‘… et in muro cujus domus anterioris supra portam sunt imagines Beate Virginis, Beatorum Johannis Bapt. et Johannis Evangeliste et Ave Maria desuper imagines predictas litteris aureis scripta …’ Google Scholar
12 Thorndike, , op. cit. 445.Google Scholar
13 MS fol. 4: ‘Item predicti pueri ponentur in dicta domo et recipiantur de legitimo matrimonio procreati in pupillari etate existantes, videlicet octo vel novem annorum vel circa, non difformes in aliqua sui parte, abiles ad docendum sufficientes, vel prope sufficientes ad honor quod ejusdem imponitur supportandum. Nec ultra festum beati Johannis Bapt. immediate sequens decimum sextum annum etatis sue completum remanebunt …’ Google Scholar
14 MS fol. 6: ‘Facietque magister posse suum, et tantam diligentiam apponet circa ipsos quod sint et efficienter sufficientes et sufficienter fundati in grammaticalibus suis in duodecimo vel terciodecimo anno etatis sue, ad finem quod statim possint audire logicalia sua et hoc sub debito juramento. Tenebitur quoque dictus magister esse cum pueris de die et nocte in scolis et in capella cum ipsi pueri dicent horas suas et eciam cum ibunt ad ecclesiam vel ad sermones vel spaciatum vel extra domum.’ Google Scholar
15 MS fol. 7, miniature 8; fol. 8, min. 13, min. 15; fol. 11, min. 30.Google Scholar
16 MS fol. 52: ‘Item in omnibus sollemnitatibus Dei et Beate Virginis Dei pueri pro anima fundatoris et omnibus defunctis benefactoribus suis tenebantur dare unam scutellam potagii pro Deo …’ Google Scholar
17 MS fol. 7, min. 8 (see Plate II).Google Scholar
18 MS fol. 6v, min. 5, min. 6; fol. 7, min. 7, min. 8, min. 9; fol. 7v, min. 10, min. 11, min. 12 (see Plates I–III); fol. 8, min. 13; fol. 10v, min. 24.Google Scholar
19 Aquinas, St. Thomas, Sum. theol. 2,2 q. 32 a. 2, 1.Google Scholar
20 MS fol. 6v, min. 5 (see Plate I).Google Scholar
21 Ibid. min. 6.Google Scholar
22 MS fol. 7, min. 7 (see Plate II).Google Scholar
23 Ibid. min. 8.Google Scholar
24 Ibid. min. 9.Google Scholar
25 MS fol. 7v, min. 10 (see Plate III).Google Scholar
26 Rutebeuf, , La Grièche d'hiver: ‘Au temps où arbres se défeuillent/ Et qu'il ne reste en branches feuille/ Qui n'aille à terre/ Pour la pauvreté qui m'atterre/ Qui de partout me fait la guerre/ Au temps d'hiver.’ (Cohen, G., Anthologie de la littérature française du moyen âge, Paris 1946, p. 126).Google Scholar
27 MS fol. 7v, min. 11 (see Plate III).Google Scholar
28 Villon, , Lais 22, 176: ‘Je leur laisse deux beaux riblis/ La Lanterne a la Pierre au Let./ Voire, mais j'auray les Troys Lis / S'ilz me mainent en Chastellet.’ (ed. Foulet, L., François Villon, Paris 1923, p. 6).Google Scholar
29 MS fol. 7v, min. 12 (see Plate III).Google Scholar
30 MS fol. 8, min. 13. If my observation is correct, the miniature shows a student giving an apple to one of the sick.Google Scholar
31 Ibid. min. 15.Google Scholar
32 MS fol. 11, min. 30.Google Scholar
33 Richard, R., La théologie et la piété II (Paris 1937) 249.Google Scholar