Detail map of Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel,Paris, Île-de-France, France,Al Qanawat, Damascus, Damascus Governorate, Syria

A: Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel, B: Paris, Île-de-France, France, C: Al Qanawat, Damascus, Damascus Governorate, Syria

Le Collège des Dix-Huit, the First College Founded in Western Europe

1180
Meeting of professors at the University of Paris. From a 16th-century

Meeting of professors at the University of Paris. From a 16th-century miniature. From the "Chants royaux" manuscript, Bibliothèque nationale de France

In 1180 Jocius of London, a wealthy English merchant, who had just returned from Jerusalem, founded the first college known in Western Europe. Limted to eighteen fellows or scholars, this college, founded near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, became known the Collège des Dix-Huit. It eventually became one of the founding units of the Université de Paris.

The founding charter of the college read as follows:

"Nous, Barbedor, doyen de l'église de Paris et tout le chapitre de la même église, nous voulons que soit connu de tous, tant présents qu'à venir, que, lorsque messire Josse de Londres est revenu de Jérusalem, ayant considéré avec la plus soigneuse dévotion l'assistance qui est portée aux pauvres et aux malades dans l'hôpital de la bienheureuse Marie de Paris, il vit là une chambre dans laquelle selon un vieil usage étaient hébergés les pauvres clercs et, sur notre conseil et celui de maître Hilduin, chancelier de Paris, alors procureur du même lieu, il en fit l'acquisition à perpétuité pour le prix de 52 livres auprès des procureurs de la même maison pour l'usage desdits clercs, sous cette condition que les procureurs de celle-ci fourniraient à titre perpétuel à 18 clercs écoliers des lits convenables et chaque mois douze deniers pris sur les aumônes qui sont recueillies dans le coffre. En contrepartie, lesdits clercs devront à tour de rôle porter la croix et l'eau bénite devant les corps des personnes décédées dans la même maison et célébrer chaque nuit sept psaumes de pénitence et les prières dues et instituées anciennement. Afin que ces dispositions demeurent fermes et stables, ledit Josse a obtenu que cette charte de notre institution soit faite par lesdits clercs et a demandé qu'elle soit confirmée par l'impression au bas de notre sceau. Fait publiquement à Paris, en notre chapitre, l'an de l'Incarnation du Seigneur 1180" (Wikipedia article on Collège des Dix-Huit, accessed 07-06-2014). 

In Warriors of the Cloisters. The Central Origins of Science in the Medieval World (2012) Christopher Beckwith argued that this earliest European college was modeled on the Central Asian madrasa:

"By the period of Jocius's visit to the Near East, madrasas were very common there. Like the madrasa, the college is an all-inclusive academic institution with a permanent endowment recognized by the government. The endowment, in both the Islamic and Western European traditions, covered the expenses of the physical property and living support for the scholars—the students and their teacher or teachers—all of whom lived together in the same structure. Based on the brief description in the founding charter and what is known about other early colleges from the following decades, including the Sorbonne, the college founded by Jocius is identical in all particulars to the typical madrasa then widespread in Syria and its vicinity. They were endowed institutions, generally quite small, which housed a small number of students, typically less than two dozen; exactly like the Collège des Dix-huit and most of the other early colleges. Because Jerusalem is located inland, Jocius had necessarily spent time in the Islamic Near East—undoubtedly in Syria, which was one of the main destinations of merchants and pilgrims alike. There he must have encountered the local small tpe of madrasa on which he modeled the identicial institution he founded in Paris, Europe's first college. The Near Eastern origin of the Western European college could hardly be clearer" (Beckwith pp. 39-40).

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