University of Paris

The University of Paris (French: Université de Paris), also known as The Sorbonne, was one of the oldest and most important medieval universities in all of Europe. It was founded in the middle of the XII century by the city's bishop Robert de Sorbon, and its facilities were located near the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. In 1200 it was recognized by King Philip II and in 1215 by Pope Innocent III. He quickly acquired great prestige, especially in philosophy and theology. It was established as an association of all the pre-existing colleges in the city of Paris located on the left bank of the Seine River, including the Sorbonne, founded in 1215 and with great prestige during the Middle Ages due to its faculty of theology and whose name it would later be associated with the entire university. Its objective was to train officials of the royal administration (Council of State, parliaments, courts, finance, etc.) and ecclesiastical institutions (teachers, doctors, librarians, bishops, abbots, etc.).

During the Modern Age it suffered a situation of decline. In 1793 it was closed and replaced by specialized higher schools in law, medicine, engineering, normal schools, etc.

A century later, in 1896, a new University of Paris, public and secular, was opened with four faculties: Law, Medicine, Letters and Sciences.

After the events of May 1968 and the reforms of 1968-1971, the university was divided into thirteen independent universities, some of them multidisciplinary and others specialized in certain fields of knowledge.

First university (1150-1793)

The University of Paris emerged in 1150 as an association of professors and students (Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis) complementary to the Notre Dame School of Theology. The first documentary testimony of the University is a letter dated January 15, 1200 from King Philip II in which he grants the members of the University the privilege of being judged by an ecclesiastical court instead of a civil one. The University was recognized by Pope Innocent III by a bull of 1215, later confirmed by Gregory IX in 1231. The teachings were organized into four faculties: those specialized in Law, Medicine and Theology and the generalist of Liberal Arts, which included teachings in grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.

During the 12th and 13th centuries, the University of Paris was one of the most prestigious in Europe along with Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge, Salamanca, Montpellier and Toulouse.

The University of Paris became a moral authority. The doctors of the University ruled on famous controversies such as the taxation of ecclesiastical benefices and played an important role in the Great Western Schism (1378-1417). During the Hundred Years' War, the university supported the English and the Burgundian party, and approved the execution of Joan of Arc (1431).

In the 15th century the university went on strike, for three months in 1443 and six months between September 1444 and March 1445, to defend their fiscal benefits.

Since the end of the 15th century, the University of Paris lived through uncertain times. Charles VII submitted it in 1446 to the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris. In 1600 Henry IV abolished the privileges of the university.

In 1763, after the expulsion of the Jesuits, the university was reorganized and 28 of its colleges were brought together into one: the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

Closing

After the French Revolution, in February 1792 the Faculty of Theology and the academic court were abolished. In 1793 all the old universities were suppressed to replace them with central schools or special schools. In 1794 a medical school was created that replaced the old Faculty of Medicine.

In 1806 the Academy of Paris was created, which assumed the functions of the old university, with five faculties: Letters, Sciences, Catholic Theology, Law and Medicine.

Second University (1896-1970)

In 1886, the five faculties of the Paris Academy, including the École Supérieure de Pharmacy, were again granted university status. A new University of Paris, public and secular, was inaugurated on November 19, 1896 by the President of the Republic Félix Faure.

During the 1910s, the buildings of the Institute of Geography and the Institute of Art and Archeology were built. In 1914, the University had 17,308 students. Forty years later, the number of students had tripled, reaching 64,151 in 1956. The increase in the number of students made it necessary to build new buildings and move some schools to the outskirts of Paris and to nearby towns such as Nanterre and Orsay.

Dismemberment and closure

After the events of May 1968, a profound reform of education was carried out in France. With the Faure law, professors were asked to group according to their own criteria, constituting new universities from the resulting groups. A very outstanding example is that of the University of Nanterre, which emerged in 1968 and was the scene of many of the events that occurred. The groupings were carried out fundamentally by political criteria, due to the still close influence of the events of 1968. The University of Paris ceased to exist on December 31, 1970 and the professors that constituted it until then were regrouped into thirteen new universities, some of them multidisciplinary and others specialized in certain fields of knowledge.

The universities created in 1970, which maintain the name of Paris and the nickname of Sorbonne in their name and use the facilities of the old university located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, in the 5th and 6th arrondissements, are:

• University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, specialized in economy, law, political science, geography and history
• Sorbona University New Paris 3, specialized in social communication, cultural studies and theatre
• University of Paris Cité, specialized in medicine and health sciences
• Sorbonne University, specialized in natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

Other universities that emerged from the dismemberment of the university in 1970, located in Paris or in nearby cities, are:

• University Paris-Est Créteil
• University Sorbona Paris North
• Universidad Panteón-Assas
• Dauphine PSL University
• University of Paris X Nanterre
• University of Paris VIII
• Paris-Saclay University.