Parens scientiarum
The bull of 1231 by which Gregory IX settled a conflict that had driven masters and students from Paris. It regulates the chancellor’s licence to teach and grants the masters and students the right to make their own statutes and to suspend lectures if wronged.
The bull opens with the words “Paris, the mother of the sciences”, from which it is named. It was issued, as it says, to settle a dissension that had “greatly disturbed the university”. It binds the chancellor of Paris by oath in granting the licence to teach, forbids him to take money for it, and confirms the corporation’s rights over lectures, dress, lodgings and discipline.
Munro, its translator, notes that it has been called the Magna Carta of the University of Paris, and that the students had dispersed and sworn not to return.
Cited in
- about 1150 to 1215, estimated date