During theHigh Middle Ages, theChartres Cathedral established thecathedralSchool of Chartres, an important center ofFrench scholarship located inChartres. It developed and reached its apex during the transitional period of the 11th and 12th centuries, at the start of theLatin translation movement. This period was also right before the spread ofmedieval universities, which eventually superseded cathedral schools andmonastic schools as the most important institutions of higher learning in theLatin West.[1]
In the early 11th century (c. 1020),Bishop Fulbert established Chartres as one of the leading schools in Europe. Although the role of Fulbert himself as a scholar and teacher has been questioned, his administrative ability established the conditions in which the school could flourish.[2]
Great scholars were attracted to the cathedral school, includingBernard of Chartres,Thierry of Chartres,William of Conches, and the EnglishmanJohn of Salisbury. These men were at the forefront of the intense intellectual rethinking that culminated in what is now known as thetwelfth-century Renaissance, pioneering theScholastic philosophy that came to dominate medieval thinking throughout Europe.
As with most monastic and cathedral schools, the school's teaching was based on the traditional sevenliberal arts, grouped into thetrivium (study of logic, grammar and rhetoric) and into thequadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). There were, however, differences among the schools on the emphasis given to each subject. The Chartres school placed special emphasis on the quadrivium (the mathematical arts) and onnatural philosophy.[1]
Chartres' greatest period was the first half of the twelfth century,[1] but it eventually could not support the city's large number of students and its masters lacked the relative autonomy developing around the city's other schools.[3] By the later 12th century, the status of the school was on the wane. It was gradually eclipsed by the newly emergingUniversity of Paris, particularly by the School of theAbbey of St. Victor (attended by the 'Victorines').
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