How did universities develop in the middle ages?

1st Answer:

There weren't any universities in the middle ages. 90% of the people couldn't read or write and monks taught noble boys to read and write to some extent.

2nd Answer:

The universities were formed from less formal schools to educate teachers, physicians, mathematicians, astronomers, lawyers, and so on, once their basic education was done.

Contrary to what one might read, teachers were in demand in Europe, and schools were everywhere. The Byzantine system of primary education was a development of the fifth century, though older individual schools existed in the West. The oldest currently extant school in Britain, King's School in Canterbury, was founded in 597, but records show the Visigoths had already started opening schools before then. The oldest secular, state run school, Beverley Grammar School, was founded in 700 and survived many years of Viking occupation. The oldest school in Iceland was founded in 1056, and the oldest school n Riga, Latvia was founded in 1211, ten years after the city was founded. There are over seventy extant schools in Europe dating from the Middle Ages. King Henry VIII closed at least one school that dated from before the Middle Ages started.

The first university to receive a papal charter was the University of Bologna, in 1088, though teaching had been underway for some time. The University of Paris received its charter in 1150, and Oxford was recognized in 1167, though teaching began in 1096. There were over seventy universities founded in Europe during the Middle Ages.

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