Origins
The University of Bologna, founded in 1088 CE, is recognized as the oldest university in continuous operation in the world. Its emergence marked the birth of the Western university as an institutional form—a self-governing corporation of scholars with the power to grant recognized degrees. Bologna’s model of student organization and its focus on legal studies shaped higher education for centuries.
The university grew organically from the legal studies that flourished in Bologna during the late 11th century. The rediscovery of Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis—the comprehensive compilation of Roman law—created intense demand for legal education. Scholars like Irnerius attracted students from across Europe eager to study the newly available Roman law texts, which offered sophisticated legal concepts applicable to the increasingly complex commercial and political life of medieval Italy.
Unlike later universities that were founded by papal or royal charter, Bologna emerged from the students themselves. Foreign students in Bologna, lacking the legal protections that citizenship afforded, organized themselves into “nations” (nationes) based on geographic origin. These student organizations—collectively the universitas scholarium (corporation of scholars)—banded together to negotiate with the city for protections, set fair prices for lodging and books, and hire teachers on acceptable terms. The students hired scholars, set curricula, and could discipline professors who failed to meet standards by withholding fees or moving elsewhere.
Structure & Function
Bologna pioneered the “student university” model, in contrast to the “masters university” model that Paris would develop. Students controlled the institution: they elected the rector, determined which subjects would be taught, and could fine professors who started lectures late or failed to cover required material. This structure reflected the practical circumstances of wealthy foreign students studying in a city where they had no political standing—collective organization provided leverage.
The curriculum centered on law, both Roman civil law and canon (church) law. Students typically spent years studying the great legal texts through lectures, where professors read the texts aloud and provided commentary (glossa). The Glossators of Bologna—Irnerius, Accursius, and others—developed methods of textual analysis and interpretation that became standard across European legal education. Students also participated in disputations, formal debates on contested legal questions that honed analytical and rhetorical skills.
Bologna granted three degrees in the medieval period: the bachelor’s (baccalaureus), the license (licentia docendi—permission to teach), and the doctorate. The examination for the doctorate was rigorous, involving public defense of theses before assembled faculty. Successful candidates received the symbols of the doctoral degree—the book, ring, and biretta (cap)—in a ceremonial investiture. These degrees were recognized throughout Christendom, allowing graduates to teach at any university—a remarkable standardization for the medieval period.
Historical Significance
Bologna’s influence on higher education has been profound and lasting. The student-organized model spread to other Italian universities (Padua, Siena, Pisa) and influenced the organization of universities across southern Europe. Even where the masters’ model prevailed, as in Paris and Oxford, students organized into “nations” following the Bolognese pattern. The degrees Bologna granted—bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate—remain the standard credentials of higher education worldwide.
The legal education Bologna provided shaped European law and governance. Roman law, as taught and interpreted by Bolognese jurists, provided the intellectual foundation for civil law systems across continental Europe. The glossators’ methods of textual analysis influenced legal reasoning. Many of Bologna’s graduates became advisors to popes, emperors, and kings, carrying legal learning into the halls of power. The university motto—Petrus ubique pater legum Bononia mater (Peter everywhere is the father of laws, Bologna the mother)—captures this sense of Bologna as the source from which legal learning flowed.
The University of Bologna continues to operate today, having maintained its institutional identity through over 900 years of history. Modern Italian higher education reform has transformed its governance, and it now offers degrees across all fields of study, not just law. But it retains its historic campus in central Bologna and its consciousness of being the prototype on which the Western university was built.
Key Developments
- 1088: Traditional founding date; Irnerius teaching in Bologna
- ~1150: Student nations organize for mutual protection
- 1158: Emperor Frederick I grants privileges in Authentica Habita
- ~1190: Accursius compiles the Glossa Ordinaria
- 1219: Pope Honorius III makes archdeacon of Bologna grant degrees
- 1252: Medical faculty established
- 1364: Theology faculty established
- 1563: Seat of Council of Trent’s final sessions
- 1803: Napoleonic reforms reorganize university
- 1860: University integrated into unified Italian system
- 1888: 800th anniversary celebrations
- 1988: Magna Charta Universitatum signed at 900th anniversary
- 1999: Bologna Process launches European higher education reform