Universities, Schools, and the Transfer of Knowledge in Late Medieval Central and Eastern Europe

The dynamic demographic growth and economic prosperity during the Twelfth Century Reformation stimulated urbanization processes, and provided a strong impetus for the development of universities and schools of various levels. These developments took place in Central Europe with some delay, and their pace varied from region to region. The establishment of the first universities in this part of Latin Europe (Prague, Krakow, Vienna, Heidelberg) occurred mainly in the second half of the fourteenth century. Their development reflected the needs of both the dynamically developing urban centers and church institutions, and at the same time was associated with the initiative of the monarchs who intended to establish new learning centers within their domains, educating intellectuals and training officials. The new universities in Central Europe modeled their organizations on the older studia generalia of Western Europe (Paris, Bologna), and also drew heavily on their programmes and teaching models.

Strong ties between European universities enabled the transfer of scholars and students, as well as the flow of writings, programmes and ideas. This was not a one-way process, as it  sometimes suggested in university circles during the debate about the crisis of the Church and the paths to its reform during the Great Schism and the conciliar movement. The newly established universities actively participated in the disputes in the fields of philosophy and theology (especially ecclesiology) and thanks to their engagement scholars from Bologna, Paris and Oxford could develop their concepts.

The development of universities was closely linked to the socio-cultural changes taking place in the late Middle Ages. On the one hand, the stabilizing parish network and the parish school system created a natural recruitment base for students, as the preserved matriculation registers demonstrate. On the other hand, the growing group of university students and graduates taking up positions in church and secular administration had an increasing influence on schools in towns and villages. This resulted in the growing literacy, especially among the burghers, and also (although to a lesser extent) among the nobility. The needs of scholars and students influenced the increase in the production of books and in their significance as teaching materials.

In the third volume of Acta Mediaevalia. Series Nova, we want to have a closer look at these problems and welcome papers addressing the following issues:

• Networks of parish schools;
• Rise and growth of universities;
• Teaching programmes and students’ curricula;
• Intellectuals and the challenges of their times;
• Book producers and book consumers;
• Literacy and communication

The journal also accepts reviews of recently published academic books (released no earlier than 2024) and critical source editions (proposals of the latter should be consulted with the journal’s editors first). Book reviews are not limited to the call for papers’ topic, but they should be relevant to recent medieval studies.

Articles, book reviews, and critical source editions should be submitted via the journal’s online platform: https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/am.