Modern study of the earliest history of the universities was begun at the close of the last century. In 1885 Heinrich Denifle published Die Entstehung der Universitdten des Mittelalters bis 1400 which was followed ten years later by Hastings Rashdall's The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. So far no work has superseded these pioneering efforts in matters of accuracy and control of the source material. That this material is of an extremely variegated and impenetrable character has certainly prevented many researchers from attempting to give any summary of corresponding range and quality. However, there are reasons to consider treating the subject again, even if this is in a more modest and popular type of book which claims only to be introductory reading and in no way comparable with the two works mentioned above.

Some reasons are of a personal nature. With many years' experience of the ‘internal’ history of science, it is easy to understand the growing urge to know its external boundaries - in medieval terms, the schools and universities, which were at that time the only real workshops of science and learning. Other reasons are more general. The universities of our day are in many ways legitimate children of medieval parents, and many of our present difficulties, on closer inspection, appear to have been built into the system right from the beginning. Historical reflections are scarcely any help in solving contemporary problems; but on the other hand a certain acquaintance with the historical development may even contribute to a more relaxed and tolerant attitude to present-day events.