Prediger der Transformation

Overview & Synopsis

Around 1200, a new institution of teaching and learning emerged in Paris: the university. But how was it possible that teachers came together to form a community and regulate their activities? A hitherto underestimated agent in this transformation process was the master Alan of Lille, whose preaching work is comprehensively analysed here for the first time against this background. Contrary to what has long been assumed, he was not an ageing scholar who lamented the end of old learning. Rather, he attempted to stabilise the changing school communities by committing them to common goals, methods and values.