THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Universities) which supervised the moral conditions of the Sorbonne, as well as a finance committee and a committee to supervise the clergy. The socii met in general assembly four times annually.
Robert de Sorbon sought not only to furnish shelter for poor clerks, but also to provide thorough theological instruction for them, the mornings being devoted to Old-Testament exegesis and the afternoons to the interpretation of the New Testament. For two centuries the teachers were chosen from the former socii or kospites, nor was it Courses of until 1532 that a legacy rendered pos- Study. sible the foundation of a paid lectureship. Between 1577 and 1625 six other chairs were established, and later still teachers were drawn from other colleges of the university, while as early as 1270 Robert de Sorbon, recognizing that students of divinity should first have a good literary and philosophical training, established, as an annex to the Sorbonne, the College de Calvi for this purpose. In the Sorbonne itself the course was threefold: reading and interpretation of the Bible and of the maxims of the Church Fathers, disputations, and preaching. The exegetical exercises were held twice daily, each student being required to write a summary of the main points presented; the disputations, upon some theme previously announced, took place between two students each Sunday, a socius being the presiding officer; but preaching seems to have received little attention. A most important part of the Sorbonne was its library, founded by Robert and enriched with manuscripts by Guiard d' Abbeville, while in 1469 the prior of the Sorbonne, acting in harmony with the rector of the university, established the first printing-press in France, whence the Bible of 1478 was issued.
The Sorbonne furnished the leaders of the University of Paris who, in the fifteenth century, demanded the reform of the Church by a general council; but in the following century the institution became hostile to the new spirit, cen-
History. suring the writings of Erasmus and Faber Stapulensis, and condemning the works of Luther and Melanchthon. In the seventeenth century it was the leader of Roman Catholicism in France, and such prelates as Richelieu, Mazarin, De Retz, and De Noailles considered it a distinction to be elected provisor of the Sorbonne. Richelieu in particular manifested affection for the institution, taking one of its hospites for his confessor, completely rebuilding it, and desiring to be buried in its chapel. A century later the Sorbonne defended the new spirit of the times, but in 1791 the Convention decreed the suppression of the " priests of the Sorbonne," although the 160 socii were unmolested, and even Revolutionary vandalism spared the chapel with its tomb of Richelieu. When, after the concordat, Napoleon organized the University of France (1808), he established at the Sorbonne a faculty of Roman Catholic theology, to which the Bourbons added the faculties of letters and sciences, the whole organization bearing the name of Sorbonne. Since, however, Leo XIII. refused the institution canonical recognition, it became useless for the education of the higher clergy, and it was accordingly suppressed by the Chamber
of Deputies in 1885. Since that year the Sorbonne has been entirely rebuilt (1889), and by reorganization it now forms part of the University of Paris.
(G. Bonet-Maury.)
Bibliography: C. E. BuIebus, Hist. Universitatis Parisensis, 6 vols., Paris, 1665-73, Continuation (by C. Jourdain), ib. 1862-64; T. I. Duvernet, Hist, de la Sorbonne, Paris, 1790; A. Morellet, Memoires, 2d od., Paris, 1S22; C. Jourdain, Index chartarum pertinentium ad hist. Universitatis Parisensis, Paris, 1862; A. Franklin, La Sorbonne, Ses origines et sa bibliotheque, 2d ed., Paris, 1875; M. Jadart, Robert de Sorbon, Reims, 1880; H. Denifle, Documents relatifs a la fondation et aux premiers temps de V university, Paris, 1883; G. Bonet-Maury, in Vie chretienne, Nimes, 1884; E. Meric, La Sorbonne et son fondateur, Reims, 1888; O. Greard, Nos adieux a la vieille Sorbonne, Paris, 1893; P. Feret, La Faculte de theologie de Paris, 8 vols., Paris, 1894-1905; H. Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, 2 vols., Oxford, 1895; H. Calhiat, Les Grandes Figures chretiennes de la Sorbonne au xix. siecle, Paris, 1896; L. Delisle, in Journal des savants, Paris, 1898; Claudia, in Bulletin des bibliophiles, 1898; P. Alary, L'Imprimerie au xvi. siecle, Etienne Dolet et ses luttes contre la Sorbonne, Paris, 1898; G. Compayre, Abelard and the Origin and Early Hist, of Universities, pp. 156, 205, 300, New York, 1899; H. P. Nenot, Monographic de la nouvelle Sorbonne, Paris, 1903; Schaff, Christian Church, v. 1, p. 572.