Le réseau des écoles cathédrales dans la province ecclésiastique de Reims, dans la première moitié du XIIe siècle

Abstract

The chief original feature of the teaching practiced in the cathedral schools of the first half of the 12th century was its loose institutional organization. Thus the concept of the network is a useful analytical tool which allows us to evaluate people’s mobility. In the case of the the ecclesiastical province of Reims, the cathedral schools of Reims and Laon made up a network of schools that extended beyond the national borders, with exchanges between the two schools. The other cathedral schools are less well known and played a more modest role. Tracing the mobility of the scolares also involves observing the mobility of ideas within the society of the time: an examination of careerism and the circulation of writings shows us how the scholastics were responsible for the circulation of certain values. Thus we see how the cathedral schools, especially Laon, played a crucial role in the adoption of the Gregorian Reform by the clerics.