A great number of commentaries were written upon this book. A manuscript note in one of the copies in the Harvard library states that four hundred and sixty such commentaries are known; but I have been unable to verify the statement.
In theory, the Bible was studied in the Faculties of Theology in addition to the "Sentences"; but in the thirteenth century and later it seems to have occupied, in practice, a minor share of the student's attention. To this effect is the criticism of Roger Bacon in 1292:
Although the principal study of the theologian ought to be in the text of Scripture, as I have proved in the former part of this work, yet in the last fifty years theologians have been principally occupied with questions [for debate] as all know, in tractates and summae,—horse-loads, composed by many,—and not at all with the most holy text of God. And accordingly, theologians give a readier reception to a treatise of scholastic questions than they will do to one about the text of Scripture…. The greater part of these questions introduced into theology, with all the modes of disputation (see p. 115) and solution, are in the terms of philosophy, as is known to all theologians, who have been well exercised in philosophy before proceeding to theology. Again, other questions which are in use among theologians, though in terms of theology, viz., of the Trinity, of the fall, of the incarnation, of sin, of virtue, of the sacraments, etc., are mainly ventilated by authorities, arguments, and solutions drawn from philosophy. And therefore the entire occupation of theologians now-a-days is philosophical, both in substance and method.[33]
(e) Medicine
The medical learning of western Europe was greatly enlarged during the eleventh and twelfth centuries by the translation into Latin of numerous works by Greek, Arabic, and Jewish physicians. These became the standard text-books of the Faculties or Schools of Medicine. The Greek writers most commonly mentioned in the university lists of studies are Hippocrates (fifth century B.C.) and Galen (second century A.D.). Several of their more important works were first translated—like those of Aristotle—from Arabic versions of the original Greek. Avicenna (c. 980-1037) furnished the most important Arabic contribution. Accounts of these men and their writings may be found in any good encyclopedia. For the program of studies at Paris see D.C. Munro, "Translations and Reprints," Vol. II, Pt. III. A list of the books used at Montpellier, one of the most important medical schools, is given in Rashdall, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 123, and Pt. II, p. 780; the list for Oxford, p. 454 f.
(f) Other University Text-books
The foregoing sections indicate the books which furnished the intellectual basis for the rise of universities, and particularly the basis for their division into Faculties. They do not indicate by any means the whole list of books used in the universities between 1200 and 1500; nor is it possible here to give such a list. Two facts only are to be noted concerning them: First, a considerable number of books already well known in the twelfth century were used in addition to those mentioned above. Among these may be mentioned the Latin grammars of Donatus (fl. 350 A.D.) and Priscian (fl. 500 A.D.), treatises by Boethius (c. 475-525) on Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, and Music, and his translations of various portions of the Organon of Aristotle, and of the Iagoge, or Introduction to the Categories of Aristotle, by Porphyry (c. 233-306). The Geometry of Euclid (fl. 300 B.C.) was translated about 1120 by Adelard of Bath, and the Astronomy (Almagest) of Ptolemy (second century A.D.) was pharaphrased from the Arabic by Gerard of Cremona toward the close of the twelfth century, under the title Theorica Planetarum.
Second, during the whole period under discussion there was an active production of new text-books on the established subjects, some of which were widely used in the universities. Among the grammars was the Doctrinale of Alexander da Villa Dei, written in 1199. This rhyming grammar was enormously popular, and continued to be so, well into the sixteenth century. The Grecismus and Labyrinthus of Eberhard of Bethune (early thirteenth century), also grammars in rhyme, were widely used. Logical treatises often mentioned in university programs of study were De Sex Principiis (On the Six Principles), written about 1150 by Gilbert de la Porrée, a teacher of John of Salisbury; and the Summulae of Petrus Hispanus (thirteenth century). In the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus made a digest of all the works of Aristotle, which proved to be easier for students than the originals, and which were sometimes used in place of them. Among mathematical works of this century were the Algorismus (Arithmetic) and the Libellus de Sphaera (On the Sphere) by John Holywood (Sacrobosco); and the Perspectiva Communis, i.e. Optics, by John (Peckham) of Pisa. A treatise on Music by John de Muris of Paris was produced in the early part of the fourteenth century. All of these were well-known university text-books. They appear in the list at Leipzig throughout the fifteenth century (see p. 139).
4. UNIVERSITY PRIVILEGES
The privileges granted by civil and ecclesiastical powers constitute a fourth important influence upon the growth of universities. Beginning with the year 1158 a long series of immunities, liberties, and exemptions was bestowed by State and Church upon masters and students as a class, and upon universities as corporations. Masters and scholars were, for example, often taken under the special protection of the sovereign of the country in which they were studying; they were exempted from taxation, and from military service; most important of all, they were placed under the jurisdiction of special courts, in which alone they could be tried. Universities as corporations were given, among other privileges, the right to confer upon their graduates the license to teach "anywhere in the world" without further examination, and the very important right to suspend lectures, i.e. to strike, pending the settlement of grievances against State or Church. They had, of course, the general legal powers of corporations. Thus fortified, the universities attained an astonishing degree of independence and power; and their members were enabled to live in unusual liberty and security. This fact in itself unquestionably tended to increase the university population.