[25] Not many early library catalogues have been preserved, but those which have all show small libraries before the days of printing. At Oxford, where the university was broken up into colleges, each of which had its own library, the following college libraries are known to have existed: Peterhouse College (1418), 304 volumes; Kings College (1453), 174 volumes; Queens College (1472), 199 volumes; University Library (1473), 330 volumes. The last two were just before the introduction of printing. The Peterhouse library (1418) was classified as follows:
Subject Chained Loanable
Theology………… 61 63
Natural Philosophy.. 26 |
Moral Philosophy…. 5 | 19
Metaphysics……… 3 |
Logic…………… 5 15
Grammar…………. 6 |
Poetry………….. 4 | 13
Medicine………… 15 3
Civil Law……….. 9 20
Canon Law……….. 18 19
Totals………….. 152 152
(Clarke. J. W., The Care of Books, pp. 145, 147.)
[26] Survivals of these old privileges still exist in the German universities which exercise police jurisdiction over their students and have a university jail, and in the American college student's feeling of having the right to create a disturbance in the town and break minor police regulations without being arrested and fined.
[27] See Compayré, G., Abelard, p. 201, for illustrations.
PART III
CHAPTER X
[1] One of the best known of the Troubadours was Arnaul de Marveil. The following specimen of his art reveals both the new love of nature and the reaction which had clearly set in against the "other-worldliness" of the preceding centuries:
"Oh! how sweet the breeze of April,
Breathing soft as May draws near,
While, through nights of tranquil beauty,
Songs of gladness meet the ear:
Every bird his well-known language
Uttering in the morning's pride.
Reveling in joy and gladness
By his happy partner's side.
"When around me all is smiling,
When to life the young birds spring,
Thoughts of love I cannot hinder
Come, my heart inspiriting-
Nature, habit, both incline me
In such joy to bear my part:
With such sounds of bliss around me
Could I wear a sadden'd heart?"
[2] "In the Middle Ages man as an individual had been held of very little account. He was only part of a great machine. He acted only through some corporation—the commune, guild, the order. He had but little self- confidence, and very little consciousness of his ability single-handed to do great things or overcome great difficulties. Life was so hard and narrow that he had no sense of the joy of living, and no feeling for the beauty of the world around him, and, as if this world were not dark enough, the terrors of another world beyond were very near and real." (Adams, G. B., Civilization during the Middle Ages, 2d ed., p. 363.)