Philippe de Commynes (review)
gration of the university and the region, and the contribution that the university made to Normandy’s intellectual and cultural life. The University of Caen was somewhat unusual in that it established a library in 1457. An inventory of 1515, included here in the first appendix, lists 278 titles, of which 39% were in theology, 29% in law, 13% in medicine, 12% in liberal arts, and 7% in other matter. The titles were traditional university texts leavened with some titles that demonstrated the beginning of humanistic studies in the university. The French Wars of Religion from the 1560s to the 1580s were, in the author’s words, years of torment for the university, as religion divided the town and the university. More than half of the residents of Caen were Huguenots in 1572, and several professors of theology became Calvinists in the war years. Théodore de Bèze, who lived in Caen for two months in 1563, wished to make the university into a Calvinist academy on the model of the Geneva Academy. This did not happen, but students stayed away during the religious strife. When Catholics finally prevailed in Normandy, they promulgated new statutes for the University of Caen between 1580 and 1586. The reforms benefited and modernized the university at the price of the loss of some autonomy. University officers were subject to royal approval, while professors were obliged to attend Mass. Henry III decreed that the university should receive the proceeds of a salt tax: hence, professors and regent arts instructors began to receive salaries from the public purse. The regents were obliged to live in the colleges where they oversaw the academic and personal lives of students. The undergraduate arts curriculum was reorganized in imitation of the Jesuit program of studies, and French was taught. When the crown installed Jesuits in one of the colleges in 1609, a new era for the University of Caen began. This era ended in 1791 when the revolutionary government closed the university. Roy’s study is based on an exhaustive investigation of the archival records and extensive reading in printed primary and secondary sources. Numerous graphs, tables, and three appendices support the author’s statements. Although it is a local study, Roy is aware of the larger historical context and makes some comparative references to other universities. This is a model study of a regional university. PAUL F. GRENDLER University of Toronto Emeritus and Chapel Hill, NC