The English Historical Review NO. CXXXIX.—JULY 1920 * The Masters of the Schools at Paris and Chartres in yohn of Salisbtiry s Time I. John of Salisbury's Narrative THE chapter in the Metalogicus ^ in which John of Salisbury describes his studies in France is a famous passage in the history of learning. Into the larger problems raised by it I do not propose to enter in the present paper, but its interest is so great that the notes of time and place and the identification of persons deserve looking into very carefully. These minor questions were the subject of active discussion some thirty years ago, and little new material has been added since. But a good many problems were then left undecided, and it has seemed to me that a fresh examination might lead to the solution of some of them. At least I hope to show that some statements of fact and some identifications of persons which were formerly accepted may be definitely rejected. John says that he went abroad in the year next after Henry I died. Henry died on 1 December 1135, and the next year began on Christmas Day. It is true that from the middle of the twelfth century the practice of reckoning the year from Lady Day was coming into fashion, but at Canterbury the older rule certainly prevailed long after that time.^ John first studied under Abailard and then under one Alberic,^ who seems afterwards to have become archdeacon of Rheims, and Robert of Melun. These masters taught on Mount St. Genevieve in the southern suburb of Paris, and here John continued for near two full years. This brings us towards the end of 1137. Then by the advice of his ' ii. 10, 0pp. V. 78-81, ed. Giles, 1848.
- See Gervase of Canterbury, Opera historica, i. 90, ed. Stubbs, 1879.
' Apparently the same with Alberic sumamed de porta Veneris : John of Salisbury^ Epist. cxliii, 0pp. i. 206. VOL, XXXV, — NO, CXXXIX. Y
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