Historical Timeline
Since its founding more than 800 years ago, the Montpellier School of Medicine has remained a leading center for scientific research, discovery, education, and the preservation of medical knowledge.
Montpellier: A University City
Compared to so many other cities in southern France, whose origins date back to Greek or Roman antiquity, Montpellier seems to have been founded only in the Middle Ages, in the mid-10th century.
The city was cradled in the arms of the Guilhem family, the Lords of Montpellier, who watched over it until 1204. Its passage under the authority of the kings of Aragon and then of Majorca led to the granting of a charter, allowing the burghers to administer their commune.
The marriage of Marie de Montpellier to Peter II, King of Aragon, placed the city’s fate in new hands. The ruler at the time was constantly in need of money. The city’s burghers saw this as an opportunity to purchase their freedom, and the payment of substantial sums was the natural price to pay for the granting of a charter, intended to ensure a degree of autonomy for the city.
Although the King of Aragon retained his supreme authority, particularly in judicial matters, he relinquished control over the city’s administration. The definitive cession of Montpellier to France in 1350—though marked by unrest that temporarily suspended many of its privileges—left its ancient concessions intact. Montpellier remained a free commune.
The consuls—elected representatives of the various guilds and true advocates of the city’s fundamental interests—quickly realized that the city’s future lay beyond its walls, in opening up to the world. Located near the sea, just a couple of kilometers from the outer harbor of Lattes, Montpellier quickly built up a suitable fleet, which would soon sail throughout the Mediterranean.
The wisdom of its consuls led it to conclude peace treaties and reciprocal alliances with Italy’s major port cities, such as Genoa and Pisa. Moreover, beyond this ambitious strategy, the city enjoyed excellent relations with the Holy See, as popes had, over the centuries, occasionally visited or even sought refuge in Montpellier. The accession to the papacy of one of its former students, Urban V, made the city one of the few to enjoy the privilege of trading with non-Christians for nearly all the goods that the West was increasingly eager to acquire. Montpellier’s diplomatic efforts turned the city into a thriving commercial center, which soon became the driving force behind its prosperity.
Marseille’s incorporation into the French crown in 1481, however, was bound to bring a sudden halt to Montpellier’s prosperity. It could not reasonably claim to rival the Phocaean city, since neither Lattes—now silted up—nor the port of Aigues-Mortes offered it the access necessary to continue its commercial activity…
Despite this competitive situation, the city continued to grow. Over the centuries, it had indisputably established its position as a capital—administratively, religiously, and judicially, and even more so in terms of its university. Drawing on its major strengths, Montpellier was able to preserve them and foster their growth almost uninterrupted until modern times.
A city whose rise and international influence were shaped by and through its university, it serves as a breeding ground where youth and vitality are intrinsically linked to its centers of scientific excellence. With one—and in fact, an extremely rare occurrence—two universities in this city, it is the heir to a great tradition of knowledge transmission.
The Faculty's Early Years
Medical education in Montpellier emerged from clinical practice, outside any institutional framework, in the early 12th century. A certain André, considered the forerunner of physicians, appeared in Montpellier in 1122. The practice of medicine made him a powerful figure and a major landowner. It was not until 1170 that an initial group of physician-practitioners-teachers formed the embryo of the future medical university. Thirty years later, Alexandre Neckam would place Montpellier and Salerno on an equal footing. In 1181, an edict by Guilhem VIII proclaimed the freedom to teach medicine in Montpellier.
By 1220, medical education in Montpellier had emerged from its early stages, and Cardinal Legate Conrad of Urach granted the Universitas medicorum its first charter. An institutional framework for medical education had developed in less than a century.
On October 26, 1289, Pope Nicholas IV issued, from Rome, the apostolic constitution “Quia Sapientia” to all doctors and students in the city of Montpellier.
This text includes a preamble in which “Wisdom” is understood in its medieval sense, similar to that of the philosophers: knowledge directed toward spiritual ends, in the service of beauty and truth. A necessary step on the path to human perfection, it constitutes, on a personal level and for the common good, a goal toward which the masses must strive, “illuminating the hearts of men and shaping them toward virtue.”
The presence of these practitioners, at the heart of an international network of relationships, influence, and exchange with virtually the entire known world, served as a vehicle for the dissemination of medicine and all the disciplines taught in the city. Fruitful exchanges between Montpellier’s faculty and other scholars throughout Christendom were a source of considerable enrichment for the University of Montpellier. The golden age of medicine, particularly in the 14th century—both in terms of the quality of the professors and the teaching methods—owed much to Montpellier’s proximity to the Papal Court, just as the University of Paris owed much to its proximity to the Court of France.
Through its unique character, its curriculum combining theory and practice, and the “secular and international” nature of its student body, the University of Montpellier is undeniably comparable to the leading Italian medical universities of Bologna and Padua.
The departure of the papacy from Avignon led to years of decline for Montpellier and its universities.
From the Renaissance to the End of the Ancien Régime
This period was marked by the gradual shift of authority from the clergy to the state, with the faculty acquiring its own premises—the Royal College of Medicine—around 1450, and new regulations enacted by a royal decree issued by Louis XII on August 29, 1498.
Montpellier and Paris shared a sort of monopoly on medical education, despite the emergence of provincial medical schools with largely regional influence—such as Caen—and the incorporation in 1681 of Strasbourg, whose student body was primarily German. As the only medical schools in the kingdom to offer regular medical education, Montpellier and Paris are the only two medical schools whose curricula are recognized and which, moreover, recognize each other’s credentials. Papal Bull of Foundation of the University of Montpellier by Pope Nicholas IV
The value of this text and its significance for the future lie in the recognition of Montpellier and its various schools as “a place widely regarded as wonderfully suited to study, where centers of learning should be promoted.” The consequence of this assertion—born of a century of observation of pre-university education—could only be the permanent establishment of a “Studium generale,” that is, a university, in which, in the future, “teachers will have the right to teach and students the right to learn, by attending courses in the regularly established faculties .” Nicholas IV formalized and provided a framework for existing methods, which had emerged from a practice already a century old. Innovating in no way, he did not create artificial structures in abstracto or ex nihilo but, on the contrary, revitalized time-honored and sound practices. He brought peace to the situation and, in doing so, strengthened the foundations of the fledgling University by establishing the examination system and defining the respective powers of each authority in this matter. From then on, candidates were examined by their professors after presenting themselves to the Bishop of Maguelone or his delegate, who was required to summon them in order to seek their opinions. It is his sole prerogative to approve and admit the candidates he deems worthy. “A Licentiate Certificate in the 12th Century,” painting by A. Privat
The most fundamental contribution of this apostolic constitution is that the licenses issued in Montpellier, just like those issued in Bologna or Paris, grant the right to teach and lead “ubique terrarum,” that is, everywhere.
The various scattered schools, which Pope Nicholas IV called upon to unite, did not all respond to this invitation in the same way. The School of Medicine, citing its ancient statutes and proud to belong to the very select group of the four or five oldest European universities—alongside Bologna, Salerno, Paris, and Oxford—paid far less attention to a document that, aside from the universal recognition of its programs, merely ratified an established status quo.
The Medical University simply continues to exist, with no real desire to merge into a “Studium generale” with the law students, who are heading toward a second university.
Montpellier is one of the first generation of medieval universities. Today, the university has roots strong enough to enable it to face whatever the future may hold.
The Papacy in Avignon
The arrival of Clement V in Avignon in March 1309—which established the Apostolic Curia on the banks of the Rhône for nearly a century—came twenty years after the apostolic constitution had granted the University of Montpellier its specific statutes.
The School of Medicine was already home to many renowned scholars. Close ties quickly developed between the capital of Christendom and this university, which was already one of the most prestigious centers of medical science. The popes of Avignon—often elderly, and sometimes even worn down by the ravages of time—found their usual entourage among a pool of physicians and jurists, most of whom were from Montpellier.
The arrival of the Protestants at the helm of the city in 1562 was accompanied by the complete destruction of the Sainte-Eulalie Tower, the seat of the University of Law, which temporarily ceased to exist. The reign of the Good King left Montpellier with a sense of academic rebirth. The School of Medicine was endowed with a botanical garden. Created at the king’s behest, it was the work of Professor Pierre Richer de Belleval. As France’s first Royal Garden—predating the one in Paris—it remains to this day one of the University of Montpellier’s greatest treasures.
The siege of the city dealt another blow to the university, which was abandoned as the civil war raged. The university never truly recovered during the turmoil that weakened it considerably. This crisis, however, did not prevent the emergence of several illustrious figures—renowned physicians and jurists whose lives left their mark on the history of their time…
A few attempts at unification are worth noting, notably that of King Louis XIV, whose letters patent—recording the merger of the University of Medicine with the other faculties—are on file with the Court of Auditors in Montpellier. However, the “Council and letters patent” of January 20, 1687, annulled this merger so that the various universities “might remain separate as they had always been.”
The Revolution and the Empire
The consequences of the Revolution severely undermined the prosperity of Montpellier, which had been a thriving merchant city. Administrative reforms stripped it of its status as a regional capital, reducing it to the less prestigious role of a mere departmental seat. The legal community, attached to tradition and with its school in hibernation, was cautious in the face of these changes. But the students and staff were not counterrevolutionaries. Far from being resistant, the medical community was enthusiastic.
In 1790, medical students led the assault on the military garrison, as the city’s citadel was viewed as a Bastille to be stormed. All the professors at the University of Law courageously refused to take the constitutional oath, with one exception. The medical community—including professors from the University and members of the Academy of Surgery—took the oath in 1791. Boisset, though certainly the instigator of relentless terror in the provinces, especially against refractory priests, carried out an effective campaign to inspect hospitals and coordinate health services. During Year II, hospitals had three times as many beds as before the Revolution, to the point that it was difficult to stay there for more than a quarter of an hour without feeling ill.
By decree of September 15, 1793, the Convention put an end to six centuries of education, dissolved the universities, and closed the schools. Despite their international prestige, the University of Medicine and the Academy of Surgery, founded in 1741, were swept away.
However, just one year after that disastrous decree, on December 4, 1794 (14 Frimaire, Year III), the Convention decreed the establishment of three Schools of Public Health.
St. Peter’s Cathedral and the south facade of the School of Medicine in 1804, where medical and surgical instruction was provided. The prestigious School of Montpellier rose from the ashes alongside those in Paris and Strasbourg. In 1795, the Faculty moved from its old, dilapidated premises to its current location, the Saint-Benoît Monastery. Chaptal had an anatomy theater built there. Medicine and surgery were brought together.
The period from 1794 to 1803 marked a fruitful phase of reform and the teaching of new scientific ideas. However, the failure to issue diplomas—linked to the free practice of medicine—put medical schools in a difficult position.
The decree of March 11, 1803 (19 Ventôse, Year XI) made the practice of medicine contingent upon the attainment of a doctorate. The modern Faculty of Medicine thus found a stable institutional framework and was able to develop without any major crises. From that point on, the mutual influence between teaching and hospital practice would only continue to grow.
