Historical Overview
Since its founding more than 800 years ago, the Montpellier Faculty 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 come into being 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 saw 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 of the time was constantly in need of money. The city’s burghers saw this as an opportunity to buy their freedom, and the payment of substantial sums was the natural price for the granting of a charter, intended to secure a degree of autonomy for the city.
Although the King of Aragon retained 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 charters 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 few kilometers from the outer harbor of Lattes, Montpellier soon built up a suitable fleet, which would soon sail throughout the Mediterranean.
The wisdom of its consuls led the city to conclude peace treaties and mutual alliances with Italy’s major port cities, such as Genoa and Pisa. Moreover, in addition to 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 hold the privilege of trading with non-Christians for nearly all the goods that the West was increasingly eager to acquire. Montpellier’s diplomacy transformed the city into a thriving commercial hub, soon becoming 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, for neither Lattes—now silted up—nor the port of Aigues-Mortes offered it the necessary access to continue its trade…
Despite this competitive situation, the city managed to grow further. Over the centuries, it had indisputably established its position as a capital, both administratively, religiously, and judicially, and even more so in terms of its university. Building 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 science. One—and in reality, an extremely rare occurrence—two universities in this city make it 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, a forerunner of modern 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 a small group of physician-practitioners-teachers formed the embryo of the future medical university. Thirty years later, Alexandre Neckam placed 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 prehistory, and Cardinal Legate Conrad of Urach granted the Universitas medicorum its first statutes. An institutional framework developed around medical education 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, close 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—owes much to Montpellier’s proximity to the Papal Court, just as the University of Paris owes much to its proximity to the Court of France.
Thanks to 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 predominantly German. As the only faculties in the kingdom to offer regular medical instruction, Montpellier and Paris are the only two medical faculties whose curricula are recognized and which, moreover, recognize each other’s credentials. Papal bull of foundation for the University of Montpellier by Pope Nicholas IV
The value of this text and its significance for the future lie in its recognition of Montpellier and its various schools as “a place widely regarded as wonderfully suited to learning, where educational centers should be promoted.” The consequence of this assertion, born of a century of pre-university experience, could therefore 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 at the regularly established faculties .” Nicholas IV formalized and regulated existing methods, born of 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 ancient and sound practices. He brought peace and, in doing so, strengthened the foundations of the fledgling University by establishing the examination system and the respective powers of each authority in this matter. Henceforth, candidates were examined by their teachers after presenting themselves to the Bishop of Maguelone or his delegate, who was required to summon them in order to seek their counsel. It is his alone 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 supervise “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 taking pride in belonging 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 withstand whatever the future may bring.
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 own 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 doctors and lawyers, most of whom hailed 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 that of Paris—it remains to this day one of the University of Montpellier’s most beautiful treasures.
The siege of the city dealt another blow to the university, which had been 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 doctors and lawyers 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—recorded by the Court of Auditors in Montpellier—provided for the merger of the University of Medicine with the other faculties. 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 market town. 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 profession, deeply rooted in tradition and with its school in a state of dormancy, was cautious in the face of these changes. But the students and staff were not counter-revolutionaries. 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. With one exception, the entire faculty of the University of Law courageously refused to take the constitutional oath. The medical profession, professors at 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 of hospital inspections and coordination of 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 ill-fated decree, on December 4, 1794 (14 Frimaire, Year III), the Convention decreed the establishment of three Schools of Public Health.
Saint-Pierre Cathedral and the south facade of the School of Medicine in 1804, providing medical and surgical instruction. 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 dissemination of new scientific ideas. However, the failure to issue diplomas—linked to the unrestricted practice of medicine—placed 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 major setbacks. From that point on, the mutual influence between teaching and hospital practice would only continue to grow.
