The school, the scholar, and society

In ancient times when trade was reawakened in Western Europe, trade routes clung close to walled towns, and tradesmen with their goods stopped under the walls beseeching and paying for the protection of the lord of the castle. It was better to pay a price to one lord than to be exposed to the unknown dangers of the countryside. Faubourgs or dependent enclaves of merchants grew up around the town. Fairs were held in season; commerce grew; people became more prosperous, more specialized, and more interdependent. From these enlarged communities created for protection and trade the modern city was born. To some of these cities scholars came, seeking the same protection that attracted the merchants. But scholars were attracted, too, by the merchants' goods and fairs. Then, as now, they liked to be where the action is. In unsettled times, the King of Naples or the King of England intervened to promise safety if the scholars of Pisa or Paris would migrate to their estates. So we may be justified in speaking as though the community of scholars was called into being by society to serve its social ends

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