Education

[DoctorM]

I've been thinking about (higher) education in Gwynedd and the Eleven Kingdoms. There's a university at Grecotha, but where else in Gwynedd would you find universities? It's hard to imagine a royal capital not having a university, or even an archbishop's city. In our own world, by the 1300s Oxford and Cambridge were both in business, and so were Paris, Bologna, and Vienna. But does Gwynedd in Kelson's time have only a single university?

St. Neot's would be long gone, but...hmmmm...back under the Festil kings, were Deryni arts offered at any secular university?

I'm entitled to wear a black academic gown with three royal blue stripes, but I wonder how the various faculties at Grecotha differentiated themselves...

Any thoughts?

[Evie]

The Codex mostly refers to the University of Grecotha as the primary training scholar for priests, but it was preceded by a Varnarite proto-university. There are also mentions of universities in Beldour, Sirhowy (in Howiccce), and an early one in the Free Port of Concaradine. And the University of Gwynedd is mentioned in one of the opening sections of the Codex, though that might be a university that came along later. Or it might be a university that later evolved from the cathedral school that almost certainly would have existed in Rhemuth. (For that matter, I would guess most if not all of the cathedrals had scholae associated with them, though whether they would have the same status as a university is less certain. However, I can't imagine that Grecotha would be the only option for a scholar from Stavenham or Coroth, so it could well be there are other universities scattered through the kingdom, but Grecotha just happens to be one of the oldest and most prestigious.

[Laurna]

I think Evie found these before I did.
In the codex I find The University of Grecotha, Which once had the Varnarite School.
And there is Kelson's new Royal Scholae in Rhemuth.
Let us never forget Saint Noets.
There is also mention of a University of Beldour. The Conlegium Concurraudium in Concaradine Free port and the University of Sirhowy in Howicce.

By the way the codex says the Supreme of Howicce is housed at the University of Sirhowy.  So that answers that question of long time standing. Alaric was tripping up a guard for the Dean of the University of Sirhowy in the opening of Deryni Rising with his own whip. LOL

[drakensis]

It's hard to imagine a royal capital not having a university, or even an archbishop's city.

If you think about medieval Britain though, where were the universities?

London didn't have one, nor did Edinburgh.
Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews weren't in the capitals or at the seats of the Archbishops (York, Canterbury, Glasgow and Edinburgh - I think that's where the Scottish Archbishops sat anyway).

University students were somewhat notorious for arguing and even fighting in public houses, not exactly decorous, and perhaps a bit too prone to having political opinions. So them not being directly around the seats of power was probably for the best.

[drakensis]

Rhaname seems to be right on the river Thuria, the boundary between Andelon and R'Kassi. It's possible the city has changed hands over time.

[ReikiDeryni]

Could be like Kansas City which is both in Kansas and Missouri in the US, they are on opposite banks of the Mississippi River. Or it is just another city with the same name.