Excerpt pertaining to the development of the Medieval University. 

From pages 34-35 of Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages, by Edward Grant.

"The growing commercial life in urban centers had made it advisable, if not necessary, for those who practiced the same trade or craft to seek protection by organizing themselves into guilds or corporations. Medieval lawyers frequently called these organizations by the name universitas, that is, "totality" or "whole," signifying that the guild in question represented all the rightful practitioners of that trade or craft 

    Teaching masters and students formed a vital part of twelfth century society. They established important schools in various cathedrals of Western Europe, especially at Paris, Chartres, and Orleans. Students customarily moved from one school to another, the students searching for the right master, the masters seeking to attract sufficient students to provide them with appropriate remuneration. Most masters and students were foreigners and, consequently, had no rights and privileges. Operating individually, they were no match for the municipal, state, and church authorities with whom they had to negotiate teaching conditions."