University of Bordeaux

The University of Bordeaux was founded during the English domination, under King Henry VI, in 1441, by a Bull of Pope Eugenius IV, at the demand of the archbishop’s officials, Pierre Berland being at the time archbishop, and of the Aquitanian councillors. It did not, however, receive official recognition from the king until the reign of Louis XI. According to the terms of the Bull, it was to be organized on the model of the studium of the University of Toulouse. The Archbishop of Bordeaux was the chancellor for life. It included all the different faculties; theology, canon law, civil law, arts, etc. On account of the constant lack of endowment, the University of Bordeaux, from the time of its foundation until the French Revolution, never had any remarkable standing. After the Revolution, when the universities were reorganized in France by the Government, Bordeaux was one of the cities chosen to be the seat of a university. During the nineteenth century it had a brilliant career, especially in the field of medicine, among its professors being such men as Azam, Pitres, and others who were famous on account of their pathological researches.