232. Rise of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. -- Oxford dates from the middle of the thirteenth century. It acknowledged the supremacy of Paris, to which it was indebted for its organization and its best professors.^{1} The University of Cambridge came later, not taking definite shape until the fourteenth century.^{2} The "scientific pilgrimage" of the English to Paris commenced about the middle of the twelfth century. ROBERT GROSSETÊTE and the chancellor WILLIAM OF SHYRESWOOD attended Paris; the Franciscans, ADAM OF MARISCO and RICHARD CORNUBIENSIS, and many others, taught at Paris before teaching at Oxford.

{1} Towards 1240, Robert Grossetête requested the professors of theology at Oxford to follow the order of lectures adopted in Paris (Chartul., i., p. 169). In 1246, Innocent IV. made the same recommendation to Robert himself (i., p. 189). {2} DENIFLE, Die Univers. d. Mittel., p. 371.