The University of Poitiers dates back to 1431, and was the first to be created in the south of France. Its origins date back to the Hundred Years’ War. After the Battle of Agincourt, the English came into control of much of northern France, along with their Burgundian allies. Charles VII, the nominal King of France, controlled only the South and alternated residences between Poitiers and Bourges. One consequence was that the University of Paris, then the only University in France, both lost many of its non-English and non-Burgundian students, and its theological positions came to align more closely with both English and Burgundians. This angered both the Pope, who disliked the positions taken by representatives of the University at the Council of Constance, and of course King Charles. In response a Papal Bull and a Royal Charter from Charles VII established Poitiers as the site of France’s second university (shortly to be followed by Caen and Bordeaux).
The University at Poitiers followed the model of that of Paris: four faculties or schools – theology, civil and canonical law, medicine and arts. By the later 15th Century it drew over 4 000 students from France, Germany, Scotland and Ireland. The first classes of the University, in theology, were held in the 13th Century Jacobin Convent, off of today’s Rue de l’Ancienne Comedie and Rue du Marché. As in Paris, the University became widely dispersed. Law classes were held in what is now Poitiers’ City Hall, as were meetings of the council of professors. A larger site for classes was built in 1450 along what is still the Rue des Grandes Ecoles. The University today has an enrollment of about 24,000, with the campus mostly moved to Poitiers’ suburbs. One exception is the former Hotel Berthelot, built in 1529 on the Rue de la Chaine, which hosts the Center for Medieval Civilization – a unique program which attracts students and researchers world-wide.
Arguably the most famous graduate of the University of Poitiers is Rene Descartes. Descartes earned a degree in Law here in 1616, before going on to become arguably the father of modern philosophy. The celebrated Descartes died in 1650 in Sweden, there as a tutor to the Queen. His corpse went on to have its own well-travelled career: in 1666 Descartes’ remains were disinterred, and brought to Paris, where they were buried in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont. The saga was not to end there, however: during the Revolution, the National Convention in 1792 decided Descartes should join the other “great men” buried in the Pantheon, next door to Saint-Etienne-du-Mont. For some reason, that never happened, but in 1819, again for reasons unclear, Descartes’ body was again disinterred and transferred, this time to the equally famous Parisian church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. Somehow, in the transfer, Descartes’ body arrived at its final resting place short of his skull, and of his right index finger. The skull was uncovered in 1821 in Sweden, and is now on display separately in the Museum of Man in Paris; apparently no one had noticed it missing when the rest of Descartes was moved to Paris. His right index finger remains unaccounted for. Where the rest of the remains of Poitiers’ most famous diploma holder rest, well, no one can put a finger on it. Not even all those university graduates.