Gaines Post, Ph.D, 1931, Harvard, under the supervision of Charles Homer Haskins, was Professor of Medieval History at the University of Wisconsin (1935-1960) and then at Princeton University (1960-1970). He was a major historian on medieval universities and representative institutions. He was a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and corresponding fellow of the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. In 1966 he was awarded the Haskins Medal by the Medieval Academy for his Studies in Medieval Legal Thought, Public Law and the State, 1100-1322 (Princeton, 1964).

''This volume represents a still-valuable work of scholarship and an appropriate tribute to a major scholar of the previous century.'' Paul Knoll, in Reinassance Quarterly , LXXII, NO.1 (2018). "This book originated as the dissertation of Professor Gaines Post (d.1987), written under the direction of Charles Homer Haskins at Harvard University and approved in 1931. [...] We have Professor William J. Courtenay to thank for bringing this book to print. Courtenay's editorial interventions in the text appear light; he offers the book both as an original contribution to research into the rise of the universities but also as a window into the research conducted by Charles Homer Haskins and his students at Harvard'. [...] Post's careful and patient narrative of the emerging legal relationships complements these later analyses with the timely reminder that legal, juridical, and material conditions played significant roles in the formation of the university cultures". Robert J. Porwool, in Sixteenth Century Journal vol. 1, n.2, 2019.

• Preface List of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart 1: The Papacy and the Constitution of the Universities1 The Twelfth Century—Alexander III and the Licentia docendi2 The License-System of the University of Paris in the Thirteenth Century3 The License-System in Universities of Ecclesiastical Origin Influenced by Paris4 The License-System in Universities of Secular Origin5 The License-System: Conclusion; the Licentia ubique docendi6 Jurisdiction7 The Papacy and the Internal Development of the UniversitiesPart 2: The Papacy and the Members of the UniversitiesIntroduction to Part 28 The Papacy and the Masters§1 Masters’ Salaries in the Mediaeval Universities§2 Patronage of Masters9 The Papacy and the Students§1 Ecclesiastical Benefices§2 House-Rents§3 Colleges10 Conclusion: The Papacy and the Founding of the UniversitiesBibliographyIndices