The Past Within Our Present

How St Andrews maintains its status as a medieval university

St Andrews has piqued the interests of prospective students from all over the world — whether they’re swayed by its idyllic surroundings, prestigious reputation, or adherence to the coveted ‘dark academic aesthetic’. Though, for some (especially those that love history), the University’s 611 year-long standing is appealing enough in itself. 

“It’s almost like a laboratory, you know, if you’re a Medievalist,” said Professor of Scottish History, Michael Brown. 

School of History lecturer Christine McGladdery — who teaches an entire course on medieval St Andrews — said she bases her walks through town on a map produced by John Getty in 1580. Usually, she likes to get students out of the classroom to partake on this promenade themselves and step “back in time.” 

“You're looking at a building and thinking, ‘Okay, so I see this every day [and I] don't really think about it,’ but, actually, this is something which is long lasting,” said Brown. “[It] doesn't function anymore [...] [but] it's still there.” 

While both medievalists made note of the town’s postcard-worthy castle and abbey as historic  landmarks, McGladdery cautioned students not to forget one of St Andrews’s most obvious medieval relics hiding right under our noses (or, rather, our feet) — the town’s layout itself. 

“The way in which the streets are laid out is entirely to do with what people thought was important in the period from about 1150 to 1300,” Brown noted.

The University has clearly changed a lot since then, especially given that St Andrews is now considered a secular university — sans its namesake and School of Divinity. McGladdery pointed out that the average age of student matriculation at the time was fourteen, and furthermore, the student body only consisted of men. 

The University was a lot more strict back then, too. “[As] students, you would be subject to the authority of the University and subject to the statutes that told you how to behave, what you could do, what you couldn't do,” Brown explained. “What we think of as what makes St Andrews quaint and pretty is actually about quite restrictive and controlling rules, and I find that interesting.” 

Though one thing hasn’t changed — the University’s hefty presence of international students. According to McGladdery, medieval universities generally were always “quite cosmopolitan.” “Before St Andrews was founded in 1413, most Scottish scholars went to Paris,” she mused, “so they were the foreign students.” 

While attending an ancient university seems exciting to a certain extent, the prospect of entering its legacy could also seem equally as intimidating — a fact that Brown said can be “scary as a historian.” McGladdery, though, clarified that she’s had thirty years worth of experience to get used to feeling “daunted” by the unforgiving passage of time. 

Alternatively, she’s fascinated by the consistency of human nature — especially when observing ancient texts with doodles in the margins. “Still, when I handle a 15th century manuscript [...] [I’m] aware that [I’m] handling something that somebody was writing on hundreds and hundreds of years ago,” she said. “That still gives [me] a bit of a thrill.”

McGladdery attended the University herself, and added that there’s a strange comfort in knowing that — despite each year’s new arrival of students — there have been countless others who have come before and done the exact same thing. 

“You feel you’re treading in the footsteps of hundreds of years [worth] of people walking the same streets and trying to acquire an education in one way or another,” she said. 

Even for those coming to St Andrews to study subjects beside history, McGladdery still encourages those “interested enough to know” to seek out the University’s readily-available resources on the town’s history. 

“It's always nice to do that, wherever you go,” she said, “to get some sense of the new place you’ve pitched up and are now a member of and get some idea of how it's evolved.” 

Though, as Brown clarified, it turns out that complete knowledge of the ins and outs of St Andrews’s past cannot be easily obtained through modules and university resources — instead students must become apart of its legacy: “I think they’ve got to find out for themselves, don’t they?” he mused. 

Despite Brown’s current expertise — having edited a volume on the topic — he admits that it began with his own curiosity: “I came to St Andrews, and I knew it was an old university, but I didn't really know what St Andrews was,” he said. “You have to learn that — you have to experience it.” 

While the University certainly looks different than when it did in the 15th century, Brown spoke for its medievalists when he said he was confident that there remains a dedication to preserving the “essential things” that makes St Andrews, St Andrews.

He didn’t clarify what these “essential things” were exactly. For Brown — a St Andrews alumni himself — he’s found you only really understand what they are once you’re in the thick of St Andrews’s university life: “I suspect you know what I mean without me having to define it, but that sense of being in St Andrews and it being special,” he said. “You might not be able to exactly describe it, but you know it.” 

Illustration: Isabelle Holloway