Sorbonne
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Sorbonne. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
sor-bon', a famous school of theology situated in the Latin quarter of Paris. It was a part of the University of Paris. It was founded in the thirteenth century by permission of Pope Alexander IV. It was intended originally for the instruction of poor students who were unable to pay for tuition in the ordinary way. In time the faculty became noted not only for piety but for learning. Theological questions were submitted to the faculty of the Sorbonne for settlement. The first printing press in France was set up within its walls. During the period of the Reformation, the Sorbonne was the French center of Catholic thought and activity. Many of the woes of the Huguenots emanated from it. It was strongly opposed to the Jesuit Society. In the eighteenth century it came into conflict with the French scholars who compiled the famous encyclopedia, and was the frequent subject of their biting, not to say scurrilous, wit. The Sorbonne was suppressed by the French Revolution and its property taken for public purposes. In 1808 the site, buildings, and property were given by Napoleon to the newly organized University of France. Numerous new buildings have been erected. The old have almost disappeared, with the exception of an old church in which the tomb of Richelieu finds shelter. See University
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an establishment founded at Paris in 1253 by Robert de Sorbon, chaplain to St. Louis, for certain secular priests, who should devote themselves to the study of and gratuitous instruction Vol 8 in theology. The celebrity of its doctors, the crowds of scholars who sought its degrees, gave the Sorbonne a European fame, which steadily grew from the 14th to the 17th century, from a branch of the theological faculty, it became the faculty itself; its voice was paramount in matters of faith. It was abolished in 1792, revived in 1821 and in 1852 given to the city of Paris and incorporated in the University. New buildings were erected in 1889. The Sorbonne Chapel, where Richelieu is buried, is still standing. The University is admirably constructed for the purposes of higher education. There are over 100 professors and instructors and about 10,000 students.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 the Sorbonne was one university with "over 100 professors and about 10,000 students," the historic heart of the University of Paris. That single institution did not survive the student revolt of May 1968, which began with the occupation of the Sorbonne itself: in 1970 the University of Paris was broken up into thirteen autonomous universities, several of which kept "Sorbonne" in their names, among them Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris IV Paris-Sorbonne. In 2018 Paris IV merged with the science university Pierre-and-Marie-Curie to create a new Sorbonne University with tens of thousands of students. The theology that Aiton's calls the school's whole purpose is gone from it entirely, state faculties of Catholic theology having been abolished in France in the 1880s; the chapel with Richelieu's tomb, which both accounts note, still stands on the Place de la Sorbonne.
Written for this edition, 2026.