When did the first European universities take shape, and which are commonly named among the earliest?
From about the twelfth century, with Athens, Alexandria and Rome among the first
In the reign of Charlemagne, who founded the first universities of the west
From about the twelfth century, with Bologna, Paris and Oxford among the first✓Bonne réponse
Only after 1400, when the first universities opened in northern Europe
Explication
Universities emerged as self-governing bodies of masters and students from roughly the twelfth century onward, growing out of existing cathedral and city schools in a handful of centres. Attributing them to Charlemagne fails because his court schools trained clergy and officials some three centuries earlier and neither governed themselves nor granted a formal standing at the end of study.