At a time when the value of a liberal arts education is under attack, it is a worthwhile endeavor to look to the past. While contemplating where universities came from, what aims they have pursued, and what roles they have played in their social and political settings, this talk will retrace the emergence of the University of Paris. We then explore how the university, represented allegorically as the daughter of the king, established itself as a key political player during a period of social unrest and warfare that nearly destroyed the kingdom of France.
