The history of universities has been a lively branch of scholarship since the 1970s, but much of the work on it is specialized and difficult to find. This book introduces the results of this scholarship, and provides, within the context of general European history, an interpretative account of developments during the period in which modern university originated and flourished. The evolution of the university idea in the 19th century, the changing relationships of research and teaching, and the characteristic forms taken by national systems of higher education still have relevance today. The first few chapters of the book discuss the establishment of the modern university system: the Enlightenment, the reorganization under Napoleon which followed the destruction of French universities after the 1789 revolution, and the influential ‘Humboldtian’ model established in Germany. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the relation between universities, politics and religion in the early 19th century. Chapter 7 is on ‘curriculum and culture’. Chapters 8 and 9 survey the findings of historians on the social role of universities. There follow seven chapters on individual European countries, including Russia and Britain, with special attention paid to the connection between universities and nationalism. The final four chapters take the story up to 1914, discussing the themes of women and the university, student life, adaptation to democratic pressures, and the strains caused by increasing international tension. There is an extensive, multilingual bibliography.