There are shared cultural roots in monasticism in medieval Europe. The monasteries were keepers of books, learning and scholarship in the long interregnum after

There are shared cultural roots in monasticism in medieval Europe. The monasteries were keepers of books, learning and scholarship in the long interregnum after the fall of Rome and up to the Renaissance. Oxford, Cambridge, Bologna and the other ancient universities of Europe were founded early in the second millenium, and it was natural for them to take the monasteries as a template.