Among the most notable achievements of this prince was the foundation of
a school of learning intended to supply the deficiencies of the
instruction given by the university. In the "College Royal" Francis
desired to leave a lasting token of his devotion to letters. Here he
founded chairs of three languages--of Greek and Hebrew at first, and
afterward of Latin--whence was derived the name of _Trilingue_, under
which the college was celebrated in the writings of the day. The
monarch's plan encountered the obstacles which prejudice always knows
how to set in the way of improvement. The university doctors, fearing
that their own prelections would be forsaken for the more brilliant
lectures of the salaried professors of the royal school, demanded that
the latter should submit to an examination before the more ancient body
of instructors; but parliament wisely rejected their pretensions.
Liberal men throughout the world rejoiced at the defeat of the Sorbonne
and its representative, Beda,[72] while Marot, alluding to the quarrel
in a poetical epistle to the king, poured out in verse his contempt for
the "Theologasters" of Paris: