What if the first universities had gone differently?

Bologna, Paris and Oxford become self-governing communities of masters and students.

If it had gone differently: Learning stays locked in monasteries; there is no scholarly institution for the Scientific Revolution to grow out of.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on the first universities. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1400The Italian Renaissance. Without it, Europe never rediscovers the classical world on its own terms; the break with the medieval mind comes later and shallower.
2. 1517The Protestant Reformation. Without it, Western Christianity stays a single church; no confessional map of Europe forms.
3. 1600The Scientific Revolution. Without it, Natural philosophy stays deferential to the ancients; no method, no acceleration.