Paris in the thirteenth century has long been considered an international university, which by the end of the fourteenth century had become largely a northern French university. This shift from internationalism to regionalism follows a pattern that is considered typical for late medieval universities. The difference with Paris, of course, is that it was far more renowned and presumably more international than other centers of learning in the early thirteenth century, and though it never lost its ability to attract non-French students in the medieval period, the contraction of its alumni boundaries would have been far more dramatic and internationally significant than with most other universities.

The evidence from which that picture is constructed, however, is less extensive and more complex than is normally realized. The international character of thirteenth-century Paris is not based on a large body of evidence that can be subjected to statistical analysis, but is rather an impression derived from the fact that many of the leading theologians of the university, such as Stephen Langton, Robert Kilwardby, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura, Giles of Rome, Henry of Ghent, and John Duns Scotus were from areas outside France, principally from England, Germany, and Italy. Presumably, if so much of the visible intellectual leadership was non-French, then a significant portion of the invisible majority must also have been from outside France.

The evidence for the sharp reduction in its international character is less impressionistic.