What were the causes and what were the consequences of the development of the early medieval universities?

Answer 1

For the first two or three hundred years (say to about 1250 AD) their purpose was to prepare young men for the Christian priesthood, and they were sponsored by the Church. Over the next three hundred years, Church sponsorship continued, but the curriculum gradually expanded.

For example, in Scotland the three oldest Universities were founded by Bishops or Archbishops in about 1410, 1450 and 1500, but the fourth was founded in 1580 by the Town Council of Edinburgh to be a specifically secular University. From 1600 onwards the pursuit of all categories of knowledge was clearly their primary activity, and the training of priests or ministers was incidental.

Answer 2

Abelard's major consequence was getting castrated.