The Coimbra Group can be seen as a sample selection of traditional universities in Europe that want to continue the old traditional idea of 'Universitas'. A variety of factors led to bring out a second edition of the member universities "Charters of Foundation and Early Documents", eleven years after the appearance of the first edition. With eight new members, the Coimbra Group has grown substantially in the past eleven years. Moreover, historians and scholars working in the field of manuscripts and early documents have continued to add to our pool of knowledge. The new edition documents the early times of our universities by means of accurate transcriptions and critical discussions of the "Charters of Foundation and Early Documents" of the Group's thirty-seven universities. It is the result of the valuable work of specialists co-ordinated by the editors, Marc Nelissen and Jos MM Hermans.