 He attracted important theologians, including Thierry of Chartres, William of Conches and the Englishman John of Salisbury.These men were at the forefront of the intense intellectual rethinking that culminated in what is now known as the twelfth-century renaissance, pioneering the Scholastic philosophy that came to dominate medieval thinking throughout Europe.By the mid-12th century, the role of Chartres had waned, as it was replaced by the University of Paris as the leading school of theology.