Education in England in the Middle Ages Part 14

The problem of the relation of monasteries to education in the later Middle Ages is an obscure one. On the one hand, there is the popular opinion (which is followed, generally, by uncritical writers) that the monasteries afforded the main means of education at this time; on the other hand, the tendency of modern research into the nature of the educational work of the monasteries is to maintain that no general work for education was accomplished by them.[501] Effectively to set out the work of the monastic orders for education, it is advisable to consider separately: (I.) schools in connection with monasteries, (II.) almonry schools, (III.) the education of girls, (IV.) the education of the novices, (V.) the monks and university education, (VI.) education and the mendicant orders.

I. SCHOOLS IN CONNECTION WITH MONASTERIES.

As a general principle, it may be a.s.sumed that a school existed in connection with every large monastery. The connection consisted in the fact that these schools were maintained by the monasteries, and that the master was appointed by the monastic authorities. These schools fall into one or other of two cla.s.ses: they were either founded by the monasteries, or they were handed over to the monasteries, which acted as trustees for their maintenance, by their real founders. It is not easy in every case to determine whether the school was the property of the monastery or was merely held on trust by them. The commissioners, entrusted with the task of securing the dissolution of all the monasteries, did not attempt to do so. The property held by the monastery was confiscated, regardless of whether the property was held on trust for other purposes, or was indisputably the possession of the monastery. Among the earliest of the schools which we know of, as being connected with monasteries are St.

Albans, c. 1100;[502] Christ Church, Hants, c. 1100;[503] Thetford, c.

1114;[504] Huntingdon, c. 1127;[505] Dunstable, c. 1131;[506] Reading, c.

1135;[507] Gloucester, c. 1137;[508] Derby, c. 1150;[509] and Bedford, c.

1160.[510] We know that Bourne School was in connection with the monastery, because the Abbot of Bourne possessed the patronage of the school.[511] For a similar reason, it can be shown that the school at Bury St. Edmunds was monastic.[512]

Pa.s.sing next to give instances of the schools which were held by monasteries as trustees, we may mention Lewes Grammar School, which was founded in 1512 by the will of Agnes Morley, who provided that the appointment of the schoolmaster should be vested in the prior of Lewes.[513] We note, too, that Peter of Blockesley gave possessions to the prior and convent of Coventry in trust for the school.[514] The school at Bruton may also be quoted as ill.u.s.trative. By an endowment deed of 1519,[515] various possessions were given to the Abbot of Bruton, subject to the condition that he should provide a schoolhouse and house for the master, and also pay him 10 a year. The returns to the chantry commissioners from Bruton[516] state that, after the dissolution, the schoolmaster was no longer called upon to work, but as he had had a pension a.s.signed him, he was able "to lyve licentiously at will than to travaile in good education of yewthe" "to the greate Decaye as well of vertuous bringing uppe of yewthe of the saide shire in all good lernyng, as also of the inhabitants of the Kinges said town of Brewton."

II. ALMONRY SCHOOLS.

An essential duty discharged by the inmates of a monastery was the offering of divine worship. Effectively to discharge this duty, the voices of boys were required in addition to those of the men. It is difficult to determine when this custom originated; probably it was adopted first of all in the collegiate churches, and then subsequently imitated by the monasteries. The earliest available reference to an almonry school in this country is in connection with St. Paul's Cathedral. A statute which dates c. 1190 refers to the boys of the almonry, and informs us that they lived on alms.[517] Lincoln, York, and Salisbury are three other secular cathedrals, at which choristers, who were boarded and lodged together, were maintained.

The boys, who acted as choristers in the monasteries, were lodged at the outer gate; they were clothed, fed, and educated at the expense of the monks. The earliest reference available to almonry boys in monasteries dates from 1320, when it was provided that "no scholar shall be taken into the almonry unless he can read, and sing in the chapel, and is ten years old."[518] The earliest statutes which set forth the work of the almonry are those of St. Albans, and date from 1339. They include the following regulations.

(1) "Let the boys be admitted to live there for a term of five years at the most, to whom this period suffices for becoming proficient in grammar.

(2) No poor scholar shall absent himself from the Almonry without the licence of the sub-Almoner, under the penalty of expulsion until reconciliation.

(3) Whosoever is convicted or notorious for being incontinent, a night walker, noisy, disorderly, shall be wholly expelled.

(4) Immediately on admission, the scholars shall shave an ample tonsure, after the manner of choristers, and shall cut their hair as becomes clerks.

(5) Every scholar shall say daily the matins of Our Lady for himself, and on every festival day the Seven Psalms for the convent and our founders."[519]

In the schedule of the almoner's duties at St. Albans[520] it is stated that the almoner is responsible for the repair of the studies of the monks, and of the grammar schoolhouse in the town. He has also the right of appointing the master of grammar, subject to the approval of the archdeacon. He is entrusted with the general care and supervision of the boys, and for the payment of the stipend of the schoolmaster.

A description of the almonry school at Durham is given in the "Rites of Durham."[521] This account states that "there were certain poor children called children of the Almery, who only were maintained with learning and relieved with the alms and benevolence of the whole house, having their meat and drink in a loft, on the north side of the abbey gate. And the said poor children went daily to school at the Farmary School, without the abbey gates; which school was founded by the prior of the said abbey, and at the charges of the said house."

There is also a reference to this school in the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[522] which mentions "De magno solario supra tenebatur scola." The same authority tells us that there were thirty poor scholars who attended this school.

The duties commonly undertaken by the schoolmaster of the almonry boys may be gathered from the agreement entered into in 1515, between the abbot of the monastery of Gloucester and the schoolmaster he appointed. The agreement specified that the master was to "teach the art of grammar to all the youthful brethren of the monastery sent to him by the abbot, and thirteen boys of the clerk's chambers; and shall teach and inform five or six or seven boys apt and ready to learn in plain song, divided or broken song and discant, sufficiently and diligently." In addition, the schoolmaster was to sing and play the organ at the monastery services.[523]

Besides the almonry schools in connection with the monasteries at St.

Albans, Durham, and Gloucester, to which we have referred, almonry schools have also been traced at Canterbury,[524] Reading,[525] Westminster,[526]

Winchester,[527] Bardney,[528] Worcester,[529] St. Mary's Abbey, York,[530] the Carthusian Monastery, Coventry,[531] Coventry Priory.[532]

The examples given support the probability that every monastery supported an almonry school. Admission to these schools was in some cases regarded as a valuable scholarship. This is evidenced by a letter which Queen Philippa wrote to the prior of Canterbury in 1332, and in which she asks for a boy to be admitted into the almonry "to be maintained like other poor scholars of his estate."[533]

It would be an idle task to attempt to estimate the value of these almonry schools for national education. We do not possess any definite information as to the number of boys who were educated in this way at each monastery, neither do we know for certain the number of monasteries which provided these facilities. All we can really a.s.sert is, that a large majority of the chief monasteries provided board and residence and education for a number of children, who would otherwise be unable to obtain any education. These children would learn to sing and read, and would also master grammar to the extent necessary to proceed to the universities if they desired to do so.

Mr. G. C. Coulton warns us that there was a great temptation for the monastic authorities to neglect the almonry schools. He points out that, in 1520, the visitors found that Norwich Cathedral Priory had cut down its almonry scholars from thirteen to eight, and that in 1526 it was noted at Rushworth that "pueri in collegio non continue aluntur sumptibus collegii sed custodiunt pecora parentum nonnunquam."[534]

III. THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS.

When Robert Aske, in 1536, was endeavouring to justify his rebellion against the action of Henry VIII. in suppressing the monasteries, he stated as one of the good works of these inst.i.tutions that "in nunneries their daughters (were) brought up in virtue."[535] The education of girls of the higher cla.s.ses was one of the duties undertaken by some of the convents, but it is difficult to estimate the extent to which this was done. The available references to the education of girls at convents may be readily summarised: at the time of the dissolution, there were from thirty to forty girls being educated at Pollesworth Nunnery, who were described as "gentylmen's children"[536]; at St. Mary's Nunnery, Winchester, there were twenty-six girls who are similarly described.[537]

A claim has also been made[538] that girls were educated at Carrow Abbey, Norfolk, but Mr. Coulton shows that "among all the 280 persons who are recorded to have boarded with the nuns of Carrow during forty-six years (an average of six a year), not one can be clearly shown to be a schoolgirl."[539] The point that needs to be emphasised is that the question of a nunnery school, as Mr. Coulton indicates, was at bottom a financial one. Convents which were not well endowed found it necessary to have recourse to some means of increasing their revenues, and teaching was one of the possible means of doing so. The early references to schoolgirls in episcopal registers show that an effort was made either to restrict or prohibit the practice. The reason of this episcopal opposition was the fear that the inst.i.tution of a school would break down the discipline of the convent, and distract the attention of the nuns. Thus, at Elstow in 1359, Bishop Gynwell would only allow girls under ten and boys under six to remain there, because, "by the living together of secular women and nuns, the contemplation of religion is withdrawn and scandal is engendered."[540] Very few other references to the education of girls in monasteries have been traced so far. Dr. Abram tells us that "In the Chancery Proceedings it is recorded that 'Lawrens Knyght, gentleman,'

arranged that the Prioress of Cornworthy, Devon, should have his two daughters, aged respectively seven and ten, 'to scole' and he agreed to pay her twenty pence weekly for their meat and drink."[541] In English literature, the only instance we have been able to discover is the well-known reference of Chaucer to the Miller's wife.

IV. THE EDUCATION OF THE NOVICES.

Abbot Gasquet has written a careful and interesting account of the life of a novice in a claustral school of the fifteenth century.[542] Dealing with St. Peter's Abbey, Westminster, he says, "The western walk was sacred to the novices, whose master took the first place, with the youngest nearest to him. Their method of sitting was peculiar: they were placed one behind the other, so that the face of one looked on the back of his neighbour.

And this was always the case, except when there was general conversation in the cloister. The only fixed seats were those of the abbot, prior, and master of novices; the rest were placed according to the disposition of the prior, sub-prior, or novice-master, to whom the care and due order of the cloister were specially committed. There, in the morning after the chapter, and at other intervals during the day, the novices attended to their tasks, and one by one took their books to their master, who either heard their reading himself, or sent them to some other senior for help or instruction."[543]

The "Rites of Durham"[544] also gives us a description of a novices'

school. It is there stated that the school was held both in the morning and in the afternoon in the "weast ally" of the cloisters. Boys began to attend these schools when they were seven years of age, and the eldest learned monk acted as their tutor. The novices were fed, clothed, and educated gratuitously. If they were "apt to lernynge ... and had a pregnant wyt withall" they were afterwards sent to Oxford to study divinity; otherwise, they were kept at their books till they could understand their service and the scriptures, and then became candidates for ordination to the priesthood.

Incidental references to the school of the novices occur in various monastic records. Thus, we learn that when Richard II. held his first parliament in 1378, at Gloucester, he and his court were lodged in the abbey, with the result that the monks were obliged to have their meals "in the schoolhouse."[545] The same chronicler also laments the destruction of turf in the cloisters, which "was so worn by the exercises of the wrestlers and ball players there that no traces of green were left on it."[546]

The Benedictine Statutes of 1334 emphasised the importance of study, and in order that monks might subsequently be fitted to proceed to the universities, it was decreed and ordained that "in all monastic cathedral churches, priories or other conventual and solemn places of sufficient means belonging to such order or vows, there shall henceforth be kept a master to teach the monks such elementary sciences, viz. grammar, logic and philosophy."[547] If, however, a competent teaching monk could not be found in the monastery, a secular priest was to be appointed for the purpose who, in addition to his residence, food and clothing, was to receive 20 a year--a large salary for the time.[548]

Some records are still available of agreements to teach between the prior of a monastery and a secular priest. As an example may be quoted the one made between the prior of Durham and a priest who covenanted to teach "the monks of Durham and eight secular boys." He was especially to teach "plain song, accompanied song, singing plain p.r.i.c.k note, faburdon, discant square note and counterpoint," and to play on the organ at the monastic services.[549]

Enquiry was also made from time to time to ascertain whether sufficient attention was being paid to the education of the novices. Thus, at the visitation of the priory of St. Peter's, Ipswich, in 1514, the complaint was made that there was no schoolmaster at the monastery;[550] in 1526, the monastery was required to provide a master to teach the novices grammar.[551]

Similarly, among the defects noted by William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, at his visitation of the monastery in 1511, was the lack of a "skilled teacher of grammar ... to teach the novices and other youths grammar." The archbishop emphasised his point by stating that "in default of such instruction it happens that most of the monks celebrating ma.s.s and performing other divine service are wholly ignorant of what they read, to the great scandal and disgrace both of religion in general and the monastery in particular."[552] It is interesting to note that a statement is appended to this criticism, intimating that "one of the brethren is deputed to that work and has already begun to do it, and teaches the younger monks daily."[553]

V. THE MONKS AND THE UNIVERSITIES.

Originally, we have seen, the monasteries were the centres of the intellectual activities of this country. The progress of the universities caused a change in this respect, with the result that Oxford and Cambridge gradually became the chief places of theological, as well as other branches of academic study. It then became necessary that the monks should adapt themselves to the new order of things, and arrange that those of their number who showed ability should avail themselves of the opportunities of advanced study which the new centres of learning afforded.

It is not possible to state when monks first went to either Oxford or Cambridge for the purpose of study, but it must have been at a comparatively early date in the thirteenth century, because at a general chapter of the Southern Benedictines held at Abingdon in 1275, it was decided to erect a house at Oxford in which "the brethren of our order who are to be sent from the various monasteries may live properly."[554] It was further resolved that each Benedictine house in the province of Canterbury should contribute for the first year "twopence in every mark of all their spiritual and temporal possessions according to the a.s.sessment of the former lord of Norwich ... and in the following years shall contribute a penny a mark to provide for the said places and other things in the said chapter."[555] It was also enacted, at the same time, that a theological lecturer to instruct the monks should be appointed in every monastery, as quickly as possible.

The first definite mention of monastic students at Oxford occurs in a letter written by Bishop Giffard of Worcester to the Chancellor of the University, requesting that "a doctor in the divine page" might be nominated to instruct the monks who were in residence.[556] In 1287, a site for the erection of a college for the monks, which was known as Gloucester College (now Worcester), was conveyed to the abbot and convent of Gloucester.[557]

This was not the only college for monks which was established at Oxford.

In 1286, the prior and convent of Durham had purchased land there (which is now the site of Trinity College) for the purpose of securing further education for the monks of Durham.[558]

In addition to these inst.i.tutions, the monks of Christ Church, Oxford, had a hall of their own as early as 1331.[559] This they sold to the monks of Westminster, after acquiring a regularly endowed college of their own known as Canterbury Hall. Canterbury Hall, which was founded by Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1362, was at first intended to be used both by seculars and regulars. This policy did not prove a success; the college was then used by the regular clergy only, and continued to be used by them until the dissolution.[560] Other monastic educational establishments at Oxford were the Cistercian Abbey of Rewley, St.

Bernard's College, and St. Mary's College.[561]

Returning to Gloucester College--the most important of the monastic colleges--we note that the first of the Benedictine monks to obtain the D.D. degree at Oxford was William Brock, who achieved that honour in 1298.

The occasion was regarded as important, and a feast, which was attended by the leading English members of the order, was held to commemorate it.[562]

A difference of opinion exists as to the normal number of monastic students who were in residence at Gloucester College. The editors of "Worcester College" estimate that there were from one hundred to two hundred students as a general rule at the college.[563] Mr. Leach denies this, and considers that the usual number of monks to be found at the college would be about sixty.[564] In 1537, there were thirty-two students there.[565] The importance of university education for Benedictine monks was emphasised by the Benedictine statutes of 1334, which enacted that "the cathedral churches, monasteries, priories, and other such places, each of them ... shall be bound to send out of every twenty monks one who is fit to acquire the fruit of greater learning to a university, and to provide each one so sent with the yearly pension underwritten."[566]

Whether or not this decree was systematically complied with, we have no means of determining. It is interesting to note that further action was subsequently necessary, because, in 1504, John Islip, Abbot of Westminster, complained that "for lakke of grounded lerned men in the lawes of G.o.d, vertue emonges religious men is little used, religion is greatly confounded, and fewe or noo hable persones founde in dyvers houses of religion, lakking lerned men to be the heddes of the same houses to the high displeasure of G.o.d and great subversion of religion."[567]

In order to deal with this ignorance on the part of the monks, Henry VII.

conveyed lands for the endowment of three chantry priests at Westminster Abbey. It was resolved that "the said Abbot, Prior, and Convent and their successours shall provide encrease have and fynd three moo monkes of the said monastery over and above the said three monkes contynually and perpetually to be and contynue scolers in the said Universitie of Oxonford there to studye in the science of Divinitie."[568]