Education in England in the Middle Ages Part 17

A college which calls for special mention is that of Tonge in Shropshire, which was founded in 1410 by the widow of Sir Fulk Penbridge.[660] The complete foundation consisted of a warden, four secular priests as chaplains, two clerks, and an almshouse for thirteen persons.[661] We are fortunate in possessing the "Statuta et Ordinationes pro Gubernatione ejusdem,"[662] as these make it clear that these colleges commonly conceived it their duty to provide for education. The clause runs, "Statuimus etiam et ordinamus, quod unus e capellanis praedictis, vel alius clericus dicti collegii, si capella.n.u.s in hac parte habere non poterit in lectura, cantu, et grammatica competenter instructus, qui pro dispositione custodis, et sanioris partis dicti collegii, clericos et alios ministros collegii, et ultra eosdem pauperes juvenes ejusdem villae, seu de vicinis villis, teneatur diligenter instruere."[663]

It is important to note that a collegiate foundation provided for education even in such a small place as Tonge.

In 1415, the College of Stoke-next-Clare was founded by Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. There had existed here previously an alien priory, which was afterwards converted into a college of secular priests. The Earl of March augmented its revenues, so as to provide for a dean, six prebendaries, eight vicars, four clerks, six choristers, officers and servants.[664] From the statutes and ordinances for the government of this college,[665] we learn that a schoolmaster was to be appointed to teach the boys of the college reading, plain song, and descant.[666]

"A n.o.ble college"[667] was founded at Fotheringhay in 1412 by Edward, Duke of York. The college consisted of a master, twelve chaplains or fellows, eight clerks, and thirteen choristers. The statutes of the college were largely based on those of Winchester and New College, and provided for the appointment of one master to teach grammar, and of another to teach song to the choristers.[668]

Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, founded a college at Higham Ferrers, his birthplace, in the last year of King Henry V., for a master, six secular chaplains, four clerks, and six choristers; of these, "unus eorundem capellanorum sive clericorum ad grammaticam, et alius capella.n.u.s sive clericus de eisdem capellanis sive clericis ad cantum instruendum et docendum ibidem deputetur et a.s.signetur."[669] The act of Chicheley in making his schoolmasters an integral part of the foundation marks an advance on Wykeham, who made them stipendiary officers only.[670]

An inst.i.tution, which was of the nature of a hospital rather than a college, was founded in 1432, at Ewelme, by the Earl of Suffolk. It consisted of an almshouse for two chaplains and thirteen poor men,[671]

and to the almshouse a grammar school was attached. The school statutes provide that the schoolmaster was to be "a well disposed man, apte and able to techyng of grammar to whose office it shall long and perteyne diligently to teche and inform chylder in the faculte of gramer, provyded that all the chylder of our chapelle, of the tenauntes of our lordshyp of Ewelme and of the lordshypes perteyning to the said Almesse Howse, now present and at alle tymes to com, frely be tawt without exaccion of any scole-hir."[672]

In 1432, John Kempe, at that time Archbishop of York and afterwards Cardinal, obtained a licence from Henry VI., to establish a college for celebrating divine service and for the education of the youth in the parish of Wye.[673] The college was to consist of "a maister and six priests, two clerks and two queristers and over that a maister of grammar that shal frely teche withoutyn anything takyng of hem al thos that wol come to his techyng."[674]

At Tattershall, in Lincolnshire, a college was founded and endowed by Sir Ralph Cromwell, in 1439. It consisted of a warden, six priests, six clerks, six choristers, and an almshouse for thirteen poor persons. The existence at this college of a master of grammar and of a master of the choristers can be traced.[675]

We now pa.s.s to consider the two chief colleges which were founded prior to the Act of 1547 which brought about their dissolution--Acaster College and Rotherham College.

The original doc.u.ments of the foundations of Acaster College do not appear to be extant. No reference to the college is made in the _Monasticon_. A private Act of Parliament pa.s.sed in 1483 for the purpose of settling a dispute relating to a question of enclosure, which had arisen, recites that the college was founded[676] by Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and that this foundation included "three dyvers Maisters and Informatours in the faculteies underwritten; that is to witt; oon of theym to teche Gramer, another to teche Musyk and Song, and the third to teche to Write, and all suche thing as belonged to Scrivener Craft, to all maner of persons of whatsoever c.u.n.tre they be within the Reame of Englond ...

openly, and freely without exaction of money or other thyngs of any of their suche Scholars and Disciples."[677]

The chantry certificate relating to this college stated that:--

"There ys a provost and three fellows being all preistes whereof one dothe kepe a free scole of grammar according to the foundacion."[678]

Full information is available of the foundation of a college at Rotherham, by Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York, under licence of Jan. 22nd, 1483.[679]

In the college statutes[680] the founder stated that he would have grown up "unlearned, unlettered, and rude," if by chance a "vir in gramatica doctus" had not come to the neighbourhood and thus made it possible for those who were desirous of doing so, to learn the elements of grammar. In order, therefore, to provide for the youth of the future, he had established a college to consist of a provost, three fellows, and six scholar-choristers.

The provost was to exercise a general supervision over the establishment, to guide the studies of the fellows and all others who wished to avail themselves of his services, and to preach in the diocese of York, especially in specified churches.[681]

The first fellow was to give instruction in grammar under the direction and supervision of the provost. The second fellow was to teach the art of music[682] "especially in plain and broken chant, in all the moods and forms of the art," to scholars desirous of learning coming from any part of England and especially from the diocese of York.[683] The third fellow was to be learned in the art of writing and in the keeping of accounts.

Archbishop Rotherham states that he founded this third fellowship because he desired to a.s.sist those who did not wish to attain to the "high dignity" of the priesthood, to fit themselves "for the mechanical arts and other worldly concerns."[684] All these fellows of the college were diligently to teach "without exaction of money or anything else in the schools and houses a.s.signed for the purpose in the college."[685]

Before proceeding to consider the data we have collected in this chapter, we may refer briefly to the educational provision made in connection with hospitals. In addition to the educational aspect of the charitable foundation at Ewelme, to which we have already referred,[686] we note that in 1231 a Jewish synagogue existed in the parish of St. Bennet Fink. This was given to the brethren of St. Anthony of Vienne in France by Henry III.

A hospital consisting of a master, two priests, a schoolmaster, twelve poor brethren, and various officers was established by them.[687] A further development occurred in 1441 when John Carpenter, who held the position of master of St. Anthony's Hospital at that time, obtained from the Bishop of London the revenues of a rectory adjoining the hospital for the maintenance of "a master or fit Informer in the faculty of grammar ...

to keep a grammar school in the precinct of the hospital or some fit house close by, to teach, instruct and inform gratis all boys and others whatsoever wishing to learn and become scholars."[688] The school, thus founded, made considerable progress and for about 200 years was the chief school in London.

We may also mention the foundation of Heytesbury Hospital in Wiltshire.

Licence was granted[689] in 1472 to Lady Hungerford to found an almshouse to consist of a master and twelve poor brethren. The statutes for the government of the inst.i.tution show that the master was to be able to teach grammar, that the chancellor of Salisbury was to present "an able keeper and a sufficient teacher of grammar at every avoidance," and that it was the duty of the master "to teach and inform all such children and all other persons that shall come to the place which is ordained and deputed to teach them in within Heytesbury and ... shall teach them from the beginning of learning until such season as they learn sufficient ... of grammar; no school hire take of no person or take (except from) such as their friends may spend 10 or above, or else that will give freely."[690]

Our treatment of the problem with which we are concerned in this thesis, has differed in this chapter from that adopted in other chapters. We have here collected together a ma.s.s of evidence ill.u.s.trative of the part taken by collegiate churches in education. The evidence is not exhaustive. We can readily adduce evidence of the education provided by the collegiate churches at Ledbury, at Llangadock, at Brecon, at St. David's, at Crediton, and probably further research would enable additional examples to be obtained.

The question is: what general principles arise as a result of a consideration of these examples?

(1) The Church considered it one of her primary works of charity to provide for education. The charitable aspect becomes particularly evident when we consider the a.s.sociation of almshouses and schools as at Eton, Ewelme, Heytesbury, and St. Anthony's. Though, as we have tried to show in preceding chapters, the rise of a social consciousness had led various community organisations to realise that they had a duty to discharge in the provision of educational facilities, yet the fact that other authorities were stirring themselves in the matter did not involve that the Church was to be apathetic. On the contrary, the examples we have adduced indicate considerable activity.

(2) Each of the collegiate churches was normally regarded as a centre of educational work. This fact seems to have been so generally known that it is rarely expressed in the licences authorising the foundation. It is only some special circ.u.mstances, _e.g._ the existence of the statutes or the return to the chantry commissioners, which enables the teaching work of these colleges definitely to be known. Since the educational aspect of the work of these colleges was not a matter of enactment[691] it must have been due to tradition. This tradition must date back to the earliest days of the establishment of such colleges and here we go back to the time of the introduction of Christianity to this country. In fact, a definite connection between collegiate churches and education can be traced back to the days of St. Augustine of Hippo.[692]

(3) A change is gradually observable in the relationship of these collegiate churches to education. At first the master of grammar and of song was merely a hireling, a clerk, probably, who was attached in some subordinate capacity to the inst.i.tution. The foundation deed of Winchester College, for example, makes no mention of a master of grammar, the foundation charter of Eton College refers to a "magister sive informator in grammatica," but, whilst other appointments are definitely mentioned, the appointment of a schoolmaster was apparently of secondary consideration. Gradually the position of the master improves until we see in the last instance of the establishment of a college prior to the Reformation, and which we have given in this chapter, the foundation of Rotherham College, that the establishment consisting of a provost and three fellows, each of whom was engaged in educational work, was one in which the scholastic aspect took precedence over all other aspects.

CHAPTER VIII.

CURRICULUM AND METHOD.

The conventional view of the curriculum of the schools of the Middle Ages regards it as consisting of the trivium[693] and the quadrivium;[694]

under these two terms was substantially included all the learning of the time. To investigate here the contents of the "Seven Liberal Arts" would involve us in an unnecessary digression, especially as the extent to which these subjects actually formed part of the school curriculum is still a matter of considerable doubt.[695]

Having now paid our homage to the generally accepted view, we note, however, when we turn to examine the actual sources now available for the study of medieval education, that the terms which occur most frequently in the records, as indicative of what was taught in the schools, are "grammar" and "song." They are reiterated time after time; a master is appointed "ad informandum pueros in grammatica" or "in cantu"; or, in the chantry returns, "to teche frely almanner of childern Gramer;"[696] to "teache gramer and plane songe."[697] Any student who enters upon an investigation of the subjects of the curriculum of the schools of the Middle Ages, without any preconception of what was taught in the schools, and who diligently reads through the doc.u.ments of the period now available, would unhesitatingly state that the curriculum consisted of grammar and song.

We have previously considered[698] what these terms denoted in a general sense. Our next task is to consider whether any details are available of the school curricula during the period with which we are concerned. As these are comparatively meagre, it will be possible for us to gather together an account of most of the sources which enable us to reconstruct the curriculum of the schools of medieval England.

The most systematic account we possess of medieval education is derived from the writings of John of Salisbury. The main facts of his life are readily given. After spending about fifteen years on the continent undergoing a course of study, he returned to this country and became secretary to Archbishop Theobald, by whom he was entrusted with important diplomatic missions both at home and abroad. Subsequently he became the friend and adviser of Thomas a Beckett, at whose death he was present. For the last four years of his life John was Bishop of Chartres. We may here antic.i.p.ate an objection which will probably be forthcoming. The education of John of Salisbury took place mainly in France, and as this thesis professes to deal with English education, the question arises: is not the section irrelevant? The answer is that John of Salisbury was an Englishman, and one of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages. The education he obtained was the education possible to an Englishman of his period. Further, the account of John of Salisbury's education is the best account available for a study of the curriculum of medieval times.

John tells us that whilst he was a boy he was placed under the charge of a priest, along with some other boys "ut psalmos addiscerem."[699]

Incidentally, it may be mentioned that this priest seems to have been interested in magic, and to have employed his pupils to a.s.sist him.

However, as John proved a disturbing influence, his services were not made use of after the first occasion.

In his _Metalogicus_,[700] John gives an account of his further education.

He crossed over to France to study when he was quite a young man.[701]

There he studied under Abelard, from whom he received his first lessons in logic. Subsequently he was instructed by Alberic, the successor of Abelard, whom he describes as "a greatly esteemed dialectician and the bitterest a.s.sailant of the nominal sect." He also was taught by Robert of Melun, an Englishman, who later became Bishop of Hereford. John remained under these masters for about two years. Both of them, he says, possessed considerable ability as logicians and in disputations, though their methods differed. One of them was scrupulous to the least detail, and discussed fully the slightest difficulty in connection with the problem under consideration; the other was prompt in reply, and never avoided a question that was proposed, "but by multiplicity of words would show that a simple answer could not be given."

By these teachers only logic was taught, and the cultivation of "a sharp and nimble wit with an acute intellect" seems to have been the only goal aimed at. At this subject John became so expert that "in the commonplace rules and other rudimentary principles which boys study, and in which the aforesaid masters were most weighty, I seemed to myself to know them as well as my nail and fingers. One thing certainly I had attained to, namely, to estimate my knowledge much higher than it deserved. I fancied myself a young scholar, because I was quick in what I had been taught."

John, however, became conscious of an intellectual appet.i.te which the formal routine of logic did not satisfy; consequently, he determined to enter upon the study of grammar, and for this purpose he left Paris for Chartres, to study under the Grammarian, William of Conches. The cathedral school at Chartres had long been famous as a centre of learning.

One of the most famous masters of the school was Bernard Sylvester, described by John of Salisbury as "in modern times the most abounding spring of letters in France."[702] Poole gives an account of this school under Bernard:--

"The pupil went through all the routine of metaplasm, schematism, and figures of speech; but this was only the groundwork. As soon as possible he was introduced to the cla.s.sical texts themselves and in order to create a living interest in the study, Bernard used not merely to treat these grammatically, but also to comment freely upon them.... Nor did he confine himself to the form of what was being read; he was still more anxious to impress upon his pupils its meaning. It was a principle with him that the wider and more copious the master's knowledge, the more fully will he perceive the elegancy of his authors and the more clearly will he teach them."[703]

Among the teaching methods adopted by Bernard, and by his successors in the school, Richard the Bishop, and William of Conches, were those of requiring exercises daily in prose and verse composition. By way of preparation for these exercises, the pupils were shown the qualities in the cla.s.sical writers which were deemed worthy of adoption. The pupils pa.s.sed round their exercises to one another for comment and criticism, and in this way emulation was stimulated. In addition to composition, the pupils had a good deal to commit to memory; they were every day required to keep a record of the lessons they had received. John of Salisbury writes of Richard the Bishop that he was a man "who was master of every kind of learning and who had more heart even than speech, more learning than eloquence, more truth than vanity, more virtue than ostentation; the things I had learnt from others, I reviewed from him, besides certain things which I now learnt for the first time relating to the Quadrivium.... I also again studied Rhetoric, which previously I had scarcely understood when it was first treated of superficially by Master Theodoric."[704] John also studied rhetoric from Peter Helias, "a grammarian of high repute."

Apparently John was obliged to maintain himself during this period, as he had no parents or relatives who could support him. Consequently, we find that he taught the "children of n.o.ble persons." He did not consider the time he spent in teaching the young as wasted, because it forced him to revise that which he had previously learnt himself. Whilst engaged in the task of teaching, John became acquainted with Adam du Pet.i.t Pont, an Englishman who subsequently became Bishop of St. Asaph. John describes Adam as a man "of much learning who had given special study to Aristotle."

John is careful to point out that he was never a pupil of Adam, yet Adam seems to have been well disposed to John, and to have a.s.sisted him in various ways.

In order to apply himself to the study of theology, John returned to Paris. His course was interrupted by his poverty; during the necessary interval he again acted as tutor. At the end of three years, he was once again in Paris, where his studies were continued, first under Robert Pullus and afterwards under Simon of Poissy--"a trusty lecturer but dull in disputations."

In the conclusion of the record of his school studies, John gives an account of a visit he paid to the school of logic at Paris attended by him whilst a youth. He states that his purpose in doing so was to endeavour to estimate the relative progress made by the schools of logic, and by himself. He writes:--

"I found them as before and where they were before; nor did they appear to have reached the goal in unravelling the old questions, nor had they added one jot of a proposition. The aims that once inspired them, inspired them still; they only had progressed in one point, they had unlearned moderation, they knew not modesty. And thus experience taught me a manifest conclusion that, whereas dialectic furthers other studies, so if it remain by itself it lies bloodless and barren, nor does it quicken the soul to yield fruit of philosophy, except the same conceive from elsewhere."[705]

We also obtain a certain amount of educational biography from the writings of Alexander Neckham, who was at one time the master of the school at Dunstable.[706] Neckham tells us that, when he was a boy, he attended the school at St. Albans; then he pa.s.sed over to Paris, where he studied theology, medicine, canon and civil law.[707]

A third account needs to be referred to before we can consider what conclusions we can draw with regard to the curriculum of the twelfth century.

William Fitzstephen, (d. 1190), was employed by Thomas a Beckett. He witnessed the murder of his master and wrote his biography. This work contains an interesting account of London in the twelfth century and, incidentally, describes an important occasion in schoolboy life. He states:--