The History of Education Part 15

Even after Ptolemy's _Mechanism of the Heavens_ (p. 49) and Aristotle's _On the Heavens_ had filtered across the Pyrenees from the Saracens, in the eleventh century, the Ptolemaic theory of a flat earth located at the center of the heavenly bodies and around which they all revolved, while a very pleasing theological conception, was absolutely fatal to any instruction in astronomy worth while and to any astronomical advance. All mediaeval astronomy, too, was saturated with astrology, as the selection on the motion of the heavenly bodies reproduced from Bartholomew Anglicus shows (R. 77 b), and the supernatural was invoked to explain such phenomena as meteors, comets, and eclipses. The Copernican theory of the motion of the heavenly bodies was not published until 1543, and all our modern ideas date from that time.

Physics was often taught as a part of the instruction in astronomy, and consisted of lessons on the properties of matter (R. 77 a) and some of the simple principles of dynamics. Little else of what we to-day know as physics was then known.

7. MUSIC. Unlike the other studies of the _Quadrivium_, the instruction in music was quite extensive, and from early times a good course in musical theory was taught (R. 74 f). Boethius' _De Musica_, written at the beginning of the sixth century, was the text used. Music entered into so many activities of the Church that much naturally was made of it. The organ, too, is an old instrument, going back to the second century B.C., and the organ with a keyboard to the close of the eleventh century. This instrument added much to the value of the music course, and the hymns composed by Christian musicians form an important part of our musical heritage. [11] The cathedral school at Metz and the monastery at Saint Gall became famous as musical centers, and of the work of one of the teachers of music at Saint Gall (Notker) it was written by his biographer: "Through different hymns, sequences, tropes, and litanies, through different songs and melodies as well as through ecclesiastical science, the pupils of this man made the church of G.o.d famous not merely in Alemannia, but everywhere from sea to sea."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 47. AN EARLY CHURCH MUSICIAN (From a fourteenth-century ma.n.u.script, now in the British Museum)]

THE GREAT TEXTBOOKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. While the textbooks mentioned under the description of each of the Liberal Arts formed the basis of the instruction given, most of the instruction before the twelfth century was not given from editions of the original works, but from abridged compendiums. Six of these were so famous and so widely used that each deserves a few words of description.

1. _The Marriage of Mercury and Philology_, written by Martia.n.u.s Capella, between 410 and 427 A.D., was the first of the five great mediaeval textbooks. Mercury, desiring to marry, finally settles on the learned maiden Philology, and the seven bridesmaids--Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music--enter in turn at the ceremony and tell who they are and what they represent. The speeches of the seven maidens summarized the ancient learning in each subject. This textbook was more widely used during the Middle Ages than any other book.

2. _Boethius_ (475-524) was another important mediaeval textbook writer, having prepared textbooks on dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and ethics. Nearly all of what the Middle Ages knew of Aristotle's _Logic_ and _Ethics_, and of the writings of Plato, were contained in the texts he wrote. His _De Musica_ was used in the universities as a textbook until near the middle of the eighteenth century.

3. _Ca.s.siodorus_ [12] (c. 490-585), in his _On the Liberal Arts and Sciences_, prepared a digest of each of the Seven Liberal Arts for monastic use, fixing the number at seven by scriptural authority. [13]

4. _Isidore_, Bishop of Seville (c. 570-636), under the t.i.tle of _Etymologies_ or _Origines_, prepared an encyclopaedia of the ancient learning for the use of the monks and clergy which was intended to be a summary of all knowledge worth knowing. While he drew his knowledge from the writings of the Greeks and Romans, with many of which he was familiar, contrary to the att.i.tude of Ca.s.siodorus he forbade the monks and clergy to make any use of them whatever. Ca.s.siodorus was still in part a Roman; Isidore was a full mediaeval.

5. _Alcuin_, a learned scholar of the eighth century, whom we met in the preceding chapter (p. 140), wrote treatises on the studies of the _Trivium_ and on astronomy which were used in many schools in Frankland.

6. _Maurus_. In 819 the learned monk of Fulda, Rhaba.n.u.s Maurus, a pupil of Alcuin, issued his volume _On the Instruction of the Clergy_, in the third part of which he describes the uses and the subject-matter of each of the Arts (R. 74). He also wrote texts on grammar and astronomy, and in 844 issued an encyclopaedia, _De Universo_, based largely on the work of Isidore, but supplemented from other sources.

These were the great textbooks for the study of the _Trivium_ and the _Quadrivium_ throughout all the early Middle Ages. Considering that they were in ma.n.u.script form and were in one volume, [14] their extent and scope can be imagined. The teacher usually had or had access to a copy, though even a teacher's books in that day were few in number (R. 78).

Pupils had no books at all. These "great" texts were composed of brief extracts, bits of miscellaneous information, and lists of names. Their style was uninviting. They were at best a mere sh.e.l.l, compared with the Greek and Roman knowledge which had been lost. Some of these books were in question-and-answer (catechetical) form. Their purpose was not to stimulate thinking, but to transmit that modic.u.m of secular knowledge needed for the service of the Church and as a preparation for the study of the theological writings. For nearly eight hundred years education was static, the only purpose of instruction being to transmit to the next generation what the preceding one had known. For such a period such textbooks answered the purpose fairly well.

3. _Training of the n.o.bility_

TENTH-CENTURY CONDITIONS. Following the death of Charlemagne and the break-up of the empire held together by him, a period of organized anarchy followed in western Europe. Authority broke down more completely than before, and Europe, for protection, was forced to organize itself into a great number of small defensive groups. Serfs, [15] freemen lacking land, and small landowners alike came to depend on some n.o.bleman for protection, and this n.o.bleman in turn upon some lord or overlord. For this protection military service was rendered in return. The lord lived in his castle, and the peasantry worked his land and supported him, fighting his battles if the need arose. This condition of society was known as _feudalism_, and the feudal relations of lord and va.s.sal came to be the prevailing governmental organization of the period. Feudalism was at best an organized anarchy, suited to rude and barbarous times, but so well was it adapted to existing conditions that it became the prevailing form of government, and continued as such until a better order of society could be evolved. With the invention of gunpowder, the rise of cities and industries, the evolution of modern States by the consolidation of numbers of these feudal governments, and the establishment of order and civilization, feudalism pa.s.sed out with the pa.s.sing of the conditions which gave rise to it. From the end of the ninth to the middle of the thirteenth centuries it was the dominant form of government.

The life of the n.o.bility under the feudal regime gave a certain picturesqueness to what was otherwise an age of lawlessness and disorder.

The chief occupation of a n.o.ble was fighting, either in his own quarrel or that of his overlord. It is hard for us to-day to realize how much fighting went on then. Much was said about "honor," but quarrels were easily started, and oaths were poorly kept. It was a day of personal feuds and private warfare, and every n.o.ble thought it his right to wage war on his neighbor at any time, without asking the consent of any one. [16] As a preparation for actual warfare a series of mimic encounters, known as tournaments, were held, in which it often happened that knights were killed. In these encounters mounted knights charged one another with spear and lance, performing feats similar to those of actual warfare. This was the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the period, compared with which the German duel, the Mexican bullfight, or the American game of football are mild sports.

The other diversions of the knights and n.o.bles were hunting, hawking, feasting, drinking, making love, minstrelsy, and chess. Intellectual ability formed no part of their accomplishments, and a knowledge of reading and writing was commonly regarded as effeminate.

To take this carousing, fighting, pillaging, ravaging, destructive, and murderous instinct, so strong by nature among the Germanic tribes, and refine it and in time use it to some better purpose, and in so doing to increasingly civilize these Germanic lords and overlords, was the problem which faced the Church and all interested in establishing an orderly society in Europe. As a means of checking this outlawry the Church established and tried to enforce the "Truce of G.o.d" (R. 79), and as a partial means of educating the n.o.bility to some better conception of a purpose in life the Church aided in the development of the education of chivalry, the first secular form of education in western Europe since the days of Rome, and added its sanction to it after it arose.

THE EDUCATION OF CHIVALRY. This form of education was an evolution. It began during the latter part of the ninth century and the early part of the tenth, reached its maximum greatness during the period of the Crusades (twelfth century), and pa.s.sed out of existence by the sixteenth. The period of the Crusades was the heroic age of chivalry. The system of education which gradually developed for the children of the n.o.bility may be briefly described as follows:

1. _Page._ Up to the age of seven or eight the youth was trained at home, by his mother. He played to develop strength, was taught the meaning of obedience, trained in politeness and courtesy, and his religious education was begun. After this, usually at seven, he was sent to the court of some other n.o.ble, usually his father's superior in the feudal scale, though in case of kings and feudal lords of large importance the children remained at home and were trained in the palace school. From seven to fourteen the boy was known as a page. He was in particular attached to some lady, who supervised his education in religion, music, courtesy, gallantry, the etiquette of love and honor, and taught him to play chess and other games.

He was usually taught to read and write the vernacular language, and was sometimes given a little instruction in reading Latin. [17] To the lord he rendered much personal service such as messenger, servant at meals, and attention to guests. By the men he was trained in running, boxing, wrestling, riding, swimming, and the use of light weapons.

2. _Squire._ At fourteen or fifteen he became a squire. While continuing to serve his lady, with whom he was still in company, and continuing to render personal service in the castle, the squire became in particular the personal servant and bodyguard of the lord or knight. He was in a sense a _valet_ for him, making his bed, caring for his clothes, helping him to dress, and looking after him at night and when sick. He also groomed his horse, looked after his weapons, and attended and protected him on the field of combat or in battle. He himself learned to hunt, to handle shield and spear, to ride in armor, to meet his opponent, and to fight with sword and battle-axe. As he approached the age of twenty-one, he chose his lady- love, who was older than he and who might be married, to whom he swore ever to be devoted, even though he married some one else. He also learned to rhyme, [18] to make songs, sing, dance, play the harp, and observe the ceremonials of the Church. Girls were given this instruction along with the boys, but naturally their training placed its emphasis upon household duties, service, good manners, conversational ability, music, and religion.

3. _Knight._ At twenty-one the boy was knighted, and of this the Church made an impressive ceremonial. After fasting, confession, a night of vigil in armor spent at the altar in holy meditation, and communion in the morning, the ceremony of dubbing the squire a knight took place in the presence of the court. He gave his sword to the priest, who blest it upon the altar. He then took the oath "to defend the Church, to attack the wicked, to respect the priesthood, to protect women and the poor, to preserve the country in tranquillity, and to shed his blood, even to its last drop, in behalf of his brethren." The priest then returned him the sword which he had blessed, charging him "to protect the widows and orphans, to restore and preserve the desolate, to revenge the wronged, and to confirm the virtuous." He then knelt before his lord, who, drawing his own sword and holding it over him, said: "In the name of G.o.d, of our Lady, of thy patron Saint, and of Saint Michael and Saint George, I dub thee knight; be brave (touching him with the sword on one shoulder), be bold (on the other shoulder), be loyal (on the head)."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 48. A SQUIRE BEING KNIGHTED (From an old ma.n.u.script)]

THE CHIVALRIC IDEALS. Such, briefly stated, was the education of chivalry.

The cathedral and monastery schools not meeting the needs of the n.o.bility, the castle school was evolved. There was little that was intellectual about the training given--few books, and no training in Latin. Instead, the native language was emphasized, and squires in England frequently learned to speak French. It was essentially an education for secular ends, and prepared not only for active partic.i.p.ation in the feuds and warfare of the time, but also for the Seven Perfections of the Middle Ages: (1) Riding, (2) Swimming, (3) Archery, (4) Fencing, (5) Hunting, (6) Whist or Chess, and (7) Rhyming. It also represents the first type of schooling in the Middle Ages designed to prepare for life here, rather than hereafter.

For the n.o.bility it was a discipline, just as the Seven Liberal Arts was a discipline for the monks and clergy. Out of it later on was evolved the education of a gentleman as distinct from that of a scholar.

That such training had a civilizing effect on the n.o.bility of the time cannot be doubted. Through it the Church exercised a restraining and civilizing influence on a rude, quarrelsome, and impetuous people, who resented restraints and who had no use for intellectual discipline. It developed the ability to work together for common ends, personal loyalty, and a sense of honor in an age when these were much-needed traits, and the ideal of a life of regulated service in place of one of lawless gratification was set up. What monasticism had done for the religious life in dignifying labor and service, chivalry did for secular life. The Ten Commandments of chivalry, (1) to pray, (2) to avoid sin, (3) to defend the Church, (4) to protect widows and orphans, (5) to travel, (6) to wage loyal war, (7) to fight for his Lady, (8) to defend the right, (9) to love his G.o.d, and (10) to listen to good and true men, while not often followed, were valuable precepts to uphold in that age and time. In the great Crusades movement of the twelfth century the Church consecrated the military prowess and restless energy of the n.o.bility to her service, but after this wave had pa.s.sed chivalry became formal and stilted and rapidly declined in importance (R. 80).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 49. A KNIGHT OF THE TIME OF THE FIRST CRUSADE (From a ma.n.u.script in the British Museum)]

4. _Professional study_

As the one professional study of the entire early Middle-Age period, and the one study which absorbed the intellectual energy of the one learned cla.s.s, the evolution of the study of Theology possesses particular interest for us.

THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. During the earlier part of the period under consideration the preparatory study necessary for service in the Church was small, and very elementary in character. The elements of reading, writing, reckoning, and music, as taught to _oblati_ in the monasteries, sufficed. As knowledge increased a little the study of grammar at first, and later all the studies of the _Trivium_ came to be common as preparatory study, while those who made the best preparation added the subjects of the _Quadrivium_. Ethics, or metaphysics, taught largely from the digest of Aristotle's _Ethics_ prepared in the sixth century by Boethius, was the text for this study until about 1200, when Aristotle's _Metaphysics_, _Physics_, _Psychology_, and _Ethics_ were re-introduced into Europe from Saracen sources (R. 87).

The theological course proper experienced a similar development. At first, as we saw in chapter V, there were but few principles of belief, and the church organization was exceedingly simple. In 325 A.D. the Nicene Creed was formulated (p. 96), and the first twenty canons (rules) adopted for the government of the clergy. With the translation of the Bible into the Latin language (_Vulgate_, fourth century), the writings of the early Latin Fathers, and additional canons and expressions of belief adopted at subsequent church councils, an increasing amount relating to belief, church organization, and pastoral duties needed to be imparted to new members of the clergy. Still, up to the eleventh century at least, the theological course remained quite meager. In a tenth-century account the following description of the theological course of the time is given: [19]

1. Elements of grammar and the first part of Donatus.

2. Repeated readings of the Old and New Testaments.

3. Ma.s.s prayers.

4. Rules of the Church as to time reckoning.

5. Decrees of the Church Councils.

6. Rules of penance.

7. Prescriptions for church services.

8. Worldly laws.

9. Collections of homilies (sermons).

10. Tractates on the Epistles and Gospels.

11. Lives of the Saints.

12. Church music.

It will be seen from this tenth-century course of theological study that it was based on reading, writing, and reckoning, and a little music as preparatory studies; that it began with the first of the subjects of the _Trivium_, which was studied only in part; and that its purpose was to impart needed information as to dogma, church practices, canon (church) law, and such civil (worldly) law as would be needed by the priest in discharging his functions as the notary and lawyer of the age. There is no suggestion of the study of Theology as a science, based on evidences, logic, and ethics. Such study was not then known, and would not have been tolerated. There were no other professions to study for.

SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTION BEGINS. About 1145 Peter the Lombard published his _Book of Sentences_, and this worked a revolution in the teaching of the subject. In topics, arrangement, and method of treatment the book marked a great advance, and became the standard textbook in Theology for a long time. It did much to change the study of Theology from dogmas to a scientific subject, and made possible schools of Theology in the universities now about to arise. In the thirteenth century it was made the official textbook at both the universities of Oxford and Paris. The studies of dialectic and ethics were raised to a new plane of importance by the publication of this book.

By the close of the twelfth century the interest of the Church in a better-trained clergy had grown to such an extent that theological instruction was ordered established wherever there was an Archbishop. In a decree issued by Pope Innocent III and the General Council it was ordered:

In every cathedral or other church of sufficient means, a master ought to be elected by the prelate or chapter, and the income of a prebend a.s.signed to him, and in every metropolitan church a theologian also ought to be elected. And if the church is not rich enough to provide a grammarian and a theologian, it shall provide for the theologian from the revenues of his church, and cause provision to be made for the grammarian in some church of his city or diocese. [20]

We also, in the early thirteenth century, find bishops enforcing theological training on future priests by orders of which the following is a type:

Hugh of Scawby, clerk, presented by Nigel Costentin to the church of (Potter) Hanworth, was admitted and canonically inst.i.tuted in it as parson, on condition that he comes to the next orders to be ordained subdeacon. But on account of the insufficiency of his grammar, the lord bishop ordered him on pain of loss of his benefice to attend school. And the Dean of Wyville was ordered to induct him into corporal possession of the said church in form aforesaid, and to inform the lord bishop if he does not attend school. [21]

5. _Characteristics of mediaeval education_

FOUNDATIONS LAID FOR A NEW ORDER. The education which we have just described covers the period from the time of the downfall of Rome to the twelfth or the thirteenth century. It represents what the Church evolved to replace that which it and the barbarians had destroyed. Meager as it still was, after seven or eight centuries of effort, it nevertheless presents certain clearly marked lines of development. The beginnings of a new Christian civilization among the tribes which had invaded and overrun the old Roman Empire are evident, and, toward the latter part of the Middle Ages, we note the development of a number of centers of learning (R. 71) and the beginnings of that specialization of knowledge (church doctrine, cla.s.sical learning, music, logic and ethics, theology), at different church and monastery schools, which promised much for the future of learning. We also notice, and will see the same evidence in the following chapter, the beginnings of a cla.s.s of scholarly men, though the scholarship is very limited in scope and along lines thoroughly approved by the Church.

In education proper, in the sense that we understand it, the schools provided were still for a very limited cla.s.s, and secondary rather than elementary in nature. They were intended to meet the needs of an inst.i.tution rather than of a people, and to prepare those who studied in them for service to that inst.i.tution. That inst.i.tution, too, had concentrated its efforts on preparing its members for life in another world, and not for life or service in this. There were as yet no independent schools or scholars, the monks and clergy represented the one learned cla.s.s, Theology was the one professional study, the ability to read and write was not regarded by n.o.ble or commoner as of any particular importance, and all book knowledge was in a language which the people did not understand when they heard it and could not read. Society was as yet composed of three cla.s.ses--feudal warriors, who spent their time in amus.e.m.e.nts or fighting, and who had evolved a form of knightly training for their children; privileged priests and monks and nuns, who controlled all book learning and opportunities for professional advancement; and the great ma.s.s of working peasants, engaged chiefly in agriculture, and belonging to and helping to fight the battles of their protecting lord.

For these peasants there was as yet no education aside from what the Church gave through her watchful oversight and her religious services (R.

81), and but little leisure, freedom, wealth, security, or economic need to make such education possible or desirable. Moreover, the other-worldly att.i.tude of the Church made such education seem unnecessary. It was still the education of a few for inst.i.tutional purposes, though here and there, by the close of the twelfth century, the Church was beginning to urge its members to provide some education for their children (R. 82), and the world was at last getting ready for the evolution of the independent scholar, and soon would be ready for the evolution of schools to meet secular needs.

REPRESSIVE ATt.i.tUDE OF THE MEDIAEVAL CHURCH. The great work of the Church during this period, as we see it to-day, was to a.s.similate and sufficiently civilize the barbarians to make possible a new civilization, based on knowledge and reason rather than force. To this end the Church had interposed her authority against barbarian force, and had slowly won the contest. Almost of necessity the Church had been compelled to insist upon her way, and this type of absolutism in church government had been extended to most other matters. The Bible, or rather the interpretations of it which church councils, popes, bishops, and theological writers had made, became authoritative, and disobedience or doubt became sinful in the eyes of the Church. [22] The Scriptures were made the authority for everything, and interpretations the most fantastic were made of scriptural verses. Unquestioning belief was extended to many other matters, with the result that tales the most wonderful were recounted and believed. To question, to doubt, to disbelieve--these were among the deadly sins of the early Middle Ages. This att.i.tude of mind undoubtedly had its value in a.s.similating and civilizing the barbarians, and probably was a necessity at the time, but it was bad for the future of the Church as an inst.i.tution, and utterly opposed to scientific inquiry and intellectual progress. Monroe well expresses the situation which came to exist when he says: