Education in Medieval Europe
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Print Publication Date: Jul 2019
Subject: History, Social and Cultural History, Teaching and Pedagogy
Online Publication Date: Jun 2019 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199340033.013.6
Education in Medieval Europe
Spencer E. Young
The [Oxford] Handbook of the History of Education
Edited by John L. Rury and Eileen H. Tamura
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter highlights the institutions and content that characterized three crucial phases of education in the Middle Ages: Carolingian education, the twelfth-century Renaissance, and the rise and spread of the university. The various kinds of schools that flourished across medieval Europe reflected its classical and Christian heritages and the productive tensions between those two traditions. While the chapter reflects the predominant focus of medieval schooling on educating male Christians, it also includes discussion
of the educational opportunities that were available to females and non-Christians. Although only a minority of people received a formal education in the Middle Ages, many of
those attained a significant level of learning.
Keywords: Christianity, Europe, Latin, medieval, quadrivium, scholasticism, trivium, universities
(p. 98) THE Middle Ages in Europe did not have a single educational system with a clearly
defined course. Instead multiple kinds of schools flourished at various times and in various places. Yet there was a considerable continuity of objectives, as both the Christian religion and several traditions of classical antiquity influenced the processes of learning in
ways befitting the priorities of the medieval world. Over a span of nearly a millennium,
educational life experienced both innovation and stagnation, encouraged both preservation and condemnation of a variety of ideas and pedagogical methods. Some of these developments continue to resonate in different ways today.
The Classical and Late Antique Heritage
Medieval education built upon its antique and late antique heritage in a variety of ways.
Two aspects of this legacy were particularly important. First, it provided a set of texts,
authors, and subjects that would frame study throughout the entire Middle Ages. The
words of these “authorities†(auctoritates) carried weight in medieval explorations of any
topic and were treated as the basis for further understanding. Even when medieval scholars found, through rigorous examination, inconsistencies in this tradition or pursued new
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directions in their thinking, they retained immense respect for the authorities of the past.
Their attitude was best described by the twelfth-century scholar Bernard of Chartres
who, according to his former student John of Salisbury, compared himself and his colleagues to “dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants.â€1 These giants included both pagan
and Christian writers. Especially important for medieval schools from the pagan side
(though at different times) were the works of Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and the Neoplatonists. In addition to the Bible, the church fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, Augustine chief among them, cast a long shadow from the Christian side. In terms of subjects, Martianus Capella’s fifth-century work On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury
established the framework of the seven liberal arts, which (p. 99) remained influential
even beyond the Middle Ages. These arts included the trivium of grammar, rhetoric, and
dialectic and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Other key
subjects, such as medicine and law, also drew liberally upon ancient sources, as did theology.
The second critical part of medieval education’s inheritance was the very tension that
arose from efforts to reconcile the discordances found within the authorities of the past,
tension from the attempt to harmonize pagan with Christian voices and from among the
great variety of Christian voices. Scholars developed techniques of accommodation, in
some cases rendering less insuperable conflicts that seemed inevitable. Yet this pressure
was persistent for those who viewed the love of God, rather than the mere acquisition of
knowledge, as education’s primary aim. Jerome’s well-known dream, in which he found
himself accused before the bar of Judgment as a Ciceronian rather than a Christian, exemplified the severity of the conflict perceived by many who pursued learning throughout
the Middle Ages. Others navigated these perilous waters more successfully, making numerous pagan works and ideas part of the tradition shared by all who might make some
pretension to education.
Carolingian Education
Most of the schools founded in antiquity were floundering by the fifth century. Over the
next few centuries, new schools that were explicitly Christian in their orientation arose in
their stead. Many were in monasteries, which were crucial for preserving the classical
tradition of learning, and soon dotted the landscape of continental Europe and the British
Isles. Bede, an eighth-century monk educated at his monastery of Jarrow, located in
Northumbria, and an important contributor to intellectual life in his own right, reported
that these schools served both monastic and lay students. But the most significant innovations in education during the early Middle Ages occurred under the Carolingian Franks,
who came to power in the middle of the eighth century.
Building in part upon his predecessors, Charlemagne (r. 768–814) implemented a series
of innovations, helping to foster an intellectual and cultural efflorescence. Educational reform was at the heart of this effort, and it aimed at renovating all sectors of society. The
two principal “manifestos†of this reform were the Admonitio generalis and a letter entiÂ
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tled De litteris colendis.
2 The first was a capitulary (an administrative document written
in the form of chapters, or capitula) disseminated to all lay and ecclesiastical leaders
throughout Charlemagne’s lands in March 789. The Admonitio covered a wide variety of
administrative matters but placed special emphasis on religious concerns. Chapter 72
was devoted to education, obliging every monastery and diocese within the realm to establish a school where children could learn to read, write, count, and sing. De litteris
colendis was composed in the 790s and addressed specifically to Carolingian monasteries. It pointed out the poor quality of written Latin in monks’ letters and urged more zealous study in the basics of the language to improve their power of expression and understanding of the Bible. Along with other capitularies, these documents signaled the intent
to standardize the texts and religious practices of Carolingian society and to ensure that
every ecclesiastical leader, bishops and abbots in particular, was literate. By providing a
more accessible basic education, targeted at (p. 100) present and future clerics, Carolingian reforms aimed at unifying the empire through an “original†Christian model.
The impetus behind many of these reforms came from a group of intellectuals brought to
Charlemagne’s court. Some, like Peter of Pisa, were coerced after successful military
campaigns, while others, like Alcuin of York, were attracted by the opportunities Charlemagne made available for people with intellectual gifts. In addition to serving as advisers,
these learned individuals offered instruction to royal and aristocratic children. This educational environment has sometimes been called the “palace school.†Its teachers did not
usually remain at court, however, but tended to leave for schools attached to monasteries
or cathedrals.
Despite their mission to standardize texts and practices, Carolingian reforms were implemented in diverse ways, depending upon local resources and personalities. Nevertheless
there were many successes. One of the more noteworthy was the dissemination of Caroline minuscule script, a form of writing first developed at the monastery of Corbie and later revived in the Italian Renaissance, forming the basis of modern script. Another was a
prodigious output of manuscripts, which assisted the expansion of educational practices.
The primary educational achievement of this era, however, was the expansion of permanent schools. The most rudimentary schools operated at the parish level. Established
throughout the empire for priests to teach their parishioners in the essentials of Christian
living, parish instruction concentrated on fundamentals like the Lord’s Prayer and the
Creed, as well as the elementary skills of reading, writing, and chanting. The Psalter was
useful for all three tasks and was the first text every student had to master.
Students who had the means could further their education at a school located in a
monastery or cathedral. Most such students likely came from well-connected families,
though some provisions were available for poorer students. Opportunities existed for female students as well, particularly in monasteries, though these have unfortunately left
behind far fewer traces. Contemporaries occasionally expressed anxieties about schooling girls and boys together, and girls at monastic schools received instruction from
women. Some teaching occurred informally as well, as women taught principles of household management to each other and to males in their families. The most prominent examÂ
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ple of a formally educated female from this period is Dhuoda, a noblewoman who wrote a
manual of moral instruction for her son sometime in the early 840s. Her Liber manualis
reveals her familiarity with a rich array of pagan and Christian sources. But Dhuoda was
not alone; scholars have argued persuasively that education was quite common for females (both religious and lay) of aristocratic background.3
For boys, the secondary level of school usually began at the age of seven for monastic
schools or the age of nine or ten for cathedral schools. Initially both types of schools may
have catered to the same clientele. Subsequent measures instituted by Benedict of Aniane, a monk and adviser to Charlemagne’s son, explicitly prevented nonmonks from attending monastic schools. The divergent orientations of these two institutional types were
obvious by the middle of the ninth century. As the monk Hildemar of Corbie pointed out,
monastic schools focused on the cultivation of monastic discipline, whereas cathedral
schools specialized in the liberal arts.
Despite these diverse developments, a common educational culture emerged. The
bedrock subject was the liberal art of grammar. Students received training in Latin grammar, but also in other languages, including the vernacular. Grammatical study began with
a focus on the mechanics of language. Here the works of Donatus (Ars minor and Ars
maior) and (p. 101) Priscian (Institutiones grammaticae) were key, alongside more recent
manuals prepared by Bede and Alcuin. Glossaries were added to the curriculum as vocabulary aids. These texts provided organized lists of words, drawn from a wide variety of
works. Teachers also brought a grammatical focus to the study of authoritative texts
ranging from the secular to the sacred. Classical literary works, along with the Bible and
the writings of church fathers, supplied appropriate models. This prescriptive approach
to language helped fulfill the goal of De litteris colendis by bringing written Latin in the
Carolingian world into greater conformity with its classical forms. But it also widened the
gap between written Latin and the Latin-derived languages spoken throughout the empire.4
The other components of the trivium—rhetoric and dialectic—also found a place in Carolingian schools. Rhetoric taught figures of speech and the ability to construct a persuasive argument. These skills enabled their possessor to participate in this era’s rich literary culture, which included letters, histories, and treatises on a variety of topics. Dialectical study drew upon Aristotle’s Categories, along with works by Boethius and Augustine.
Glosses on these texts by Carolingian masters survive in considerable numbers. Dialectic
provided training in the art of reasoning, using such analytical tools as the syllogism to
enable precision in argumentation. These techniques proved valuable for engaging in debates that arose during this period on such issues as the nature of God, the Eucharist,
and predestination.
The quadrivial arts also received attention. Mathematical competence was envisioned in
the Admonitio generalis and addressed such important tasks as calculating the date of
Easter and charting the course of heavenly bodies. Yet Carolingian schools did not restrict themselves to Capella’s seven liberal arts. Instruction was also offered in other arÂ
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eas according to the interests and abilities of the teaching masters. Practical arts such as
masonry were studied in some places, as were more textually grounded subjects like astrology, law, and medicine.
While Carolingian education was diverse in its interests and applications, it remained an
overtly Christian affair. The Bible was the central text, and greater Christian understanding and living the chief goal. But the use of pagan texts was also pervasive in most disciplines. For some, this integrated study of secular works alongside the sacred provoked a
renewal of the crisis felt by Jerome. But many points of friction were smoothed out, even
if appreciation was sometimes mixed. Perhaps Alcuin provides the most exemplary view.
He envisioned the liberal arts as the seven pillars of the temple of Christian wisdom—indispensable but in a subsidiary position.
The Carolingian Empire was broken up after the death of Louis the Pious. Invasions by
Vikings, Magyars, and Saracens further weakened the political stability of its remnants.
This had an understandably negative impact on intellectual and educational life, though
the example of John Scotus Eriugena, a brilliant scholar from Ireland at the court of
Charles the Bald, proves that the devastation was far from total. In structural terms,
monastic and cathedral schools continued to serve as the centers of education. But revivals like the “Ottonian Renaissance†(936–973) witnessed the foundation of many more
cathedral schools. These new cathedral schools prioritized manners (mores), emphasizing
the personality and conduct of the teaching master rather than the content of the teaching, and primarily focused on preparing students for service as administrators and at the
court.5 Even bishops trained in these schools brought a different set of skills to their roles
in the church than had their predecessors. This model of cathedral school lasted well into
the twelfth century. (p. 102) But by then Europe was undergoing another, more dramatic
series of economic, social, and cultural changes, with tremendous consequences for education.
Education in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance
Changes to European culture and society in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries,
which many scholars have termed the “twelfth-century Renaissance,†both renewed educational life and pushed it in new directions. A massive increase in the population stimulated a period of urban expansion. New settlements appeared and existing ones enlarged
to accommodate this growth. These urban settings served as favorable venues for
schools. The resources for this development derived in part from a revival of trade and
monetization of the economy that resulted in the commercial revolution. An increased use
of money led to increased participation in fee-based education then beginning to flourish
in the towns. It also meant that a diversified range of skills became useful for the new
economy, which could be learned from experienced teachers. Finally, the expansion of
secular and ecclesiastical bureaucracies dependent upon written documents offered advancement and prestige to those who managed to obtain relevant skills. The availability
of these career paths prompted demand for higher levels of education.
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At the bottom of the educational ladder during this period were song and reading schools.
These schools instructed children how to chant and imparted a basic knowledge of Latin.
This primary level of education has left behind only limited documentation. Considerable
numbers of laypeople possessed basic skills of literacy, however, suggesting that these
schools may have enrolled substantial numbers. Grammar schools were a step above, but
not always clearly delineated from them in practice. By the fourteenth century, many
grammar schools simply incorporated the functions as those schools declined.6
In some
places, endowments were established for young children with limited resources to receive this rudimentary education.
Monasteries continued to serve an important role in educating both young oblates and
nonmonks, though the latter group was waning. In some instances, as in the case of
Abundus of Villers, monastic schools even succeeded in persuading lay students to adopt
the monastic life. Many monks, including women (like the abbess Hildegard of Bingen),
also made valuable contributions to the educational revival. Monks contributed both as
intellectuals and as scribes. While most monastic schools were not centers of innovation,
they continued to provide a sound education in the Bible and liberal arts. One important
exception was the monastery at Bec in Normandy. The star at Bec was Anselm, who had
traveled from northern Italy to study with Lanfranc. Anselm wrote a series of works that
established him as a leading theologian of the Middle Ages. He was also a pioneer in the
use of dialogue and dispute in the classroom, methods central to late medieval education.
Anselm placed a high value on teaching students by posing questions, believing that this
technique was “clearer and more acceptable to many minds, especially slower minds.â€7
The pedagogy of debate would flourish best, however, in schools outside the monastic orbit.
(p. 103) Cathedral schools prospered in the twelfth century. Focused more on texts, particularly the Bible and writings for the seven liberal arts, and on the exercise of reason
rather than manners, these schools profited from the period’s social and economic
changes. Some of the most important schools were located in northern France, but they
were also found in England, Germany, Italy, and Iberia. The best ones attracted students
from long distances, benefiting from better conditions brought by commercial revival.
The school where Anselm of Laon taught, for example, hosted students from England and
Germany eager to learn from its venerable master. Laon’s cathedral school was important
for further refinement of the scholastic method of using questions but also for initiating
an important gloss on the Bible, known as the Glossa ordinaria. This gloss incorporated
authoritative opinions and comments on passages within its text and was foundational for
classroom study of the Bible.
Rising demand for education outpaced the supply of monastic and cathedral schools. In
response, some cathedral chancellors began to offer teaching licenses to independent
masters who set up schools based on their ability to attract paying students. The competition could be intense, giving rise to many distinct schools of thought. Masters frequently
advertised not only their own merits but also their rivals’ demerits. As contemporary testimonies indicate, many students spent time in the schools of multiple masters. The most
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memorable of these independent masters was Peter Abelard. The son of a minor nobleman, Abelard devoted himself to learning rather than the martial pursuits to which his
status entitled him. Possessing both an incisive mind and an extraordinary self-confidence, Abelard rejected many of his teachers, including Anselm of Laon. In turn, he set
up his own schools, eventually teaching in Paris, where he taught Heloise, a remarkable
scholar with whom he pursued an ill-fated love affair.
Abelard also made a valuable contribution to pedagogy. In the Sic et non, he posed a series of questions, for which he provided statements culled from authorities that could be
used to either affirm or deny the proposition under discussion. Abelard left the questions
unresolved, expecting students to work through apparent inconsistencies and come to
their own answers. He explained that it was through this process of uncertainty that one
could arrive at the truth. This method of putting authoritative statements on both sides of
a question came to maturity in Peter Lombard’s Sentences and Gratian’s Decretum, textbooks in theology and canon law that would be used at universities.
Abelard’s work and his personality provoked opposition from various quarters. His most
famous critic was Bernard of Clairvaux, who was responsible for Abelard’s condemnation
by the pope in 1140. Bernard opposed many of the new educational trends, arguing that
they were tainted by the deadly sin of pride. Instead, he claimed, the cloister offered the
more suitable environment for learning, and he actively sought to persuade students to
abandon the new schools in order to pursue the monastic life. Bernard offered another
perspective on the varied impulses that seemed to be driving the educational expansion
during this “renaissance,†where knowledge increasingly seemed like any other commodity for sale.8 As schools based on the new methods continued to grow in popularity, similar
criticisms would grow even more insistent.
The seven liberal arts continued to provide a basic framework for most studies, but other
organizations of knowledge also appeared during this time. One of the more interesting
came from Hugh of St. Victor, a teacher and theologian at St. Victor, a house of Canons
Regular located on the outskirts of Paris. In his Didascalicon, Hugh divided knowledge into four philosophical arts: the theoretical arts, the practical arts, the mechanical arts, and
the (p. 104) logical arts. He listed twenty-one separate arts in all, including the traditional
seven liberal arts as well as several others that were not ordinarily considered as preparation for learning about God, such as fabric making, armament, commerce, agriculture,
hunting, medicine, and theatrics. Hugh’s expansive vision of education did not long survive at St. Victor, however, as some of the house’s later teachers were highly suspicious of
the value of the liberal arts for theology.
Mistrust for the liberal arts was motivated by some of the innovations that had occurred
during the twelfth century, in particular the translation into Latin of many of Aristotle’s
works. On one hand were the previously unknown logical treatises, referred to as the
“new logic†(logica nova). This group included the Topics, De Sophisticis Elenchis, Prior
Analytics, and Posterior Analytics and revolutionized the liberal art of dialectic. While the
growing interest in these texts had some far-reaching consequences that angered obÂ
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servers who were particularly upset about the influence of logic on theological issues, the
“new logic†was generally accepted as worthy of study. More problematic were Aristotle’s
natural philosophical works (known as the libri naturales). These works contained several
assertions that seemed to contradict Christian doctrines on issues like the creation of the
world and the fate of the soul after death. Their study was prohibited at the University of
Paris until the middle of the thirteenth century (though they were studied elsewhere and
were certainly read and discussed informally at Paris before the ban was lifted).
As greater numbers of people received an education throughout the twelfth century, and
as opportunities for educated individuals diversified, the lines between several disciplines
became sharper. But new problems began to emerge. Many teachers lived a precarious
existence, as they constantly needed to attract students to ensure a livelihood. Tensions
arose between the inhabitants of towns that hosted prominent schools and the students
and teachers who came from different social, economic, and cultural backgrounds. The
response to these problems came in the form of the most important, and enduring, educational legacy of medieval Europe.
The Age of Universities
The university remains one of the great institutional achievements of the Middle Ages. Its
emergence led to such important features as a structured degree program and a set curriculum for its various fields of study. It also facilitated stronger connections between educated individuals and other medieval elites, as both secular and ecclesiastical authorities fostered important links with universities and their scholars. However, neither the development nor the long-term success of the university was inevitable, and some universities did not survive very long. Only after a considerable amount of time did universities
gain a secure place in medieval society. Until then it was not always clear what the university would mean for education, nor what shape the institution would take. Yet what began as a series of responses to primarily local pressures eventually became the dominant
model of higher education.
Any attempt to pinpoint a precise date for the emergence of the university is fraught with
difficulty. Instead it is better to say that this occurred in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Bologna and Paris loom especially large in this history, as they were certainly the most influential universities and their different courses of development represent important (p. 105) contrasts in how such an institution could operate. The term “university†did not initially refer to the educational institution as a whole, for which the term
“studium†is more appropriate in the earlier stages of development, but rather to a corporate organization of masters or students who enjoyed the recognition of certain legal
rights. Moreover, contrary to some claims that the institutional roots of the university lay
elsewhere, whether the Islamic world or even central Asia, the university’s rise is best explained as a response to developments specific to Europe. Nevertheless late medieval intellectual life was certainly enriched by its reception of Islamic thought.
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Bologna, probably the earliest university, was located in a favorable commercial position
and already had a tradition of legal studies when Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman
emperor, provided support for education throughout the Italian peninsula. The Authentica
Habita, issued at the Diet of Roncaglia in 1158, was designed to ensure the safety of
those who traveled for study. This measure was important because students who were not
citizens of the town hosting the school were outsiders with limited legal privileges. It was
this precise situation that later led to the creation of the “student university†for which
Bologna is renowned. At Bologna there were two “universitiesâ€: the Cismontane university was for students from the Italian peninsula, while those from beyond the Alps belonged
to the Ultramontane university. Each university was further divided into geographically
determined administrative groups called nations. Since these universities were for law
students, a third university developed in the 1260s for students of arts and medicine.
In the early years, a main implication of the “student university†was that most educational procedures favored the students rather than the teachers. For example, teachers were
required to teach for the entire class period; they were obligated to cover the entirety of
the class syllabus; they would be fined if fewer than five students attended a lecture; and
they also needed to leave a deposit in order to guarantee their return if they left Bologna
temporarily.9 Such rules were meant to ensure that fee-paying students learned precisely
the skills that would help them find gainful employment afterward. By far the most important advantage that students held was the right to strike. Students and teachers sometimes threatened to leave the town if their privileges were ignored, causing economic
hardship to those who benefited from their presence. Several university strikes occurred
during the Middle Ages. Some strikes even led to the establishment of new universities,
such as the one that appeared at Padua after a strike at Bologna in 1222, or the Oxford
strike in 1209 that led to the creation of Cambridge. However, student ascendancy at
Bologna was short lived. The commune took over payment of professors’ salaries during
the 1280s and the balance of power began to shift. Later innovations introduced other influences, such as the creation of a theology faculty in 1364, which drew upon the model
at Paris. Bolognese university education in the later Middle Ages is therefore best described as a hybrid rather than a student model, one that drew inspiration from a variety
of sources and innovated in response to competition from other universities and towns.10
Bologna’s influence beyond its walls was felt most strongly in the study of law. Every university in the Middle Ages offered legal training, and Bologna set a standard that was followed elsewhere in areas ranging from curriculum and lecturing practices to examinations and degree ceremonies. The study of law was separated into civil (Roman) and
canon (church) law. Competence in one area, however, demanded at least passing familiarity with the other, leading some students to complete both and earn the title “doctor of
both laws†(doctor utriusque iuris). The basis of civil law was the Corpus iuris civilis, the
codification of (p. 106) law by the sixth-century emperor Justinian. The foundations of
canon law were of more recent vintage. Initially the basic text was the Concordance of
Discordant Canons (Decretum for short). As its more verbose name implies, this text
treated specific legal cases by reconciling various decrees of church councils and venerable authorities that appeared to be in conflict. But canon law was also a living, evolving
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body of law, and legal education adapted to incorporate these changes. In 1234 Pope Gregory IX authorized the consolidation by Raymond of Peñafort of new church law into the
Decretales. Together the Decretum and the Decretales made up the Corpus iuris canonici
as the basic materials for canon law study. Over time, new collections of papal decrees
came into existence, such as the Liber sextus of Boniface VIII issued in 1298, and were
added to the legal curriculum.
Men with university legal training enjoyed a great deal of prestige within late medieval
society, whether or not they had received a degree, and numerous opportunities became
available to them. For example, Alfonso the Wise, the mid-thirteenth-century monarch of
Castile (r. 1252–1284), recruited men trained at Bologna to draft the Siete partidas, a
highly influential law code that also included provisions for university education. Such opportunities made law a popular subject, especially for those from well-off families. Available evidence indicates that law students made up a considerable percentage of the student body of any university. In the late fourteenth century, for instance, 83 percent of the
university students at Avignon were engaged in legal studies, while the University of
Salamanca in Spain saw slightly more than 50 percent of its enrollment devoted to law.
Numbers in the northern universities were proportionally lower but still substantial.11
The University of Paris arose as an organization of teaching masters designed to protect
their interests as a corporate body against interference from local ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Such protections covered both educational life and matters of legal jurisdiction. While the extension of these privileges sometimes occurred in response to crises,
it also resulted from cooperation between university masters and external authorities, especially the papacy or its representatives. An example of cooperation comes from the
university’s earliest extant statutes, promulgated in 1215 by the papal legate and former
Parisian theologian Robert of Courson, based upon negotiations with other members of
the university.12 These statutes included regulations on curriculum, scholarly conduct,
and various customary procedures. Two early, and pivotal, instances of conflict erupted in
1200 and in 1229–1231, when attacks on university scholars by secular enforcers resulted in the conferral and reaffirmation of the right of university scholars to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, along with other key privileges. The most important outcome was Gregory IX’s
papal bull Parens scientiarum of 1231, which ended a strike initiated in response to the
murder of several scholars at royal hands. Sometimes referred to as the magna carta of
the University of Paris, Gregory’s bull addressed matters of curriculum and the
university’s right to enforce its own regulations and confirmed the university’s right to
strike if its privileges were violated in the future. Privileges granted in the first half of the
thirteenth century increased the university’s autonomy, gave it greater power over the license to teach, and helped it endure institutional crises that would periodically occur
throughout the rest of the Middle Ages.
The schools at Paris offered a much more comprehensive slate of subjects than did
Bologna. With the exception of civil law, banned there in 1219, forcing interested students to travel to nearby Orléans, the University of Paris granted degrees in every discipline found in medieval universities. Royal chroniclers such as William the Breton hasÂ
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tened to advertise the diverse array of studies available there, as well as the favorable
conditions that scholars could enjoy. (p. 107) While William surely embroidered the truth,
Paris provided an exciting locale for the ambitious and adventuresome, while its schools
were particularly renowned for excellence in the arts and theology even before the university emerged. The city attracted individuals from all across Europe; indeed only a
small proportion of its students were of Parisian origin. The community of Parisian scholars numbered between 3,000 and 3,500 by the early fourteenth century, constituting an
essential part of the economic and social life of the city.13
The arts faculty at Paris had the most members, giving it considerable administrative
clout despite the fact that its masters were the youngest collectively. The minimum age
for study in the arts was fourteen and the minimum age for graduation was twenty. The
length of study for degree was six years, though the majority left before completing these
requirements. The faculty itself was divided into four nations, based on geographic origin, each of which conducted its own internal affairs. As the leading center for arts study,
the Parisian schools heavily influenced faculties at other universities. The most notable
exception was in the case of Aristotle’s natural philosophy, which was taught at Oxford in
the early thirteenth century while formally prohibited at Paris. These works were formally
approved for arts students at Paris in 1255, though evidence from student notebooks indicates they had entered arts classrooms several years earlier. Arts students continued to
study the trivium and quadrivium, but the legitimation of Aristotle’s previously censured
works ensured that philosophy, in three branches of natural, moral, and metaphysical, also became a key subject of study. The arts were often viewed as a preparatory course for
study in theology, medicine, and sometimes law, meaning that those in the “higher†faculties often took a paternalistic stance toward their younger colleagues.
At times, anxieties over the influence of certain trends within the arts faculty led to formal action. Such was the case with the recriminations against the alleged influence of the
work of Averroes, the twelfth-century Muslim commentator on Aristotle’s works. Similar
fears prompted the well-known condemnation of 1277, issued by the bishop of Paris,
Stephen Tempier, after consultation with a group of theologians and ostensibly in response to concerns raised by Pope John XXI. Although many of the condemned propositions did not match what masters in the arts faculty were actually teaching (or at least
the personal opinions of the arts masters themselves), ecclesiastical authorities were worried that any failure to explicitly prioritize theological truth over philosophical speculation would confuse young and impressionable students. A similar condemnation followed
at Oxford that same year, and another in 1284.
Theology stood at the pinnacle of medieval education, and throughout much of the late
Middle Ages, Paris was where the most talented minds went to pursue its study. As with
the arts, Paris already had a strong reputation for theological education before the emergence of the university. Yet the prowess of the city’s theological schools was a critical factor for the university’s long-term health. Measures like those outlined in Parens scientiarum provided the university with stability in its local environment, and it was the hope
that Parisian theologians would make valuable contributions to the church that lay behind
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the papacy’s support for the new institution. The university’s success, however, depended
upon a degree of solidarity among its members, in contrast to the competitive atmosphere among the independent teachers of the twelfth century. The evidence of such solidarity is apparent in the standardization that theology masters imposed on their discipline. Although Peter Lombard’s Sentences had been subject to much criticism in the
twelfth century, it became a basic theological textbook for several centuries. Again, like
the Decretum in canon law, (p. 108) this twelfth-century work brought together the opinions of various authorities to arrive at conclusions about the most important questions of
theology. Every theology student had to lecture on both the Bible and the Sentences
before he could become a master himself. Other degree requirements included a minimum age (thirty-five) and a minimum period of study (eight years, at least five of which
had to be in theology). Theologians often disagreed, however, both about theological matters, where disputations could be as intense as they were precise, and about their responsibility to the institution. Theologians from mendicant orders did not always take the
same approach to administrative matters; for instance, their refusal to join their colleagues on strike in 1252 helped precipitate a conflict between mendicant and secular
masters that resonated well beyond the university. But on the whole, theologians from all
backgrounds succeeded in making of their group a recognized voice of authority in late
medieval society.14 Many of the most well-known thinkers from the later Middle Ages, including Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham, all studied theology
at the university level.
The final course of study available at Paris was medicine. While Paris was one of the more
important centers of medical education in the later Middle Ages, it had a few rivals. Initially the leading medical schools were in Salerno and Montpellier, though the former, established by the eleventh century, faded in importance with the advent of the universities.
Bologna, and later Padua, also hosted major medical faculties, and the discipline was
studied, if on a much smaller scale, at the majority of medieval universities. University
medicine was centered on a tradition of classical Greek and recent Islamic texts, especially those of Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna. The same movement of translations that
benefited the arts therefore also benefited medical studies. What is more, previous arts
training was deemed useful for medical study, and those who had it were able to shorten
their time to degree. In its theoretical orientation, the study of medicine resembled its
peer disciplines at the universities. Yet most, if not all, university students in medicine undertook this training with an eye toward practice. Among all practitioners, however, they
were probably a minority, as many other medical traditions had some purchase among
medieval Europeans. Some female practitioners, who were formally excluded from universities, were nevertheless familiar with university texts. Tensions between learned and
more traditional forms of medicine eventually resulted in a decline in status, and occasionally prosecution, of those who practiced the latter.
The length of university studies, coupled with the high cost of living in expensive university towns, meant that the vast majority of students could afford only a brief period of study
before undertaking other pursuits. In response to prevalent financial need, several mechanisms arose to enable the most talented, or at least the best-connected, students to reÂ
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main and complete a degree. At some universities, a significant minority of students
found support through endowed colleges, most prominent at Paris, Oxford, Cambridge,
and many new universities that appeared later. Colleges provided lodgings and a library
to students, often from a particular region or studying a particular subject, like the College of the Sorbonne, established in 1257 by Robert of Sorbon for theology students. By
the end of the Middle Ages colleges assumed a much larger role in instruction. Students
at an advanced stage in their education could also earn funds by holding an income-bearing church position called a benefice. These positions were typically free of pastoral responsibilities, and a formal dispensation from residence in the parish where the position
was located enabled these students to continue their studies. The process of attaining
such a position could be (p. 109) highly competitive, and the university regularly sent petitions, called rotuli, to the pope requesting benefices for its members.
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries saw waves of new foundations as universities began to appear all across Europe. By 1500 they could be found from Portugal to Poland
and from Aberdeen to Avignon. This expansion diminished the need for student travel,
and many of the new universities were primarily regional in orientation. Political tensions
arising from the Hundred Years’ War and the Great Schism also contributed to the regionalization of universities, as many students found themselves no longer welcome at schools
where the host recognized a different claimant to the papal throne. The rise of humanism
in Italy and elsewhere posed a different challenge to the traditions of the university. Yet
despite all of these changes, the late medieval university remained a vibrant institution
where many elite members of society were trained by academics who spent a considerable amount of time engaging with the pressing issues of the day.15
The importance of the university should not overshadow the many other kinds of schooling available in late medieval Europe. Both cathedral and monastic schools persisted,
though their reach had diminished. Mendicant schools offered training in the arts and
theology for friars who would participate in pastoral work, as well as a select few who
would go on to study theology at a university. The curriculum at mendicant schools was
similar to what was taught at universities, though study in the arts was more thoroughly
underpinned by theological concerns. These schools were also more parochial in emphasis than universities, in the sense that teachers and students were expected to maintain
their order’s official position on important questions (Dominicans were expected to uphold the thought of Thomas Aquinas, for example) rather than provide innovative solutions, as was the case at the university.16 Vocational training through apprenticeships was
widespread. Elementary levels of education continued to thrive in many places. Yet the
university exerted a powerful influence on these schools as well. Many teachers had
spent some time at university themselves, and the bulk of instructional time at the elementary level was devoted to learning the skills in Latin that would help students succeed
if and when they attended a university for further study. This patchwork of schools provided a basic education to a significant segment of the population. Late medieval literacy
rates fluctuated from place to place, with estimates ranging from 13 to 14 percent in York
and at least 14 percent in Regensburg to 33 percent among Florentine boys.17 Female litÂ
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eracy tended to be lower than male rates, reflecting the number of those who were able
to attend schools.
While they were formally excluded from universities, numerous women participated in
late medieval educational life. This included work as scribes, as donors to colleges, and as
accomplished writers. For instance, Christine de Pizan, the daughter of a professor at
Bologna, authored several important works in the French vernacular in favor of female
education. On that specific point in The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine related the
experience of a certain Novella, a Bolognese law professor’s daughter who was so
learned that she occasionally lectured in her father’s place, though she apparently sat behind a curtain so as not to distract the students.18 Another advocate for female education
was the lawyer Pierre Dubois, who proposed sending educated women to Christian families in areas with high Muslim populations. Dubois anticipated that these women would
then marry Muslim men and convert them to Christianity. Some educational opportunities
also appear to have been available at beguinages, urban communities for laywomen who
pursued a form of (p. 110) religious life without taking permanent vows.19 Non-Christians
were likewise excluded from universities, though the Jewish minority in medieval Europe
established their own schools and cultivated a very active educational life, especially in
larger cities. These schools focused on Hebrew and the Bible. At about the same age that
their Christian contemporaries were enrolling in arts faculties, the best Jewish students
were entering yeshiva to study the Talmud. A tradition of Jewish medicine also developed,
and some Jewish students audited courses at the University of Montpellier in the fourteenth century.20
New Directions
Many of the most productive new insights into the role of education in different parts of
the medieval world have come from smaller-scale considerations that focus on a particular religious order or that locate a given trend or method or school more thoroughly within a local context. Yet the advances made by these specific studies have also often reflected more general trends in the historical profession. For instance, the increased attention
given to issues of class, gender, and ethnicity since the 1970s has driven work into these
particular contexts of medieval education, such as the extent of female participation in
monastic book production or into the social and geographical background of students at
medieval universities. Yet this subfield has not been a mere follower of larger trends. For
example, scholars of education and intellectual life were interested in the interaction between Christians and non-Christians and the ways that it enriched late medieval intellectual life, well before activity on this theme began to flourish in the early twenty-first century. Further work in this area should continue and enhance our awareness of the ways in
which education, and the transmission of ideas, influenced interactions between medieval
Christians and non-Christians.
One of the more promising developments in the study of medieval education has been the
increased tendency to see educational institutions, or even “scholasticism,†not as isolatÂ
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ed from but rather as inextricably entwined with contemporary political, social, and economic developments. This trend has furthered our understanding not only of the shape of
education in the Middle Ages but also of the significant achievements made by medieval
intellectuals in their respective fields of inquiry. Moreover, the ongoing reconfiguration of
late medieval thought and religion, which sees the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries not
in terms of decline and corruption but rather as a dynamic and fruitful period in its own
right, is also helping to enlarge our knowledge about the role that education (and universities in particular) played within this crucial period. Among the more pressing needs in
this last area is for a synthetic study of the university that will draw upon the many great
studies of individual universities or regions during that time. The regular appearance of
new work in all of these areas (as well as several others) by not only historians but also
medievalists in related fields like literature suggests a bright future for continued work
on the subject.
Although only a minority of people ever received some kind of formal education in the
Middle Ages, many of those were able to attain a significant level of learning, and many
more than is often assumed. By the later Middle Ages, there were multiple pathways to
receiving the kind of training one needed to succeed in an increasingly complex social
structure, though opportunities for education were often subject to social and geographic
factors or to one’s position in the church. The ability to receive all the education desired
(p. 111) or needed also depended upon a great deal of chance. If some of the main concerns that motivated the acquisition of education during this period seem foreign today, it
offers a reminder that educational content and access usually reflect the aims of the societies they serve.
Suggested Reading
Baldwin, John W. The Scholastic Culture of the Middle Ages, 1000–1300. Prospect
Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1997.
Contreni, John J. “The Carolingian Renaissance: Education and Literary Culture.†In The
New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 2: c. 700–c. 900, ed. Rosamond McKitterick, 709–
757. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Courtenay, William J. Parisian Scholars in the Early Fourteenth Century: A Social Portrait.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Denley, Peter. “Communes, Despots and Universities: Structures and Trends of Italian
Studi to 1500.†In Communes and Despots in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, ed. John E.
Law and Bernadette Paton, 295–306. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010.
Ferruolo, Stephen C. “The Paris Statutes of 1215 Reconsidered.†History of Universities 5
(1985): 1–14.
Grendler, Paul F. Schooling in Renaissance Italy: Literacy and Learning, 1300–1600.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
Education in Medieval Europe
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Hobbins, Daniel. Authorship and Publicity before Print: Jean Gerson and the Transformation of Late Medieval Learning. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
Jaeger, C. Stephen. The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval
Europe, 950–1200. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.
Le Goff, Jacques. Intellectuals in the Middle Ages. Trans. Teresa Lavender Fagan. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992.
McKitterick, Rosamond. The Carolingians and the Written Word. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Orme, Nicholas. Medieval Schools: From Roman Britain to Renaissance England. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
(p. 113) Rashdall, Hastings. The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. Ed. F. M. Powicke and A. B. Emden. 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936.
Riché, Pierre, and Jacques Verger. Maîtres et élèves au moyen âge. Paris: Fayard/Pluriel,
2013.
Verger, Jacques. Men of Learning in Europe at the End of the Middle Ages. Trans. Lisa
Neal and Steven Rendall. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000.
Wei, Ian P. Intellectual Culture in Medieval Paris: Theologians and the University, c. 1100–
1330. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Notes:
(
1.) John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, trans. J. B. Hall (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2013),
book 3, chapter 4, p. 257.
(
2.) John J. Contreni, “The Pursuit of Knowledge in Carolingian Europe,†in “The Gentle
Voices of Teachersâ€: Aspects of Learning in the Carolingian Age, ed. Richard Sullivan
(Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1995), 106–141. See also his excellent survey
“The Carolingian Renaissance: Education and Literary Culture,†in The New Cambridge
Medieval History, vol. 2: c. 700–c. 900, ed. Rosamond McKitterick (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 709–757.
(
3.) See Rosamond McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1989), 223–227; Valerie L. Garver, “Learned Women? Liutberga and the Instruction of Carolingian Women,†in Lay Intellectuals in the Carolingian
World, ed. Patrick Wormald and Janet L. Nelson (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 2007), 121–138.
(
4.) See Julia M. H. Smith, Europe after Rome: A New Cultural History, 500–1000 (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2005), 23–27.
Education in Medieval Europe
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(
5.) See C. Stephen Jaeger, The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950–1200 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994).
(
6.) Nicholas Orme, Medieval Schools: From Roman Britain to Renaissance England (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 64–65.
(
7.) On Anselm’s particular contribution to this development, see Alex J. Novikoff, The Medieval Culture of Disputation: Pedagogy, Practice, and Performance (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 34–52. The quotation, from Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo, is
from 46.
(
8.) On knowledge as a commodity, see Jacques Le Goff, Intellectuals in the Middle Ages,
trans. Teresa Lavender Fagan (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992).
(
9.) See Hastings Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. F. M. Powicke and A. B. Emden, 3 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936), 1:195–197.
(
10.) Peter Denley, “Communes, Despots and Universities: Structures and Trends of Italian
Studi to 1500,†in Communes and Despots in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, ed. John E.
Law and Bernadette Paton (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010), 295–306.
(
11.) James A. Brundage, The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession: Canonists, Civilians, and Courts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 268.
(
12.) Stephen C. Ferruolo, “The Paris Statutes of 1215 Reconsidered,†History of Universities 5 (1985): 1–14.
(
13.) Nathalie Gorochov, “L’Université recrute-t-elle dans la ville? Le cas de Paris au XIIIe
siècle,†in Les Universités et la ville au moyen âge: Cohabitation et tension, ed. Patrick
Gilli, Jacques Verger, and Daniel Le Blévec (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 257–296; William J.
Courtenay, Parisian Scholars in the Early Fourteenth Century: A Social Portrait
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 26. For William the Breton’s appraisal, see John W. Baldwin, “Masters at Paris from 1179 to 1215: A Social Perspective,â€
in Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century, ed. Robert L. Benson and Giles Constable with Carol D. Lanham (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), 138–172,
here 40.
(
14.) Ian P. Wei, Intellectual Culture in Medieval Paris: Theologians and the University, c.
1100–1330 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012); Elsa Marmursztejn,
L’Autorité des maîtres: Scolastique, normes et société au XIIIe siècle (Paris: Les Belles
Lettres, 2007); Spencer E. Young, Scholarly Community at the Early University of Paris:
Theologians, Education and Society, 1215–1248 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 2014). On Peter Lombard, see Marcia L. Colish, Peter Lombard, 2 vols. (Leiden:
Brill, 1994), 1:79–90; Clare Monagle, Orthodoxy and Controversy in Twelfth-Century Religious Discourse: Peter Lombard’s Sentences and the Development of Theology (Turnhout,
Belgium: Brepols, 2013).
Education in Medieval Europe
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(
15.) See, for instance, Daniel Hobbins, Authorship and Publicity before Print: Jean Gerson
and the Transformation of Late Medieval Learning (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009).
(
16.) See the introduction and essays in Kent Emery Jr., William J. Courtenay, and Stephen
M. Metzger, eds., Philosophy and Theology in the “Studia†of the Religious Orders and at
Papal and Royal Courts (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012). Useful introductions to education within the Dominican and Franciscan orders are M. Michèle Mulchahey, “First the
Bow Is Bent in Study …â€: Dominican Education before 1350 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute
of Mediaeval Studies, 1998); Bert Roest, A History of Franciscan Education (c. 1210–
1517) (Leiden: Brill, 2000); Neslihan Åženocak, The Poor and the Perfect: The Rise of
Learning in the Franciscan Order, 1209–1310 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
2012).
(
17.) Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran, The Growth of English Schooling 1300–1548: Learning, Literacy, and Laicization in Pre-Reformation York Diocese (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985), 181; David L. Sheffler, Schools and Schooling in Late Medieval Germany,
1200–1500 (Leiden: Brill, 2008); Paul F. Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy: Literacy
and Learning, 1300–1600 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), 78.
(
18.) Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans. Earl Jeffrey Richards (New
York: Persea Books, 1982), II.36.3, p. 154.
(
19.) Tanya Stabler Miller, The Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), 105–109.
(
20.) Pierre Riché and Jacques Verger, Maîtres et élèves au moyen âge (Paris: Fayard/
Pluriel, 2013), 291–294.
Spencer E. Young
Spencer E. Young is the author of Scholarly Community at the Early University of
Paris: Theologians, Education and Society, 1215–1248 (2014).
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The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
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Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
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