Homeschool Fever

The following article was found in the 1908 public domain book, A History of the Middle Ages By Dana Carleton Munro.  You can download this entire book for free by clicking on the link above!

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DURING the early middle ages teaching was done wholly by the clergy. In some of the towns and villages there were elementary schools taught by parish priests. In the monasteries and cities there were schools, both elementary and advanced, under the charge of the abbots or bishops; Whatever learning there was north of the Alps was due to the labors of the Church.

It was formerly the custom to refer to the middle ages as the dark ages. From their own ignorance of the facts, historians had thought that the medieval world, was entirely steeped in ignorance and barbarism that there was no learning, even among the churchmen and that all society was in a state of chaos. Now that the facts are known the term dark ages has been abandoned, or if used, is applied only to the time between the breaking up of the Roman Empire and the eleventh century; or still more narrowly to the period of the invasions in the ninth and tenth centuries. In the history of education in Christian Europe, the latter was the darkest age. Charles the Great had been anxious to educate his subjects and under his rule schools had been established in many monasteries and towns. Italian, English, and Scotch, as well as native scholars, were induced to become the teachers of the Franks. During the period of the invasions learning was maintained only in a few favorable localities. In the latter years of the tenth century, especially in Germany, there was a reawakening and teaching in the monastery schools became more common. The influence of Cluny was very important. From this time greater attention was given to learning, and the schools increased in number and improved in quality.

Education was intended wholly for the service of the Church, and most of the students became members of the secular or regular clergy. This determined to a very great extent the character of the teaching. During the early middle ages all the studies were included in the seven liberal arts and theology. First came the trivium or threefold way - grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics or logic then the quadrivium arithmetic music geometry and astronomy. The trivium and quadrivium together made up the seven liberal arts.

These studies were not taken up in any regular order, and the names of the various subjects do not indicate their contents. Grammar, for example, included the study of the Latin classics with an explanation of their historical and mythological allusions. Under the subjects of the quadrivium were grouped all the fragments of knowledge concerning the natural sciences. Theology was the most important branch, and the study of the seven liberal arts was pursued partly as a preparation for the correct understanding of the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the church fathers.

The teachers read the text books to the pupils who had none and who were expected to commit everything to memory. When a scholar failed he was flogged; fortunately for his comfort he was not expected to learn a great deal. In arithmetic the students were taught to keep simple accounts in music what was necessary for the church services. In geometry a few problems, and in astronomy enough to calculate the date of Easter. It was not until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that these subjects were really studied seriously. Before that when a boy had obtained a smattering of grammar and the quadrivium he devoted himself if he wished to study more, to theology or dialectics. Frequently he would travel from place to place to hear the most famous teachers.

Source: A History of the Middle Ages By Dana Carleton Munro