Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/618

 SCHOOLS

556

SCHOOLS

not only the text but also the master's explanation or commentary. Of the many textbooks in use the most popular was the work by Marcianus Capella (about 420) entitled ".Satyricon, seu dc Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologise". That the instruction given to the laitv in the monastic schools was entirely gratuitous is evi- dent from the decree of Bishop Theodulf of Orleans in the eighth century, and from other documents. When, at Tours, the external school was frequented by a number of wealthy pupils, whose voluntary gifts to t lie monastery put the poorer students in a position of ap- parent inferiority, tiie bishop of that see, Amalric, gave a generous donation to the monks to be used in the maintenance of poor students. The Carlovingian revival of education affected not only the internal schools of the monasteries but also the external schools, and, during the reign of Charles's successors, bishops and popes by a number of decrees showed their interest in the maintenance not only of schools of sacred science, but also in schools "for the studj' of letters". The external school had by this time be- come a recognized institution, which the sons of the farmers in the neighbourhood of the monasteries fre- quented not by privilege but by a right freely ac- knowledged. We know that before the end of the ninth century both boys and girls attended the schools attached to the parish churches in the Diocese of Soissons. As time went on the establishment and maintenance of schools by the Church was made a matter of express canonical enactment. No docu- ment could be more exphcit than the Decree of the Third Council of Lateran (1179): " That every cathe- dral church have a teacher {magisirum) who is to teach poor scholars and others, and that no one re- ceive a fee for permission to teach ' ' (Mansi, XXII, 234).

IV. Cathedral Schools. — The cathedral schools sprang from the episcopal schools which, as has been said, existed from a very early time for the traiiiing of clerics. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, 742-66, is said to be the founder of medieval cathedral schools, but only in the sense that he organized the clergy of his cathedral church into a community, and ordained that they undertake the conduct and management of the school attached to their church. The bishop himself was to have control of the school and under him was to be the immediate superior of the school {magisler scholce) . In the cities and towns where there was no cathedral, the canoas of the local church were organ- ized after the manner o£ the cathedral clergy, and con- ducted a "canonicate" school. In both institutions there came to be distinguished (1) the elementary school {schola minor) where reading, writing, psal- mody, etc. were taught; and (2) the higher school (schola major) in which the curriculum consisted either of the trivium alone (grammar, rhetoric, and dialec- tic j, or of the full programme, namely the seven lib- eral arts, Scripture, and what we now call pastoral tlieology. The method employed in the cathedral schools was identical with that of the monastic schools.

V. Chantry Schools. — The chantry schools were similar in character to the cathedral and canonicate schools. IndcfHl, they may be said to be a specific kind of canonicate schools. The chantry was a foundation with endowment, the proceeds of which went to one or more priests carrying the obligation of singing or saying IVIass at stated times, or daily, ff>r thc! ivm] of the endower, or for the souls of per- sons named by him. It was part of the duty of the incumbents of a chantry foundation to "teach gratis the [K>or who asked it liurriljly for the love of Clod". (H(',i' "Catholic Universily Biiilctiii," IX, '.'> sc].).

VI. (iuiOl Schools, Ilosfntdl Schools, (in/l City Srhooh, the last beginning with the thirteenth century, sliared the work of education with the cloister, cathedral, and chantry schools. The guilds and hospitals were ec- clesiastical founrlations, were guided by clerics, and engaged in the work of education under the direction

of the Church. The city schools at first met with op- position from the teachers in the monastic and cathe- dral foundations, although they also were under the control of ecclesiastics. Kehrein in his "Historj' of Education" (see bibhography) mentions a Decree of Alexander III which prohibits any abbot from pre- venting any magister or scholasticus from taking charge of a school in the city or suburb "since knowledge is a gift of CJod and talent is free". Towards the end of the Middle Ages the task of the ecclesiastical teacher became so important that communities of clerics were founded for the exjiress purpose of devoting their lives to the duties of elementary education. The best known of these communities is that of "The Brothers of the Common Life" founded by Gerard Groot (1340-84) at Deventer. It soon extended to Winded- heim, Agnetenberg, and other towns in Holland and North Germany. To this community belonged Thomas a Kempis, the author of "The Imitation of Clirist ". That these various provisions for the educa- tion not only of the clergy but also of the laity — mo- nastic schools, cathedral schools, canonicate schools, chantry schools, guild schools, hospital schools, city schools, and special educational institutions — met the educational needs of the times, and were adequate as far as the circumstances of the times would allow, is the verdict of all historians who view without preju- dice the educational career of the Catholic Church. Allain (see bibliography) has told the story of primary education in France; Ravelet (see bibliography) has gone over the whole question of primary education in medieval times; Leach has told part of the story (see bibliography) as far as pre-Reformation England is concerned. It is impossible to give more than a sum- mary statement of the facts which these writers have accumulated. Those facts, however, justify the as- sertion that, far from opposing or neglecting the edu- cation of the masses, the Catholic Church in medieval times provided generously for their instruction in the elementary branches, as well as in the department of higher studies, whenever and wherever the political, social, and economic conditions were not so adverse as to thwart her educational efforts.

Both the particular and the general councils of the Church, imperial capitularies, and episcopal and papal decrees show that bishops and popes, while concerned primarily for the education of future members of the clerical body in the sacred sciences, were also at pains to encourage and promote the education of the laity. For instance, the Council of Cloveshoe, held by Cuth- bert, Archbishop of Canterbury in 749, prescribes that abbesses as well as abbots provide for the education of all their households (Jamiliw). A Carlovingian capit- ulary of 802 enjoins "that everyone should send his son to study letters, and that the child should re- main at school with all diligence until he became well instructed in learning". Theodulf of Orleans in 797 de(Te(>s that gratuitous instruction be given by the priests in every town and village of iiis diocu-se, and there cannot be the least doubt that educalion of the laity is meant. The Council of Chalon-sur-S;ione in 813 legislates in a similar spirit that not only "schools of Sacred Scripture" but also "schools of letters" be establisluul. The Council of Rome, held in 853, di- rects the bishops of the Universal Church to establish " in every episcopal residence [in universis episcopiis] among the populations subject to them, and in all places when' there is such need" masters and teachers to teach "literary studies and the seven liberal arts". These and similar documents lay stress on the obliga ti<m which rests cm the jjiircnts and godparents to see to the education of children corninitlcd to their care. By the middle of the ninth century the distinction be- tween external and internal monastic wchools being ckiarly recognized, and parish schools having become a regular diocesan institution, the testimonies in favour of popular education under the auspices of the Church