Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/442

 392 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE was apparently supposed never to have any fun : there wei no authorized amusements and even chess was frowned 01 But in actual practice the students had their evenings free and were liable to indulge in a deal of drinking, dicing, and nocturnal escapades. There were no classes on Sundays, and on the numerous saints' days the program was lighter than usual. Although boys entered the universities at a younger age than to-day, and, if they came from a distance, were quite cut off from home influences by the lack of rail- roads and post-offices, they were placed under little effective restraint or discipline. Gradually, however, "colleges" were founded, especially within the English uni- versities, at first for the benefit of poor students. These were houses where the student boarded and roomed and where he could also be made to get his lessons and keep good hours. No physical training was required of the stu- dents and intercollegiate athletics were unknown. But some of the "college customs" of to-day date back to the Middle Ages. In the initiation of the Bej annus, we see the same thing as the "hazing" of Freshmen, and modern academic caps and gowns are a relic of medieval costume. The college boy of all ages has been proverbially "broke," and we hear much of the poor students and their hardships in the Middle Ages. Instead of "canvassing" during the summer vaca- tion, they often went about begging and offering to "sing for the souls of such as assist me." Some of the Latin poems written by students or by wan- dering clergy in the twelfth century were far, however, from Medieval being directed toward the salvation of souk. Latin poetry j^g Qarmina Burana, a collection of Latin verse found in a Bavarian monastery, are in large part satires upon the clergy, or drinking- and love-songs written in a most frivolous and rollicking tone with invocations of Bac- chus and other pagan deities. On the other hand, we should not forget the great medieval Latin hymns such as the Dies Ira and Stabat Mater and those ascribed to St. Bernard. The amount of learning had so increased since the twelfth