Education During The Middle Ages

1. Education During The Middle Ages Samantha Weller Keri Schuyler John

2. What Were the “Middle Ages”? • The Middle Ages, or the medieval period lasted from about the fifth to the fifteenth centuries in England and Europe • Lasted from about ad 350 to about 1450 • During this time, the beginnings of many modern institutions, such as universities and representative government, were established

3. Purpose of Education • Parliament commanded that every cathedral and monastery was to establish a school to provide a free education to every boy who had the intelligence and the perseverance to follow a demanding course of study • Only a minority of people went to school during the medieval period • Schools were attended primarily by persons planning to enter religious life such as priests, monks, or nuns. • The vast majority of people were illiterate serfs who served on feudal lands

4. Educational Opportunities Equal? • The church provided limited opportunities for the education of women in religious communities or convents. • Girls were virtually ignored when it came to education. Only daughters of the very rich and powerful were allowed to attend select courses. • Monks taught school for boys where they learned to read and write Latin. • Much of the teaching in these schools was directed at learning Latin due to it being the primary language used by the church in its ceremonies and teachings.

5. Education for Girls during the Medieval Times • Girls from noble families were taught at home or in the house of another nobleman. • Some girls from rich families went abroad to be educated. • The basis of a girl’s education was the same no matter where they studied – how to keep a household going so that their husband was well kept. Girls might learn to play a musical instrument and to sing. In general, girls were taught how to keep a successful household for their future husbands.

6. Elementary Level Curriculum During the Middle Ages • Medieval society and education were shaped by Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. • The medieval curriculum included seven liberal arts studies: • Grammar • Rhetoric • Logic • Arithmetic • Music • Geometry • Astronomy

7. Secondary Education Opportunities During the Middle Ages • At 14 or 15, some scholars would continue education at a university • Schools in monasteries and cathedrals offered secondary education opportunities • Medieval universities offered degrees in the liberal arts and in professional studies such as law, medicine, philosophy, or theology

8. Famous European Universities of the Middle Ages • Paris • Salerno • Bologna • Oxford • Cambridge • Padua

9. Primary Methods of Instruction During the Middle Ages • Medieval students often sat together on the floor, scrawling notes from lessons using a bone or ivory stylus on wooden tablets coated with green or black wax • Books were extremely expensive during the Medieval times, and no school was able to provide all of their pupils with books • Lessons frequently started at sunrise and finished at sunset • Students who made mistakes in lessons were painfully punished by being hit with a birch rod

10. Technologies Introduced • The Middle Ages was when many of the important modern institutions, such as the university, were created • Paper is first mentioned in Europe in the early part of the 12th century. • The horizontal loom appears in Europe in the 11th century, and in mechanized form in the 12th century. • Knowledge of magnets and magnetism available in Western Europe by 1140 • The compass is in use in Western Europe by the middle of the 12th century

11. Influential Individuals in Medieval Education • Saint Thomas Aquinas • 13th century professor who taught at the University of Paris • Reconciled Christian theology with Greek philosophy • Peter Abelard • Medieval French scholastic philosopher and theologian

12. Influential Individuals in Medieval Education • Charlemagne • French Ruler during 9th century, mandated all cathedrals and monastery’s to establish a school for intelligent boys. • Christine de Pizan • Writer and one of the first of her day to represent the rights of women • Vincent of Beauvais • Writing in 1256, advises noble parents to allow their daughters to learn to read and write so that in "keeping busy they will escape the harmful thoughts, the pleasures and vanities of the flesh." • MatteoVeggio • Advocated that girls "be raised on sacred teachings" in his treatise De educationeliberorum written in 1440

13. Impact on Education Today • The cap and gown that college graduates wear today are very similar to academic garments worn during the medieval era. • Medieval universities are the direct ancestors of modern ones • The liberal arts programs developed in the Middle Ages remain the core of the arts and sciences programs of today's colleges • The education that children receive at missionary schools in various parts of the world is similar to that which students received during medieval times

14. Medieval University Course... …Present Day College Course

15. Q &A • Why do you think emphasis of education during the middle ages was on things such as logic and everyday living rather than a core curriculum of math, science, history, and rhetoric?