Taking a Look at Medieval Education

Ian Mortimer uses his book The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century to describe how one might live in the fourteenth century. This book covers a wide range of topics from what one might see and smell when approaching a city, to what one might wear, to how to stay alive. Mortimer’s clever use of a travel guide inspired book lends itself to a much wider audience. The evidence presented in this book is both engaging and intriguing, and provides easy reading for academics and non-academics both.

During the Renaissance, widespread education was one of the most studied topics of the time period. There were many different values that applied to education in order to make it specific to the Renaissance Period. Some different values of Renaissance Education explored at the time were the study of Humanism, or the looking back to Greek and Roman influences, the importance of education itself, the topics beings studied, and the education of women.

Changes are an important part of history, and a natural part of life. In the case of geography throughout history, the world has made many changes to its borders and who has grievances with one another. From the High Middle Ages of olden Europe, to the twentieth century, change has occurred. These changes have unified and broken ties between countries and regions time and time again throughout history. There are many forces that push toward and against unity throughout time. The world map became what is today because of both unity and division marking change in the past.

In William Manchester’s “ A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age” He demonstrates the change in the "Dark Ages" from the dependence on religion to independent thinking. Ancient concepts were questioned and proven wrong after thousands of years, and the power of the what finally surpassed the authority of the Pope. Manchester expresses the transition within Europe from the Medieval Times to the Renaissance that included multiple changes in the intellectual, religious, and political aspects of life.

Even Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor and the greatest of all medieval rulers, was illiterate…" (Document 1). The highest of leaders couldn't read or write meaning if their ruler was illiterate than most of society would be uneducated too. Education and civilization were wiped out and forgotten because the invaders were uneducated. After the Early Middle Ages ended in the 11th century, High Middle Ages emerged and introduced religious wars called the Crusades.

Horace Mann, is often referred to the Father of the Common School, he began his career as a lawyer and legislator. He was elected as Secretary of a new Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837. He used his power to create an educational reform. He believed that every child could receive a basic education funded by local taxes. Soon his influence spread beyond Massachusetts, more and more states began to take up the idea of universal schooling. Mann was influential in the development of teacher training schools and the earliest attempts to professionalize teaching.

In the medieval Europe, the functioning of the societies across the different European regions revolved around the Christianity religion. During that period, Christianity was the main religion with the largest number of followers. The Catholic Church which oversaw the practising of the religion was a powerful international church. The Catholic Church was given importance both by the emperors and the people considering the superstitious attitude during that period. As such, the church used to give various teachings which used to be actively followed by the people. As the people had blind faith on the church, the emperors also used to give immense regard to the church and its priests. Not more than the Catholic church was not even less the power

The university has been around a very long time and been through many changes in its time. We now know it as a school for everyone to attend (who can pay), but that was not the case back then. Universities use to under the control of monasteries and would only teach young boys and men. The backstory to universities are very important for historians to discuss. It helps describe how universities came to be and why they changed throughout time.

Life at a medieval university for clerics was in many regards similar to our present day college experience. When college was in session, life was basically split into two categories; life in the books, and life outside the books if you will. Scholars needed to focus their attention to the tasks at hand during learning hours. As we know today, the more time you spend studying, the better grades you’ll achieve. On the other hand, scholars needed a release from the daily grind of constant academic involvement. This may have included some popular pastimes such as drinking, gambling, and wreaking havoc downtown (nothing a modern student would do). The scholars experienced many of the problems that modern day collegians deal with as well.

Education programs in correctional facilities is not a new idea in our society. The idea of implementing these programs in prisons has been around as early as the 1700s. Correctional education programs today consist of two basic types of programs — literacy development and vocational training. Literacy development is focused on improving inmate’s reading and math skills while vocational training is more focused on inmate’s ability to gain skills they can use in the workplace once they are released. However, these programs were unheard of in the 1700s. The sole purpose of education programs during this time was to teach inmates how to read. These programs in the 1700s only focused on inmate’s ability to read because it allowed them to understand

The Late Middle Ages, which lasted until the early 16th century, was a turbulent period which was beset by difficulties such as famine and battle. Monarchs with insatiable territorial appetites and religious fanaticism contributed greatly to create instability and war among the people. However, one of the greatest villain during this period was an undetectable foe, named Yersinia Pestis.

On the topic of the Prioress’ literacy and “fluent French,” it seemed as though education was a common blessing amongst all of the middle class (Chaucer 124-125). Researcher Tim Lambert in, The Daily Life in England in The Middle Ages wrote that, “grammar schools began opening up across England and it was not uncommon for middle class children to educated” in the traditional sense (Lambert). While the characters in the prologue had already been educated in their homeland, their offspring and generations of middle class citizens to come would all be educated. Another example of education in the prologue was when the narrator spoke of the clerk. Despite there not

The gigantic effect that education had on Renaissance society was greatly stimulated by the new development of humanism. Humanism was responsible for the curiosity of many intellects during the Renaissance, which ultimately led to the discoveries and developments that made the Renaissance such a remarkable time. It proposed a different way of thinking, unprecedented by scholars. Without humanism and the educational interest that it brought about, the Renaissance would not be known as the explosion of culture that it is considered today.

“The period between 1965 and the end of the 1980s witnessed significant developments, not only in the provision of post-primary schooling in Ireland, but also in the way in which schooling was understood.”

“The period between 1965 and the end of the 1980s witnessed significant developments, not only in the provision of post-primary schooling in Ireland, but also in the way in which schooling was understood.”