=Benedict’s ‘Rule’ and the Multiplication of Manuscripts.=--These monastic activities were especially crystallized and promoted by the Benedictine ‘rule.’ This was a code formulated by St. Benedict in 529 for his monastery at Monte Cassino in Southwest Italy, and it was generally adopted by the monasteries of Western Europe. In the forty-eighth chapter of the ‘rule’ he commanded that the monks each day engage in manual labor for at least seven hours and in systematic reading for at least two hours. The requirement of daily reading led to the collection and reproduction of manuscripts, and each monastery soon had a _scriptorium_, or ‘writing-room,’ in one end of the building (Fig. 7). Most of the works copied were of a religious nature and were limited in number, but the monks were occasionally occupied with the Latin classics, and they also became the authors of some original literature, which included histories of the Church, the monasteries, and the times, as well as works upon religious topics. [Sidenote: Especial preservation of learning in English monasteries.] =Amalgamation of and Irish Christianity.=--This preservation of learning and development of literature was especially apparent in the monasteries of England It came about through the amalgamation at the Council of Whitby, in 664, of the Roman Church in England, with Irish Christianity, which had preserved an unusually high order of learning after its isolation. An immense enthusiasm for the Church, culture, and literature of Rome resulted from this merging of the rival organizations, and the English monasteries, such as Jarrow and Wearmouth, and cathedral schools, like York, became the great educational centers for Europe. [Sidenote: Length of course.] [Sidenote: Types of pupils.] =The Organization of the Monastic Schools.=--The literary work of the monasteries soon led to the establishment of regular schools within their walls (Fig. 8). The course in these monastic schools may often have lasted eight or ten years, as boys of ten or even less were sometimes received, and no one could become a regular member of the order before he was eighteen. By the ninth century the schools sometimes also admitted pupils who never expected to enter the order. These latter were called _externi_ in distinction to the _oblati_, who were preparing to become monks. Some training was also given women in convents for nuns, such as that established by the sister of Benedict. [Illustration: Fig. 7.--A monk in the _scriptorium_.] [Illustration: Fig. 8.--A monastic school.] [Sidenote: Evolution and scope of the _trivium_ and _quadrivium_.]