Christian Schools and Scholars: or, Sketches of Education from the Christian Era to the Council of TrentDrane, Augusta Theodosia
History
Christian Schools and Scholars: or, Sketches of Education from the Christian Era to the Council of Trent
Drane, Augusta Theodosia
Church and education; Education -- Europe -- History; Renaissance; Scholasticism
accordance with those of Solomon than our fastidious age would
approve. The rod, in fact, was so very generally used, that under the
form of the ferule it afterwards became the badge of the bachelor
in arts, and was solemnly delivered to him when he took his degree.
Medieval schoolboys were not more fond of a flogging than those of
later growth, and to escape it the scholars of St. Gall once adopted
the extraordinary expedient of setting fire to the monastery. Yet
with all this austerity of discipline, nothing is more certain than
that the monastic masters possessed the secret of making themselves
beloved, and that the love which they inspired was not the less
familiar because mingled with respect. I may add, that at Cluny,
though flogging was permitted, boxing on the ears was strictly
prohibited, apparently with the view of allowing no indulgence to the
irritated feelings of the master. Punishment, like everything else
at Cluny, was administered in an orderly and methodical manner; in
fact, the peculiar excellence of the Cluniacs lay in their manner of
systematising everything, whether homely or sublime.
The masters in most large schools were very numerous, but none were
allowed to hold any office until of mature age. At Fulda there
were twelve professors and a principal (_Principalis_), besides
assistants.[101] In the cathedral schools, in like manner, there
was the _Archischolus_ and his assistants, and the _Proscholus_, or
prefect of discipline.[102] The reader will perhaps smile when he
hears that one of the duties of the _Proscholus_ was to teach the
children how to walk, bow, and behave in presence of superiors. This,
however, was a speciality of the Canons Regular. Learning was not
the only qualification required in a master. He was to be of tried
virtue. The office of teacher was a cure of souls, and so great was
the honour in which it was held, that bishops even, who had formerly
filled the post of scholasticus, not unfrequently affixed their old
to their new title, when signing their names.
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