Education in England in the Middle Ages: Thesis Approved for the Degree of Doctor of Science in the University of LondonParry, Albert William
History
Education in England in the Middle Ages: Thesis Approved for the Degree of Doctor of Science in the University of London
Parry, Albert William
Education -- England -- History; Education, Medieval
Passing next to give instances of the schools which were held by
monasteries as trustees, we may mention Lewes Grammar School, which was
founded in 1512 by the will of Agnes Morley, who provided that the
appointment of the schoolmaster should be vested in the prior of
Lewes.[513] We note, too, that Peter of Blockesley gave possessions to the
prior and convent of Coventry in trust for the school.[514] The school at
Bruton may also be quoted as illustrative. By an endowment deed of
1519,[515] various possessions were given to the Abbot of Bruton, subject
to the condition that he should provide a schoolhouse and house for the
master, and also pay him L10 a year. The returns to the chantry
commissioners from Bruton[516] state that, after the dissolution, the
schoolmaster was no longer called upon to work, but as he had had a
pension assigned him, he was able "to lyve licentiously at will than to
travaile in good education of yewthe" "to the greate Decaye as well of
vertuous bringing uppe of yewthe of the saide shire in all good lernyng,
as also of the inhabitants of the Kinges said town of Brewton."
II. ALMONRY SCHOOLS.
An essential duty discharged by the inmates of a monastery was the
offering of divine worship. Effectively to discharge this duty, the voices
of boys were required in addition to those of the men. It is difficult to
determine when this custom originated; probably it was adopted first of
all in the collegiate churches, and then subsequently imitated by the
monasteries. The earliest available reference to an almonry school in this
country is in connection with St. Paul's Cathedral. A statute which dates
c. 1190 refers to the boys of the almonry, and informs us that they lived
on alms.[517] Lincoln, York, and Salisbury are three other secular
cathedrals, at which choristers, who were boarded and lodged together,
were maintained.
The boys, who acted as choristers in the monasteries, were lodged at the
outer gate; they were clothed, fed, and educated at the expense of the
monks. The earliest reference available to almonry boys in monasteries
dates from 1320, when it was provided that "no scholar shall be taken into
the almonry unless he can read, and sing in the chapel, and is ten years
old."[518] The earliest statutes which set forth the work of the almonry
are those of St. Albans, and date from 1339. They include the following
regulations.
(1) "Let the boys be admitted to live there for a term of five years at
the most, to whom this period suffices for becoming proficient in grammar.
(2) No poor scholar shall absent himself from the Almonry without the
licence of the sub-Almoner, under the penalty of expulsion until
reconciliation.
(3) Whosoever is convicted or notorious for being incontinent, a night
walker, noisy, disorderly, shall be wholly expelled.
(4) Immediately on admission, the scholars shall shave an ample tonsure,
after the manner of choristers, and shall cut their hair as becomes
clerks.
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