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
This college, as originally planned, was to consist of a "provost and ten
priests, four clerks, and six chorister boys whose duty it shall be to
serve divine worship there daily, and twenty-five poor and needy scholars
whose duty it shall be to learn grammar and moreover twenty-five poor and
weakly men whose duty it shall be always to pray in the same place for our
good estate while we live and for our soul when we have passed from this
light ... also of a master or teacher in grammar, whose duty it shall be
to teach the said needy scholars and all others whatsoever and
whencesoever of our realm of England coming to the said college, the
rudiments of grammar gratis without exacting money or anything else."[611]
The monastic conception is brought out prominently. At the head of the
institution were the provost and ten priests, corresponding to the abbot
and the obedientaries of a convent, next we find the chorister boys who
correspond to the boys of the almonry school who assisted in divine
worship, next comes the support of poor and weakly men, a common feature
of many monasteries, finally there are the "poor and needy scholars" to
take the place ordinarily occupied by monks.
In 1441 Henry VI. founded a college in Cambridge University by the name of
King's College of St. Nicholas. At first, there was no connection between
Eton and King's College, but in 1443, new statutes were made which
enlarged the number of students who could be admitted there and also
arranged for the admission of "commensales" who were to pay for their
board. The addition of "commensales" accentuates still further the
influence of the monastic model. From early times, it had been customary
for the heads of monasteries to receive a kind of "parlour boarder" and
it would be particularly fitting that, in an institution which was
primarily educational and not merely devotional, arrangements should be
made for the reception of those scholars who were able and willing to pay.
Henry showed his interest in the school by his issue of a warrant in 1446,
in which, after reciting that he had founded a college at Eton for
"seventy scholars whose duty it is to learn the science of grammar and
sixteen choristers whose duty likewise it shall be, when they have been
sufficiently instructed in singing, to learn grammar, also a master
teacher in grammar and an usher to teach the aforesaid boys, scholars and
choristers,"[612] he proceeded to declare that "it shall not be lawful for
anyone, of whatever authority he may be, at any time to presume to keep,
set up, or found any such public grammar school in the town of Windsor or
elsewhere within the space of ten English miles from our said Royal
College."[613]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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