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
Here, then, is indicated the task which awaited the leaders of the Church,
the revival of zeal for religion and letters. How were they to approach
and solve the problem? We may legitimately assume that those who lived at
the time, and who were in a position to know the special circumstances of
the period, would also be in a position to consider the best policy to
adopt. The method actually adopted by them for promoting the cause of
"religion and letters" was, in the first place, by the establishment of
monasteries. We learn that between 1066 and 1135, three monastic
cathedrals, thirteen important monasteries for women, eleven important
monasteries for men, seventeen Cluniac priories and sixty cells for
foreign houses were founded in this country.[130]
One of the main effects of the Norman Conquest upon England, from an
ecclesiastical point of view, was the substitution of Norman for the
existing English bishops and abbots. Of the twenty-one abbots who attended
the Council of London in 1075, thirteen were English; of these, only three
held office at the accession of William Rufus.[131] From among the Normans
of learning who came to occupy positions of importance in England may be
mentioned Lanfranc and Anselm, successively Archbishops of Canterbury,
Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, Paul, Abbot of St. Albans, Water, Abbot of
Evesham, Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster, Ernulf, Prior of
Christchurch, Canterbury, and Thurstan, Abbot of Glastonbury, all of whom
had been connected with the school attached to the monastery of Bec.
Instances might also be given of ecclesiastics who came to this country
from the schools of Rouen, of Cluny, of Mont St. Michel, of Bayeux, and of
Laon.[132]
These appointments are all the more significant because the Church in
Normandy at this time was in a very flourishing condition, and was
conspicuous for its learning;[133] hence the Norman Conquest, among other
things, meant that men of learning and ability were appointed to the chief
ecclesiastical positions in England.
Reference should be made here to the reforms effected at Cluny--a
Benedictine monastery--in the second half of the eleventh century.
Confining ourselves to the reforms that were connected with the
intellectual activities of the monastery, we note that manual labour, in
its literal sense, became practically non-existent. In its stead
additional time was given to study and to the copying of manuscripts.[134]
The importance of Cluny for the educational progress of England arises
from the fact that Lanfranc, who was appointed by the Conqueror to the
position of Archbishop of Canterbury, had apparently studied the customs
prevailing in that monastery,[135] and had based upon them the reforms
which he sought to effect in his own Cathedral monastery at
Canterbury,[136] and also endeavoured to introduce into other monasteries
in this country.[137]
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