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
We have seen in a previous chapter that it had been the custom of the
Church from the earliest times to establish schools in connection with the
various churches. Just as in course of time schools of theology which had
previously been customary, were made the subject of express ecclesiastical
enactment, so, too, the holding of Grammar Schools was also definitely
prescribed. Thus in 1215, Innocent III. decreed that in connection with
"every cathedral or other church of sufficient means" masters were to be
appointed who were to be able to teach theology and Latin
respectively.[217] These masters were to be remunerated out of the common
fund of the cathedral church. If, however, the revenues of the Church did
not permit of this, then provision was to be made for the remuneration of
the grammarian out of the funds of some other church of the city or
diocese.[218] At the risk of exposing ourselves to the charge of
repetition, we must reiterate that this enactment did not indicate a new
departure on the part of the Church or constitute a decree for the
establishment of schools. The provision of facilities for education in any
locality practically dates from the foundation of a church in that
locality. The value of this enactment is twofold: it indicates the
considered mind of the Church towards education, illustrating still
further, that the Church realised the importance of education and
recognised it as her duty to make provision for it; and in the second
place it would act as a stimulant to those dioceses or centres in which
the ecclesiastical authorities had not been sufficiently alert to their
responsibilities and duties. The Lateran Council of 1179 had not only
decreed that "in every cathedral church a competent benefice shall be
bestowed upon a master who shall teach the clerks of the same church and
poor scholars freely," but it had also enacted that it was the duty of the
Church to provide free education "in order that the poor, who cannot be
assisted by their parents' means, may not be deprived of the opportunity
of reading and proficiency."[219]
Since then the immemorial custom of the Church and Canon Law alike
required that schools should be established in connection with the various
churches, we have next to consider a narrower problem, to what extent was
this requisite complied with in this country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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