Ecclesiastics were the only instructors in those days; but there is no evidence of their having shown much zeal in the enlightenment of the mass of the people. It is true there were schools connected with monasteries and cathedrals, but these institutions were for the education of such persons as were intended for the service of the church. The chief promoters of learning among the laity, to any great extent, were Charlemagne and Alfred, who brought to their assistance the more enlightened men of their times. Parish schools were established by the bishop of Orleans, upon whom Charlemagne placed much dependence in carrying out his liberal views, and, in these schools, education was gratuitously provided for such children as their parents might choose to send.[5] Alfred also greatly exerted himself to extend the benefits of education over his own country: most of the noble, and many of the inferior orders, were placed under the care of masters, who taught them not only to read in Latin and Saxon books, but also to write.[6] Such facts, however, constitute the exception, rather than the rule, respecting the cultivation of the minds of laymen. Undoubtedly the higher as well as the lower classes were immersed in the deepest shades of ignorance; pursuits conducive to the improvement of their physical strength being, as a matter of course, in such an age, much more highly valued than those which tended to increase intellectual vigour. "For many centuries, to sum up the account of ignorance in a word, it was rare for a layman, of whatever rank, to know how to sign his name. Their charters, till the use of seals became general, were subscribed with the mark of the cross. Still more extraordinary was it to find one who had any tincture of learning. Even admitting every indistinct commendation of a monkish biographer, (with whom a knowledge of church music would pass for literature,) we could make out a very short list of scholars. None, certainly, were more distinguished as such than Charlemagne and Alfred. But the former, unless we reject a very plain testimony, was incapable of writing, and Alfred found difficulty in making a translation from the pastoral instruction of St. Gregory, on account of his imperfect knowledge of Latin."[7]