THE WORK OF THE MONASTERIES.

The introduction of Christianity to this country subsequent to the Saxon invasion was effected by means of two independent agencies—the Roman mission under the leadership of Augustine which arrived in Thanet in 597, and the Scottish missionaries who, in response to the invitation of Oswald, king of Northumbria, took up their residence in the island of Lindisfarne in 635.

The primary task of these missionaries was obviously that of converting a people who professed a heathen religion to an adherence to the Christian faith. The accomplishment of this main task, however, involved two additional tasks, the one moral, the other social. A dismal picture of the moral condition of the settlers in this country in the fifth century has been painted by Montalembert. Basing his account on Ozanam’s “Germains avant la Christianisme” he asks, “What could be expected in point of morality from persons accustomed to invoke and to worship Woden, the god of massacres, Freya, the Venus of the North, the goddess of sensuality, and all those bloody and obscene gods of whom the one had for his emblem a naked sword and another the hammer with which he broke the heads of his enemies?” He continues, “The immortality which was promised to them in their Valhalla but reserved for them new days of slaughter and nights of debauch spent in drinking deep from the skulls of their victims. And in this world, their life was but too often a prolonged orgy of carnage, rapine and lechery.”[3] Herein lay the moral task which awaited the Christian missionaries. They had to replace the existing national ideals with the ideals of Christianity—ideals of the highest standard of personal morality. The social task undertaken by the missionaries was that of elevating this country from a condition of barbarism into a state of civilisation. Referring to the results of the introduction of Christianity, Green writes, “The new England was admitted into the older commonwealth of nations. The civilisation, art, letters, which had fled before the sword of the English conquest returned with the Christian faith.”[4]

What means could be adopted by the missionaries to accomplish the ends they had in view? It is obvious that continual teaching and instruction would be imperative to meet the needs of the converts to the new faith, and it is equally clear that it would be necessary to provide for the creation of a native ministry in order that the labours of the early missionaries might be continued. Teaching, consequently, occupies a position of the greatest importance, and it is to the educational aspect of the labours of these missionaries rather than to the religious or the ecclesiastical aspect that our attention is now directed. It may be advisable for us to remind ourselves that these missionaries came to this country speaking the Latin tongue, that the services of the Church were carried on in that language, and that such books as existed were also written in Latin. It is necessary to make this point clear in order to show that schools for instruction in this language would be imperative from the very first.

It is also important to remember, as Montalembert points out, that the conversion of England was effected by means of monks, first of the Benedictine monks sent from Rome, and afterwards of Celtic monks.[5] We may here lay down a general hypothesis, which the course of this thesis will tend to demonstrate: the educational institutions established in this country were due to an imitation of those which had been in operation elsewhere. The Christian missionaries to England, for example, did not originate a system of education. They adopted what they had seen in operation in the parent monasteries from which they came, and, in so doing, they would naturally adapt the system to the special needs of the country. Some exceptions to this general principle may be found; they will be noted in their proper place.

Accepting this hypothesis, before we can proceed to consider the special work for education of the monasteries in this country, it is necessary briefly to review the meaning of monachism and to consider the extent to which monasteries had previously associated themselves with educational work.

The origin of Christian monasticism is due partly to the moral conditions prevalent in the early centuries of the Christian era and partly to the mystical and ascetic tendencies which manifest themselves in some individuals. Though the generally accepted view of the moral condition of Roman society in the days of the Early Church[6] may be exaggerated and the description given by Dill[7] represent more fairly the condition of things that actually prevailed, yet even this modified account portrays a social condition in which moral ideals—except in rare cases—barely existed. To yield to the lusts of the body seemed to be almost inseparable from life in the world. Repeatedly did the Apostles and the Church Fathers find it necessary to warn the members of the Church against the grosser sins. The multiplicity of temptations, the low moral standard, the absence of any social condemnation of infractions of the moral code tended to the growth of a belief that bodily mortification and a vigorous asceticism should be practised by those who desired to be real and not merely nominal Christians. Effectively to achieve such an ideal tended to a withdrawal from a participation in social life, from a life of fellowship with others, to a life of isolation, in order that by a severe discipline of the body and a life given up completely to prayer, contemplation, and meditation, the soul might enter into a closer communion with God.

This ideal of isolation was not altogether new. In the deserts of Egypt, during the early centuries, devout Jews had given themselves up to a solitary and austere life of chastity and prayer, combining a system of religious contemplation with a stern rÉgime of physical discipline. Here then was an example ready to be imitated by the enthusiastic Christian. Abandoning life in the world, which in so many cases meant profligacy and vice, the convert, to whom the Christian religion had become a reality, endeavoured to find in the isolated life of a hermit the opportunity for contemplation which he considered imperative for the salvation of his soul.

The reputation for sanctity and austerity gained by certain hermits caused others desirous of a similar life to build their cells in close proximity. Gradually the custom arose of building an enclosure round a small group of cells and of recognising one man as the spiritual head of the group. Certain rules were agreed to, and a common oratory was shared. The first rules for a community of this type were drawn up by Pachomius who founded a coenobitic community at Tabenna in 320 A.D.

For our purpose, it is important to note that Pachomius considered that attention should be paid to the education of the inmates of the community. Classes were to be held for those whose early instruction had been neglected, whilst no one was to be allowed to remain who did not learn to read and was not familiar, at the very least, with the Book of Psalms and the New Testament.[8]A third stage in the evolution of monasticism is associated with the name of St. Basil of Caesarea. Instead of founding his monastery in some remote district, he built it near a town and received into it not only solitaries who had become convinced of the dangers of living alone, but also the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, and those who, for various reasons, had become weary of life in the outer world and sought an asylum for their remaining days. Not only men but also women and children were received by Basil: so great was his success that he ultimately established in different centres several industrial coenobitic communities.

The reception of children by Basil naturally brought forward the question of their education. These children fell into one or other of two classes; in the one class were those who, like the infant Samuel, were offered by their parents for the cloistral life from a tender age; in the other class were those who were subsequently to return to the world. St. Basil organised schools for the former of these classes; children were to be admitted to them when they were five or six years of age; details with regard to the mode of their instruction were prescribed; general rules of discipline were laid down.[9] Under certain circumstances, children who were not destined for the monastic life could also be received in these schools.[10] In addition to teaching the elements of grammar and rhetoric and the facts of scripture history, Basil provided for a number of trades to be learned and practised as soon as the children were able to profit by the course. Among the trades recommended were weaving, tailoring, architecture, woodwork, brass work, and agriculture.[11]

Cassian was the first to transplant the rules of the Eastern monks into Europe. He founded two monasteries in the neighbourhood of Marseilles for men and women respectively. In 420 he wrote De Institutis Renuntiatium, in which he records the rules to be observed in the institutions he had founded. The code of rules here enunciated constituted the law of monasticism in Gaul till it gave place to the regulations of Benedict. Cassian in his youth had studied the works of Greek learning, but in his later years he showed a great distrust of pagan literature and strongly opposed its study. He considered that the fascination of such literature distracted the soul, and desired that even the memory of the classical writings should be eradicated from his mind. The underlying conception of the rule of Cassian was that the monastery was a school in which a future stage of existence was the dominating and controlling thought.

Reference must next be made to Cassiodorus (479?-575)—the great Italian statesman turned monk—who did much to develop study among ecclesiastics and to make the cloister the centre of literary activity. He founded a monastery at Vivarium in Bruttium, which he endowed with his Roman library containing a magnificent collection of manuscripts, and to which he himself retired at the age of sixty. During the remaining years of his life he devoted himself to literary work; of his numerous writings the most important is his Institutiones Divinarum et Saecularium Lectionum. A more important work accomplished by Cassiodorus than the writings he produced was his organisation of the monastery scriptorium. This served as a model for the series of Benedictine monasteries which subsequently came into existence. Hence to Cassiodorus must be assigned the honour of realising that the multiplication of manuscripts was a recognised employment of monastic life. Consequently, he conferred a boon of the greatest value upon the human race. As Hodgkin expresses it, there was in existence an accumulated store of two thousand years of literature, sacred and profane, the writings of Hebrew prophets, of Greek philosophers, of Latin rhetoricians, perishing for want of men with leisure and ability to transcribe them. Were it not for the labours of the monks it is highly conceivable that these treasures would have been irretrievably lost to the world.[12]The number of the monastic institutions rapidly increased. Gradually the evils arising from a lack of definite control and from the want of a code of rules to check individualising tendencies, began to manifest themselves. To St. Benedict of Nursia is due the more adequate organisation of monastic life. In addition to the laws of chastity, poverty, and obedience required from the professed monk, he recognised the importance of labour not only for self-support but also as a duty towards God. The code of rules, drawn up by him for the use of the monasteries under his care, was found to meet a great need of the religious communities of the time, with the result that the Benedictine rules became almost universally accepted by all monastic establishments.

Of these rules, the one that exercised a profound influence upon educational development is headed Concerning Daily Manual Labour.[13] It runs:—

“Idleness is the enemy of the soul: hence brethren ought at certain seasons to occupy themselves with manual labour and again at certain hours with holy reading. Between Easter and the calends of October let them apply themselves to reading from the fourth hour until the sixth hour.... From the calends of October to the beginning of Lent let them apply themselves to reading until the second hour. During Lent let them apply themselves to reading from morning until the end of the third hour, and in these days of Lent let them receive a book apiece from the library and read it straight through. These books are to be given out at the beginning of Lent.”

The great importance of this rule arises from the fact that whilst monks were becoming very numerous, books were very few. Hence in order that the requisite number of copies might be available, writing had to be taught; in order that the monks might be able to read the books, it is conceivable that in some cases reading also would have to be taught. Moreover, the copying of manuscripts was considered to comply with the regulation as to manual labour prescribed by the Benedictine rules. Consequently wherever a Benedictine monastery came into existence, there books were multiplied, and a library gradually developed. As the years went on, the Benedictine labours in the intellectual world increased. Mabillon remarks, “Almost alone, the order of St. Benedict for several years, maintained and preserved letters in Europe. There were frequently no other masters in our monasteries, and frequently the cathedral schools drew theirs from the same source.”[14]

The purpose of this digression has been to show that by the time that the monks entered upon their mission in this country, the idea of monasticism was firmly established on the continent. The monastic houses consisted of communities of men or of women who, leaving the outer world behind them, dedicated their lives to the worship and the praise of God. They concentrated their attention upon the world to come, and, as far as possible, they endeavoured to anticipate it in the present stage of existence. Labour, either physical or mental, was one of their special obligations. Limiting ourselves to intellectual labour, we note that to some was entrusted the instruction of the children who were brought to them and of those members of the community who still needed education; to others was assigned work in the scriptorium; to others was allotted the task of giving instruction in singing and of making due preparation for the musical part of the monastic services; others, according to their capacity, continued their studies, and, by the chronicles which they wrote, enable posterity to reconstruct the history of their days.

Our problem is now a narrower one: does any evidence exist to show that the educational organisation of the monasteries in this country corresponded with the educational work of the continental monasteries? Fortunately, for our purpose, a complete answer in the affirmative can be obtained from the works of the Venerable Bede.

That it was customary for schools to be established in monasteries is a fact that can be readily demonstrated. Bede writes that he “was given at seven years of age to be educated by the most reverend Abbot Benedict and afterwards by Ceolfrid; and spending all the remaining time of my life in that monastery, I applied myself wholly to the study of scripture, and amidst the observance of regular discipline and the daily care of singing in the Church, I always took delight in learning, teaching, and writing.”[15] This passage, alone, practically establishes the fact that the educational activities described as existing in continental monasteries were also to be found as a normal part of the monasteries which were established in this country. Lest it might be maintained that the monastery at Wearmouth was exceptional the decree of the Council of Cloveshoo may be quoted. At that council it was decreed that “abbots and abbesses should take care that scripture reading was everywhere studied.” Again it must be borne in mind that copies of the scriptures existed only in the Latin language and that for the reading of scripture it was an essential condition that ability to read Latin had been previously acquired. Further, at the same council, it was enacted that boys “everywhere in the schools were to be compelled to address themselves to the love of sacred learning.”[16]

The work of the monasteries in connection with higher education is also attested by Bede. The Irish monasteries, in particular, acquired a reputation in this respect. Many English youths of every social grade crossed over to Ireland, attracted thither by the greater fame of the monasteries, for the purpose of extending their studies.[17] Bede records that scholars went about from cell to cell, gathering learning from monastic teachers.[18] It is noteworthy that at these monasteries food, books, and teaching were supplied freely and willingly. Aidan instructed, among others, twelve boys of the English nation at his monastery at Lindisfarne: some of these acquired fame in later years, e.g. Basil, who became Bishop of Lindisfarne, and Eata, who became Prior of Melrose. Briefly, we may say that nearly all the learned men of this period were either monks or were closely connected with monasteries. Among them we may mention Aidan, Bede, Wilfrid, Theodore, Hadrian, Benedict Biscop, Aldhelm, and Augustine.

The formation of libraries and the work of the scriptorium occupied as high a place in the newly-established English monasteries as they did in those monasteries which served as models for them. Benedict Biscop—the father of English culture[19]—who was the founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, is particularly famous for his labours in connection with the establishment of libraries. He visited Rome six times in all, and each time he returned he brought back books with him to this country. Of his fourth journey Bede remarks that he “brought back with him a very large number of books of all kinds.”[20] Biscop’s sixth journey to Rome was almost entirely devoted to the purpose of acquiring additions to his collection of books, a collection which included classical as well as ecclesiastical literature.[21] In some cases monasteries arranged for the mutual exchange of books.[22] As an instance of the activity of the scriptorium may be quoted the famous library of York, which was composed of transcripts of the parchments collected by Biscop. Ceolfrid, who became Abbot of Jarrow, and who subsequently was also placed in charge of the monastery of Wearmouth, took considerable interest in the scriptorium. Montalembert quotes the statement that Ceolfrid had had made two complete copies of the Bible according to the version of St. Jerome, as a refutation of the “stupid calumny” which represents the Church as having interdicted the reading and study of the scriptures.[23] The preservation of such Anglo-Saxon literature as remains, is undoubtedly due to the action of some of the monastic scribes. The poems of Caedmon were written first of all in the monastery of Whitby; so, too, the Northumbrian poet, Cynewulf, owes the preservation of his works to the scriptorium of the monastery he ultimately entered.

The teaching of singing naturally occupied an important place among the educational activities of the monasteries. Bede describes himself as being in charge of “the daily care of singing in the Church.”[24] John, Abbot of the monastery of St. Martin’s and precentor of St. Peter’s, Rome, one of the most famous of the teachers of music of the day, came to this country for a time on the invitation of Biscop and at the request of Pope Agatha. Abbot John taught the monks not only how to sing but also how to read aloud. His efforts were not limited to Wearmouth alone; those who were experts in music, from “almost all” the religious houses, came to him for further instruction, and in this way the influence of his teaching was widely spread.[25]

When we pass to the question of what was taught in the monasteries, we find that the scholars were trained to read the scriptures in Latin and to be familiar with the services of the monastery, and that writing and singing were also subjects of instruction. Two of Bede’s works are probably school-books: his “Librum de orthographia, alfabeti ordine distinctum” and his “Librum de metrica arte, et huic adjectum alium de schematibus sine tropis libellum, hoc est de figuris modisque locutionum, quibus scriptura sancta contexta est.”

Though it may not be just to regard Bede as the typical product of the English monasteries of the time, yet it may fairly be pointed out that the whole of Bede’s education was received in these monasteries. Even if we regard him as the best-educated of the English monks, his example will still serve to show the extent of learning which could be acquired in the monasteries of this period. Sandys writes, “His skill in Latin verse is shown in his elegiacs on Queen Ethelfrida and in his hexameters on the shrine of St. Cuthbert.... His Greek learning is indicated in his treatises and in the references to a Greek MS. of the Acts which are to be found in his Liber Retractionum. The Latin authors most frequently quoted by him are Cicero, Virgil and Horace and (doubtless at second hand) Lucilius and Varro.”[26]Apart from the education, in the technical sense of the word, given by the monks, they were also responsible for reforms which, in the wider sense of the term, were also educational. Thus, the higher ideals of life prevalent in the monastery were introduced into the country as a whole. The age was a turbulent and disordered one, in which neither moral nor ethical obligations prevailed and in which might alone was right.[27] The monks established, in the country of their adoption, a number of communities, in which the ruling principles were those of Charity, Chastity, and Obedience. The ideals prevailing in these monasteries reacted upon the social customs of their neighbourhood. The strong individualism of the Teutons was modified by the attitude of obedience to recognised authority characteristic of the monk; the qualities of savagery tended to yield to the examples of self-denial, self-control, and care for others.

The monasteries also played an important part in the economic development of the country. At times, and in certain localities, the economic condition of the people seems to have sunk to a low ebb. Bede tells us that “very often forty or fifty men being spent with want, would go together to some precipice or to the seashore and there, hand in hand, perish by the fall or be swallowed up by the waves.”[28] From the earliest times industrial activity had been a feature of monastic life. Speaking of St. Basil, his biographer tells us that “by the labour of his monks over wide desert places, hopeless sterility gave place to golden harvests and abundant vintages.”[29] Manual labour was a common employment in the English monasteries.[30] The builders of the monasteries also necessarily introduced new arts into the country. Thus Benedict Biscop brought over masons and glaziers from France.[31] Lamps and vessels for the use of the Church were made, and the craft taught to the Northumbrians.[32] All the furniture and vestments “which Benedict could not procure at home he took care to purchase abroad.”[33] The knowledge of the art of fishing by means of nets, which apparently was not known in some parts, was introduced by the monks.[34] Though slavery was not condemned by the Church at this time,[35] yet the Church fostered the feeling that slavery was not consonant with the dignity of the human soul, and the monasteries used their influence in opposing this custom. Aidan employed some of the gifts of money he received for the monasteries, for the redemption of slaves.[36] Wilfrid granted liberty to the slaves on the land that had been bestowed to the monastery founded by him.[37]

It must be borne in mind that in this country the monasteries originally were not merely communities of men or women who were dedicated to a life of contemplation, but were essentially centres of missionary enterprise. Bede tells us of monks who went into the surrounding country and villages to preach, baptize, and visit the sick.[38] Of Aidan and his company of “shorn monks” and laymen, we learn that they traversed the country trying to convert those who were not yet converts to Christianity, and stirring up those who had previously accepted the faith to alms and good works.[39] Similarly Chad, one of the disciples of Aidan, proceeded to preach the gospel “in towns, in the open country, cottages, villages, and castles.”[40] In brief, at the period with which we are now concerned, these monasteries served the purpose of spiritual outposts, from whence messengers went out to extend the message of the Christian faith.

It is interesting to note that the monasteries were thoroughly democratic in their selection of members. The monks preached that “Christian men are brothers, whether high or low, noble or ignoble, lord or slave. The wealthy is not better on that account than the needy. As boldly may the slave call God his Father as the king. We are all alike before God, unless anyone exceeds another in good works.”[41] So, whilst on the one hand kings like Ceolwulf and Ini became monks, on the other hand redeemed slaves were admitted as inmates of the monasteries, and, if they proved themselves capable of profiting by instruction, were advanced to the priesthood.[42] Certain undesigned effects followed. With the progress of civilisation, the warlike qualities which originally had gained territory for the Teutonic invaders needed to be supplemented by the intellectual gifts necessary for legislation and administration. These abilities could only be found in the ranks of the clergy. As a result, priests became in practice the ministers of the Crown; the names of Dunstan and Lanfranc readily occur as illustrative instances. A general study of Bede, apart from specific instances, tends to support the suggestion that Cuthbert, Theodore, Wilfrid, and Aidan, among others, also exercised a considerable influence over kings. As a second undesigned effect may be mentioned the fact that, as the monasteries admitted boys who showed vocation and promise, regardless of their social position, and gave them the best education of which the monasteries were capable, so it happened that the monastery was practically the only avenue through which promotion became possible to the able and competent who were handicapped by circumstances of their birth. Passing outside our period, we may refer to the case of Nicholas Breakspear, who from being a servant lad at St. Albans rose to the position of Pope.