EDUCATION UNDER THE SECULAR CLERGY.

In the preceding chapter we stated that the evangelisation of England was mainly the work of monks. Though this statement is true, yet we must not lose sight of the fact that the work of the secular clergy was slowly developing side by side with that of the regular clergy, and ultimately superseded it. It is consequently necessary that we should next investigate into the work for education which was effected by them.

By way of introduction, we may point out that the method of work of the secular clergy and their mode of organisation closely resembled that of the regular clergy, and at times was scarcely distinguishable. Just as Augustine and his band of monks settled in the capital of the kingdom of Kent and built there a monastery, in which the bishop shared a community life with his monks, and which served as the centre from which their labours were directed, so a secular bishop with his companions settled in the chief town of another kingdom, where a church was ultimately built and a community life established. Thus in 604, Mellitus was consecrated bishop and sent to preach to the East Saxons. The new faith was accepted both by the king of the East Saxons and his people. A church dedicated to St. Paul was subsequently built at London—the capital of the kingdom. This church, instead of being a monastic church, as was Christ Church, Canterbury, belongs to that category of churches known as collegiate churches.For the sake of convenience, we may here point out the main differences between monasteries and collegiate churches. A monastery consisted of a community of men or women under the rule of an abbot or abbess. The members of a monastery had taken certain vows and were bound to live in accordance with the rules of that Order to which the monastery belonged. A collegiate church consisted of a number of clergy forming a corporate body and living under the supervision of a Dean or Provost and responsible to the bishop. The origin of such churches has been traced to St. Augustine of Hippo, who arranged for his clergy to live together under his direction in a kind of community, though without the imposition of monastic vows. A further development took place about 750 when Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, drew up certain rules for the use of the clergy who were living with him. The clergy who lived according to these rules were called “canons.” The rule of Chrodegang was introduced into England, but it was not generally accepted;[43] and consequently the term “canon,” in this country, originally meant little more than a man who was a member of a college of clergy, who served a church in common and had a common claim on its revenue.

We may also note here that when a bishop’s official seat or throne (cathedra) was placed in a church, it thereby became a cathedral church. Sometimes the cathedral church was a monastic church, sometimes a collegiate church; in each case the church was known as a cathedral. From the standpoint of the development of education, as will be subsequently shown, the distinction between a collegiate cathedral church and a monastic cathedral church is an important one, but this distinction cannot always be clearly made, because during the early centuries of Christianity in England, a cathedral church was at times in the possession of the regular clergy, and at other times in the hands of the secular clergy. Thus Christ Church, Canterbury, was originally monastic but is said to have fallen into the hands of the seculars during the archiepiscopate of Ceolnoth (837-870), after which it again returned to the monks and remained monastic till the Reformation. So too, Gloucester Cathedral was originally monastic, then Offa transferred it to the secular clergy, later it again became monastic.

Whether or not the cathedral church of a diocese was monastic, the bishop of a diocese was the head of the secular clergy and obedience was due to him from them; on the other hand, the monks owed their obedience directly to their abbot, from him to the head of their order, and ultimately to the pope.[44]

In this chapter we propose to limit ourselves to the labours for education of the bishop and the secular clergy, though, as we have previously indicated, the line of demarcation between the work that was definitely monastic and that which may definitely be assigned to the secular clergy cannot always be clearly drawn.

The educational problems which had to be faced by a bishop and his band of secular priests were similar to those which had to be dealt with by the missionary monks. Latin, the language of the Church, had to be taught to those who were ignorant of it and who wished to be attached to the Church in an official capacity. A knowledge of music was necessary for those who desired to take a personal part in the worship offered by the Church. In addition, the principles of Christianity had to be taught more fully to converts; the children of the faith required instruction; arrangements had to be made for more advanced instruction for those who were desirous of receiving it. Schools had to be founded for these purposes, and these schools were the original schools of England.

We have already adopted as our hypothesis that the schools of this country were not a new discovery but were modelled on those which existed elsewhere. Our first problem consequently, is to discover where these models were found.

Mr. Leach, in his Schools of Medieval England, maintains that “the true models and source of the schools of England are not the schools of the Church but the schools of heathendom, the schools of Athens and Alexandria, of Rome, of Lyons, of Vienne. They were in fact the very same “heathen” or “pagan” or, in other words, Graeco-Roman institutions, in which Horace and Juvenal, Jerome and St. Augustine had learned the scansion of hexameters and the accredited methods of speech-making and arguments.”[45]

This statement calls for examination. The schools to which Mr. Leach refers came into existence about 50 B.C. and owed their distinctive characteristics to the influence of Greek thought upon Roman activities. Three grades of these schools are usually recognised:—

(1) The Schools of the Litteratores. In these schools only reading, writing, and calculation were taught; they were never very highly esteemed, and their teachers, who were generally slaves, were frequently ill-remunerated.

(2) The Schools of the Grammatici. Originally these schools dealt simply with grammar, i.e. with words and their relations; but the conception of grammar developed so that it came to include both a study of Latin and Greek Literature and also a range of subjects embracing mathematics, music, and elementary dialectic. Ultimately these schools were to be found in almost every city of the empire and, generally speaking, were supported either by public funds or by endowments.

(3) The Schools of the Rhetores. These were the most important schools; admission to them was not possible until the “toga virilis” had been assumed. Here the pupils studied carefully and minutely all matters relating to success in the art of oratory—an art which at that time had to be mastered by all who purposed to devote themselves to public life. But oratory, as the term was then understood, denoted much more than the art of declamation. It included a mastery of the existing literature, an acquaintance with the knowledge of things so far as that knowledge was then available, and a good vocabulary. To this must be added the power of playing upon human emotions, combined with grace of manner and effective delivery.

The following reasons may be advanced in support of our contention that Mr. Leach is in error in considering these Graeco-Roman Schools as the models of our English Schools, which, as Mr. Leach himself admits, owed their existence in the first place to the labours of Christian missionaries.

(1) In the pagan schools, there was no thought of the moral aspect of instruction. The literature on which the schoolboy was nourished was created in the atmosphere of paganism and teemed with mythological allusions.[46] The scholar was taught that the ideal age lay in the past rather than, as Christianity taught, in the future. The great deeds held up for his admiration were those associated with the Roman heroes who had read the fate of their campaigns in the flight of birds or the entrails of the victims at the altar.

(2) As Professor Woodward points out, “it is an invariable law that the accepted ideals of the adult generation shape its educational aims.”[47] At the period in which the schools referred to by Mr. Leach were flourishing, scepticism in religious matters was prevalent. Terentius Varro had urged that the anthropomorphic gods were mere emblems of the forces of nature. Lucretius had argued against the immortality of the soul. Cicero, the greatest thinker of the time, barely veiled his scepticism. Moreover, it was generally recognised that religion had lost its control over the moral life of man. It is thus evident that the ideals of Christianity and the ideals of the Graeco-Roman schools were fundamentally opposed. In no essential respect could the schools of paganism furnish a model for the schools of Christianity.

(3) The attitude of the Christians of the early centuries towards classical literature serves to illustrate still further the attitude of the Christians towards the pagan schools. Classical literature was obnoxious to the early Christians because the general interpretation of life revealed by these books was hostile to the Christian view. The beauty and charm of the mode of expression made little or no appeal to men who were confronted by the hideous reality of current licentiousness, even though the prevailing manner of life might be cloaked by the elegance and grace of its presentation.

As an alternative hypothesis we suggest that the schools founded by the bishops in England were modelled on the schools of Christendom rather than on the schools of paganism. To substantiate this hypothesis, it is necessary that we should briefly consider the origin and character of these early Christian schools.

The germ of the essentially Christian Schools may be traced from the custom of the great apostles of gathering round them their disciples and the aspirants for the priesthood, for purposes of instruction and discipline.[48] Gradually three types of schools were evolved:—

(1) Schools for Catechumens. It is assumed that some form of instruction would be given to Christian catechumens prior to their admission to the Church. These classes were held either in the porch of the church or in some other part of the building, and were controlled by a master appointed for that purpose. The first of these schools of whose existence we have any evidence was established by St. Mark in Alexandria.[49]

(2) Catechetical Schools. This type of school also originated at Alexandria, and arose out of the intellectual activities which made that city so important a centre during the first and second centuries of the Christian era. Pantaenus, a converted Stoic philosopher who took charge of the school at Alexandria in 170 A.D., introduced a wide range of studies into the curriculum and made use of his old learning to illustrate and defend his new faith.[50] Pantaenus was succeeded by two of the most noted of the Fathers of the Early Church, Clement, who was formerly his assistant, and Origen, who assumed the direction of the Catechetical School at the age of eighteen years.[51]

(3) Bishop’s Schools. The origin of these schools may be traced to the fact that circumstances compelled Origen to leave Alexandria in 231. Subsequently, at the invitation of two bishops, he opened a school at Caesarea. It proved so successful that similar schools were opened at a number of centres. Teaching was carried out either by the bishops in person, or by a deputy appointed by them. To these schools came candidates for ordination, the younger clergy whose instruction needed to be continued, as well as those who, for some reason or other, wished to avail themselves of the educational facilities thus provided.

One other type of educational institution must also be referred to. We have already indicated the service rendered to the Church by St. Augustine of Hippo in connection with the establishment of collegiate churches, and it is equally important to note his contribution to the educational organisation of the Church. Prior to his conversion to Christianity, St. Augustine had been a teacher of rhetoric, and was the author of certain treatises dealing with the seven liberal arts. Subsequent to his consecration to the episcopate, he established a seminary for those who were in course of preparation for ordination. This seminary, though planned on community lines, was essentially an educational establishment with the avowed object of making its members as efficient as possible in the ministry which awaited them.[52] The institution proved a great success. Many priests, who were trained there, subsequently became well-known; the seminary itself furnished a model to be imitated by various bishops.[53] Ultimately, this idea of St. Augustine’s was adopted by Pope Leo I.;[54] and the example thus set by Rome was followed by several bishops in Gaul, notably by Sidonius Apollinaris, Bishop of Clermont, St. Hilary, Bishop of Arles, and Gregory, Bishop of Tours.The schools established by the bishops in Gaul are of special interest to us, because the first available reference to education in this country is the statement by Bede that Sigebert “wishing to imitate what he had seen well ordered among the Gauls” “instituit scolam in qua pueri litteris erudirentur.”[55] It is consequently necessary that we should next turn to the educational system of Gaul at this time.

There had existed in Gaul from Roman times (as in other parts of the Empire) schools of the Graeco-Roman type to which we have previously referred. The barbarian invasions, however, brought these schools to an end. When social conditions reasserted themselves, the old condition of things had passed away and Christianity had become a power in the land. In the educational reconstruction which followed, the bishops played an important part and two types of schools were ultimately to be found in Gaul, the monastic schools and the episcopal schools.

The monastic schools taught theology mainly, but instruction was also given in speaking, reading and writing Latin, in copying manuscripts, in painting and architecture, and in elementary notions of astronomy and mathematics.[56] The most famous of these schools were those of Luxeuil, Soissons, LÉrins and Saint-Vandrille. At the last-named school there were about three hundred scholars.

The Episcopal Schools were closely modelled on the type originated by St. Augustine. They were mainly intended for those who proposed to offer themselves for ordination. The curriculum of these schools was narrower and more definitely theological than that of the monastic schools. The best known were those of Paris, Poitiers, Le Mans, Clermont, Vienne, Chalons-sur-SaÔne and Gaps. These schools, however, differed from the seminary of St. Augustine on which they were modelled because the special circumstances of the time rendered it necessary that classes were also held in connection with them for the boys, who were attached in some capacity or other to the cathedral church. Thus the choir boys and others who were desirous of preparing themselves for subsequent employment in any capacity in which the education available would afterwards be of service to them, found in these classes the opportunities they sought.

Our analysis of the educational institutions existing in Gaul in the sixth century has brought out that there existed, as models for imitation, the monastic schools and the episcopal schools. In addition, schools had also developed in connection with the parish churches, but we propose to deal with that development later. We have already considered the monastic schools of this country; our present problem is then to consider whether there is any evidence that schools, conducted by the bishop himself or by his deputy, similar to those we have shown to have existed in France, were to be found in this country.

Our reply is emphatically in the affirmative. Thus there was a school at Hexham. Bede tells us of Herebald, who was a member of the school kept by St. John of Beverley, whilst Bishop of Hexham. “When in the prime of my youth,” Herebald is reported to have said, “I lived among his clergy[57] applying myself to reading and singing.”[58] Another school existed at Canterbury, and during the time it was conducted by Archbishop Theodore and the Abbot Hadrian it ranked as the most famous of the episcopal schools of this country. With regard to these two famous teachers, Bede writes: “They gathered a crowd of disciples, and there daily flowed from them rivers of knowledge to water the hearts of their hearers; and, together with the books of Holy Writ, they also taught them the arts of ecclesiastical poetry, astronomy, and arithmetic. A testimony of which is, that there are living at this day some of their scholars who are as well versed in the Greek and Latin tongues as in their own in which they were born.”[59] It is owing to the labours of these two men that England, for a time, occupied the leading place in the schools of the west.[60] One of the most celebrated scholars of the school of Canterbury was Aldhelm, who can claim the distinction of being the first Englishman who cultivated classical learning with any success, and the first of whom any literary remains are preserved.[61] Bede describes Aldhelm as “a wonder of erudition in the liberal as well as ecclesiastical learning.”[62] It is from a letter written by Aldhelm that we gain an insight into the curriculum followed at Canterbury, and learn that the course of study pursued there included grammar, geometry, arithmetic, metre, astronomy, and Roman Law.[63]

A third famous episcopal school was that of York, of which we possess a full account in Alcuin’s poem “De Pontificibus Sanctae Ecclesiae Eboracensis.” Alcuin writes in most eulogistic terms of the work of this school, and, more particularly, of the educational labours of Archbishop Albert, to whom Alcuin was personally indebted for the instruction he received.

“He gave drink to thirsty minds at the fountain of the sciences. To some he communicated the art and the rules of grammar; for others he caused floods of rhetoric to flow; he knew how to exercise these in the battles of jurisprudence, and those in the songs of Adonis; some learned from him to pipe Castalian airs and with lyric foot to strike the summit of Parnassus; to others he made known the harmony of the heavens, the courses of the sun and the moon, the five zones of the pole, the seven planets, the laws of the courses of the stars, the motions of the sea, earthquakes, the nature of men, and of beasts and of birds, and of all that inhabit the forest. He unfolded the different qualities and combinations of numbers; he taught how to calculate with certainty the solemn return of Eastertide and, above all, he explained the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures.”[64]

The library of the school at York was particularly famous, and included the works of Jerome, Hilarius, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, Orosius, Gregory, Leo, Basil, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, Chrysostom, Aldhelm, Bede, Victorinus, Boethius, Pliny, Aristotle, Cicero, Virgil, etc. Mullinger remarks of this library: “The imposing enumeration at once calls our attention to the fact that the library at York at this period far surpassed any possessed by either England or France in the twelfth century, whether at Christ Church, Canterbury, St. Victor at Paris, or at Bec.”[65]

The school at York is also important because it is the first known instance in English educational history of the bishop’s school being conducted by a member of the staff of clergy associated with the bishop, instead of by the bishop himself. On the death of Archbishop Albert, his successor, instead of taking personal charge of the school, entrusted that duty to Alcuin. This was a special case of the principle of the division of labour, and the example thus set at York was of considerable importance in the subsequent development of education in this country.

As Alcuin is commonly regarded as the most important educator of the first half of the Middle Ages, and as it was through Alcuin that England influenced continental education, a slight digression from the main purpose of this chapter, for the sake of indicating the importance of Alcuin, may be allowed. The only education which Alcuin received was obtained at the bishop’s school at York, and a consideration of this fact should assist us in realising that these schools were in practice the universities of the period. The reputation which Alcuin gained must have spread beyond the borders of this country, because Charles the Great, who had determined upon a scheme of educational reform in the dominions ruled by him, invited Alcuin to come to his court to occupy a position analogous to that of a Minister of Education of modern days. This position Alcuin occupied for fourteen years, and during that period the famous capitularies of 787, 789, and 802 were issued.[66] The effect of the reforms carried out by Alcuin was, that scholars were attracted from all parts of Europe to the court of Charles the Great, the Palace Schools were developed and invigorated, learning was promoted among the clergy, and the activities of the monastic and episcopal schools were stimulated. It has been suggested that the reforms attributed to Alcuin owed little to his individual genius, but were based entirely upon the practice he found in operation in York.[67] If this is so, then the educational facilities provided in this country in the eighth century must have been of much greater importance than is commonly conceived. The available evidence is, however, too scanty for any definite statements to be made on the subject.

Alcuin was a voluminous writer, and his works bear further witness to the intellectual activity of his day. They include epistles, poems, exegetical works, dogmatic writings, liturgical writings, biographical writings, studies, and dialogues.[68] His educational writings include works On Grammar, On Orthography, On Rhetoric, On Dialectic, etc. They are written in the characteristic Anglo-Saxon dialogue form. In his On Grammar, Alcuin shows that true happiness is to be found in the things peculiar to the soul itself rather than in those things which are alien to it; of these things, “wisdom is the chief adornment.” Progress in wisdom was to be obtained, so far as secular knowledge was concerned, by the “seven ascents of theoretical discipline,” i.e. the trivium and the quadrivium.

We have thus brought forward evidence to show that episcopal schools existed at Canterbury, York, and Hexham, and that advanced instruction was available at these centres. The general hypothesis we submit is that the cathedral city of each diocese became gradually recognised as a place of higher education, and that it was commonly regarded as the duty of the bishop to provide, either personally or by deputy, such higher education as the circumstances of the time rendered possible.

Facilities would also be required at these centres for elementary instruction, and also for instruction in the “specialist” art of writing. As the demand for such instruction arose, so the Church endeavoured to meet it, and classes were established for this purpose. Thus, in a letter written c. 796 by Alcuin to Eanbald II. Archbishop of York, he recommends that separate masters should be appointed to teach those “qui libros legant, qui cantilenae inserviant, qui scribendi studio deputentur.”[69]

With the spread of Christianity in this country, the parochial system originated. For this purpose, the Saxon “tun” was taken as the unit of ecclesiastical organisation and it became known as the “parish,” the specific area placed under the spiritual over-sight of the parish priest. We must again remind ourselves that Latin was the language of the Church, and that to participate in the worship offered by the Church, to join in its psalms, to understand its doctrines properly, or in fact to become in any sense of the word a “churchman,” a knowledge of Latin was imperative. A custom naturally arose that the parish priest should keep a “school of grammar,” or, as we should term it to-day, should hold a Latin class for those who were desirous of learning that language. In course of time this custom became obligatory and a part of the law of the Church. Thus, at the Council of Vaison held in 529, it was decreed that each priest, who was in charge of a parish, should also have at his house a class of young men for the purpose of preparing them for the sacred ministry. These young men were also to be engaged in teaching the small children. The bishop in his visitation of the parish made enquiries as to whether this law was carried into effect.[70]

The enactment of Vaison was repeated by subsequent decrees of the Church, notably by that of Tours, and the establishment of schools of grammar to be taught by the parish priest was a definite part of the system of the Church.[71] This requirement was reiterated from time to time. Thus Theodulf of Orleans, the coadjutor of Alcuin in carrying out the educational reforms of the kingdom of Charles the Great, issued a letter to his clergy in 797 in which he reminded them that “Presbyteri per villas et vicos scolas habeant, et si quilibet fidelium suos parvulos ad discendas litteras eis commendare vult, eos suscipere et docere non renuant.”[72]

Were these parochial grammar schools to be found in England? The direct evidence is very slight. In a letter which Alcuin wrote to Offa, King of Mercia, about 792, he recommends to him a schoolmaster;[73] this schoolmaster, however, does not appear to possess a strong moral character, as Alcuin warns Offa not “to let him wander about with nothing to do nor to become a slave to drink, but to provide him with scholars and require him to teach these diligently.” Then in another letter written by Alcuin and attributed to 797, the Bishop of Hexham is advised to pay attention to the education of boys and youths. It is stated in this letter that “it is a great work of charity to feed the poor with food for the body but a greater to fill the soul with spiritual learning.”

Apart from this evidence, there are a few references in Domesday Book which tend to support the idea of parochial schools and which we will subsequently consider. All that we can do here is to assume that, just as the Church in this country followed the general practice of the Church in the establishment of schools in connection with monasteries and cathedral churches, so she also followed the custom and precept of the Church in establishing schools in connection with the parish churches.