Chapter 13
After much destruction, Rollo, Duke of the Normans, finally accepted Christianity, in 912, and agreed to settle down in what has ever since been known as _Normandy_. From here portions of the invaders afterward pa.s.sed over to England in the Norman Conquest of 1066. This was the last of the great German tribes to move, and after they had raided and plundered and settled down and accepted Christianity, western Europe, after six centuries of bloodshed and pillage and turmoil and disorder, was at last ready to begin in earnest the building-up of a new civilization and the restoration of the old learning.
WORK OF ALFRED IN ENGLAND. The set-back to learning caused by this latest deluge of barbarism was a serious one, and one from which the land did not recover for a long time. In northern Frankland and in England the results were disastrous. The revival which Charlemagne had started was checked, and England did not recover from the blow for centuries. Even in the parts of England not invaded and pillaged, education sadly declined as a result of nearly a century of struggle against the invaders (R. 66). Alfred, known to history as _Alfred the Great_, who ruled as English king from 871 to 901, made great efforts to revive learning in his kingdom. Probably inspired by the example of Charlemagne, he established a large palace school (R. 68), to the support of which he devoted one eighth of his income; he imported scholars from Mercia and Frankland (R. 67); restored many monasteries; and tried hard to revive schools and encourage learning throughout his realm, and with some success. [22] With the great decay of the Latin learning he tried to encourage the use of the native Anglo-Saxon language, [23] and to this end translated books from Latin into Anglo- Saxon for his people. In his Introduction to Gregory's volume (R. 66) he expresses the hope, "If we have tranquillity enough, that all the free- born youth now in England, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it... be set to learn... English writing," while those who were to continue study should then be taught Latin. The coming of the Normans in 1066, with the introduction of Norman-French as the official language of the court and government, for a time seriously interfered with the development of that native English learning of which Alfred wrote.
In the preceding chapter and in this one we have traced briefly the great invasions, or migrations, which took place in western Europe, and indicated somewhat the great destruction they wrought within the bounds of the old Empire. In this chapter we have traced the beginnings of Christian schools to replace the ones destroyed, the preservation of learning in the monasteries, and the efforts of Charlemagne and Alfred to revive learning in their kingdoms. In the chapter which follows
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Picture the gradual dying-out of Roman learning in the Western Empire, and explain why pagan schools and learning lingered longer in Britain, Ireland, and Italy than elsewhere.
2. At what time was the old Roman civilization and learning most nearly extinct?
3. Explain how the monasteries were forced to develop schools to maintain any intellectual life.
4. Explain how the copying of ma.n.u.scripts led to further educational development in the monasteries.
5. Would the convents have tended to attract a higher quality of women than the monasteries did of men? Why?
6. Explain why Greek was known longer in Ireland and Britain than elsewhere in the West.
7. What was the relative condition of learning in Frankland and England, about 900 A.D.?
8. What light is thrown on the conditions of the civilization of the time by the small permanent success of the efforts of Charlemagne, looking toward a revival of learning in Frankland?
9. Explain how Latin came naturally to be the language of the Church, and of scholars.h.i.+p in western Europe throughout all the Middle Ages.
10. After reading the story of the migrations, and of the fight to save some vestiges of the old civilization, try to picture what would have been the result had Rome not built up an Empire, and had Christianity not arisen and conquered.
SELECTED READINGS
In the accompanying _Book of Readings_ the following selections are reproduced:
53. Migne: Forms used in connection with monastery life: (a) Form for offering a Child to a Monastery.
(b) The Monastic Vow.
(c) Letter of Honorable Dismissal from a Monastery.
54. Abbot Heriman: The Copying of Books at a Monastery.
55. Othlonus: Work of a Monk in writing and copying Books.
56. A Monk: Work of a Nun in copying Books.
57. Symonds: Scarcity and Cost of Books.
58. Clark: Anathemas to protect Books from Theft.
59. Bede: On Education in Early England.
(a) The Learning of Theodore.
(b) Theodore's Work for the English Churches.
(c) How Albinus succeeded Abbot Hadrian.
60. Alcuin: Description of the School at York.
61. Alcuin: Catalogue of the Cathedral Library at York.
62. Alcuin: Specimens of the Palace School Instruction.
63. Charlemagne: Letter sending out a Collection of Sermons.
64. Charlemagne: General Proclamations as to Education.
(a) The Proclamation of 787 A.D.
(b) General Admonition of 789 A.D.
(c) Order as to Learning of 802 A.D.
65. Alcuin: Letter to Charlemagne as to Books and Learning.
66. King Alfred: State of Learning in England in his Time.
67. a.s.ser: Alfred obtains Scholars from Abroad.
68. a.s.ser: Education of the Son of King Alfred.
69. Ninth-Century Plan of the Monastery at Saint Gall.
QUESTIONS ON THE READINGS
1. Point out the similarity between: (a) The form for offering a child to a monastery and the monastic vow (53 a-b), and a modern court form for renouncing or adopting a child. (b) The letter of dismissal from a monastery (53 c), and the modern letter of honorable dismissal of a student from a college or normal school.
2. Compare the type of books copied by the Abbot of Saint Martins (55) and those copied by the nun at Wessebrunn (56).
3. Was the evolution of the school-teacher out of the copyist at Ratisbon (55), by a specialization of labor, a.n.a.logous to the process in more modern times?
4. Explain the mediaeval belief in the effectiveness to protect books from theft of such anathemas as are reproduced in 58.
5. What do the selections from Bede (59 a-c) indicate as to the preservation of the old learning in the cities of southern Italy? What as to the condition of learning and teaching in England in Bede's day?
6. What is the status of education indicated by the selections from Alcuin, on the cathedral school at York (60) and the palace school instruction of Pepin (62)?
7. What was the condition of learning among the higher clergy and monks as shown by Charlemagne's proclamations (64)?
8. What was the extent of the destruction wrought by the Danes in England, as indicated by King Alfred's Introduction to Pope Gregory's _Pastoral Care_ (66), and his efforts to obtain scholars from abroad (67)?
9. What was the character of the education King Alfred provided for his son (68)?
10. Study out the plan of the monastery of Saint Gall (69), and enumerate the various activities of such a center.
SUPPLEMENTARY REFERENCES
* Adams, G. B. _Civilization during the Middle Ages_.
* Clark, J. W. _Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Period_.
* Cutts, Edw. L. _Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages_.
* Eckenstein, Lina. _Women under Monasticism_.
Leach, A. F. _The Schools of Mediaeval England_.
Munro, D. C. and Sellery, G. E. _Medieval Civilization_.
Montalembert, Count de. _The Monks of the West_.
Taylor, H. O. _Cla.s.sical Heritage of the Middle Ages_.
Thorndike, Lynn. _History of Mediaeval Europe_.
West, A. F. _Alcuin, and the Rise of Christian Schools_.
* Wishart, A. W. _Short History of Monks and Monasticism_.