University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD somewhat towards forming an unpreju- diced estimation of them. Of course education was not as widespread, nor was iinowledge of things in general so comprehensive, as at present. In con- sidering education and its advance in the Middle Ages, we must constantly keep in mind the lack of many edixea- tional forces in use now. The means of travel were poor, slow, dangerous and expensive. Books were prohibitively expensive to the majority. Let us see what was done in spite of these two great deficiencies. During the period immediately after Rome ' s fall, the troubled state of Eu- rope militated against pursuits of peace. Learning was confined almost exclusively to the monasteries. Things more important than learning occupied the time ' s energies. When, however, Charlemagne founded his Empire, a tranquility set in which resulted in the multiplication of schools and a real thirst for knowledge. The royal palace became the home of all the eminent scholars of the age. This Palace Acad- emy played an important part in the revival of learning. Charlemagne also furthered education by establishing and endowing a number of monasteries. He commanded that a free school should be established in every monas- tery and cathedral, and supplied means for these schools ' support. Ireland, however, from the fifth to the ninth centuries possessed the most wide-spread culture and most learned men. There were many monasteries de- voted exclusively to teaching. Bangor, for instance, had 3000 monks and a multitude of students. Duns Seotus flourished during this time. Irish scholars went through the continent spreading knowledge and founding school. Irishmen constitiited a major- ity of the scholars at Charlemagne ' s palace. In England during the eighth cen- tury the condition of learning was all that could be expected. Alfred the Great, king at that time, was himself an assiduous student. Like Charle- magne, he established a free school in every cathedral and monastery, and commanded in addition, that all sher- iffs and officers in his government should apply themselves to letters, or quit his service. Convents were quite numerous, in which nuns were edu- cated and sometimes kept schools for the education of young women. During the early Middle Ages the monasteries were the chief refuges of learning. All the deep, erudite schol- ars were monks. Every community had a library and generally a free school. An old maxim says, A cloister with- out a library is like a citadel without arms. Most monasteries engaged in copying books, and it is to the Mediae- val copyists that we owe the preserva- tion of the classics when the barbarians plundered Rome. As the age progressed the number of monasteries increased rapidly, and with the monasteries were almost, without exception, free schools. France shortly after Charlemagne ' s death had two hundred such institutions of learning.

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THE REDWOOD ritory than Rome in her prime won during four centuries. The Moham- medans passed like a devastating flood over the regions they conquered, and a large portion of those whom they vanquished were sold into slavery. Syria, Egypt, Spain, Northern Africa passed under the bitter yoke of the successors of the Prophet. Their ad- vance into Europe was halted at the battle of Tours, only after they had penetrated far into what is now France. Had they triumphed, Europe would have undergone the fate of Constan- tinople and the East. Civilization would have suffered from the doctrines of Mohammed which have proved so effective a brake to human progress. Civilization, would have been no bet- ter now than it was in the realm of the sultan. Several years later, the Mohammedan menace again appeared. The Arabs after being checked, sub- sided and devoted themselves, v ith suc- cess, to prosecution of industry and peaceful arts. Pilgrims were allowed access to Jerusalem. However, in the eleventh century the Turks of Asiatic stock, obtained power in the Moham- medan world and extended their bound- aries with wonderful rapidity. They outdid in cruelty the acts of the Arabs, four centuries before. For a time it seemed that the whole of Asia would pass into the hands of the Caliphs. Their encroachments on European ter- ritory, together with the refusa 1 to grant Pilgrims to enter Jerusalem, caused Europe, fired with religious en- thusiasm, to send repeated crusades against them. Though the crusades in the end did not accomplish their avowed purpose, the expulsion of Mo- hammedans from the Holy Land, they did succeed in weakening the Turks and preventing for the time incursions against Europe. But the most import- ant results of the crusades were not military ones. The conflicts with the Turks produced an intellectual stimu- lation in Europe. The immense multi- tudes who made the journey through Avidely varied countries had their vis- ions broadened by association with new scenes, and contact with other minds sharpened theirs. They also brought an additional im- petus to the change of political institu- tions progressing at that time. The feudal barons were weakened by the enormous expenditure entailed in the campaigns and were unable to resist the efforts of the king for a centralized government, nor could they keep the surfs in subjection as easily as before. But the most important issue of the Crusades was the birth of Modern com- merce. The transporting of warriors and their supplies necessitated large fleets, which returning brought back Oriental products. They were the first vessels to carry on a trade with the East. Money became necessary to con- duct the commercial transactions and finally banks and notes of exchange were put into use. Education is a subject to which in Modern times is given an ever increas- ing attention. An idea of the state of Education in the Middle Ages will tend

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THE REDWOOD So education was advancing at a fair rate when the universities appeared, Then it went forward by leaps and bounds. Many of the first universities were established very early. King Al- fred founded a school in 886, which de- veloped into Oxford University. Cam- bridge was founded in 915. Paris took the proportion of a university in 1100, though it Avas founded three centuries earlier. The universities started, not as the result of any definite movement, or of a purpose of individuals, but they came into existence gradually and grew to suit the needs of the times. They v ere generally the monastic or cathedral schools spoken of, which having in- creased to a great size, were granted Papal or Royal Charters. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, schools having reputations for proficiency in certain lines, or for a distinguished faculty drew students from very distant re- gions. In the eleventh century, Abe- lard ' s fame attracted immense num- bers to Paris. Salerno, a century later, acquired prestige in medicine ; and Bo- logna, Pisa, and Padua in law. In the latter part of the twelfth and during the thirteenth centuries, these schools acquired an immense size. Oxford is known to have had thirty thousand stu- dents. Paris had as many. The size of the universities show how great the interest in education must have been. It is an established fact that in the thir- teenth century, the number of those at- tending the universities was in propor- tion to the population, far greater than at present. This seems unbelievable, but it is quite the truth. The rolls of the University of Oxford alone, had thirty thousand names on the annual register during the thirteenth century. At that time there were less than three million people in England, which is far less than the population of Greater New York, or rather it more nearly ap- proximates the population of Chicago. Yet no one would claim that there are at present thirty thousand university students from either of these two most prosperous American cities. It might be supposed that the ex- penses to attend at these universities were very high, nothing could be more untrue. Money matters prevented no one from receiving an education. Those who had means were expected to pay tuition and to supply themselves with the necessities of life. Poor students, however, were charged nothing for tui- tion and had their wants cared for by students ' associations or charitable in- dividuals. The management of the Mediaeval Universities was not widely different from that of Modern times. The chief executive office was that of the Rector, to which great dignity was attached. There is one thing, however, that dif- fers widely from Modern methods. In- somuch as the students were from many different countries they were divided into nations. There was not a nation for each nationality, but several nations were usually grouped together. Paris had its French, Piccardie, Norman and English nations. The French nation