Mediaeval Scholar?
Are you a boy?
Yes? Phew! That’s lucky. If your parents can afford
to pay then you can access an education.
No? Commiserations. If your family is exceedingly
wealthy you may receive some form of home
tutoring and be allowed access to a few courses
but daughters were virtually ignored when it
came to formal education. You would learn
home management, rudimentary accounting and
perhaps the basics of different trades from your
mother but the world of work was a man’s. You
could always join a convent, you might be taught
a basic education there, but the emphasis was on
religious texts and discipline.
geometry, grammar, rhetoric, logic, astronomy
and music; all taught in Latin. Studies outside
these disciplines, such as the natural sciences,
came from encyclopaedias and were based on
ancient Roman works like the writings of Pliny.
Successful completion of a university course
based on these disciplines resulted in the title
Do you speak and read Latin?
No? Well that wipes out your chances. Latin
was the universal language of the Middle Ages,
the language of religion, education and trade.
Grammar schools came into existence to teach
Latin as it was necessary for trade within
England and Europe. You learned Latin, studied
classical scholars such as Ovid, Horace and
Cicero and were expected to spend your school
day conversing in Latin. Anyone caught talking
in English would be punished and you could
be beaten for this or even failing exams. Some
schools taught Greek as an extra.
Do you believe that an
elephant’s only fear is of
dragons?
Master of Arts. Eventually universities began
offering further education, or Doctorates, in
theology, medicine, law and philosophy. Students
with an aptitude for art were welcomed and
trained by the Church, as they wanted people who
could scribe and illustrate their religious books or
create paintings, frescos and murals to visually
depict Bible stories for those who couldn’t read.
During the Middle Ages the curriculum, developed
primarily by the Church with an emphasis on
religion and philosophy, gradually settled down
into the stu Hو