CHAPTER XII

THE HUMANISTIC EDUCATION

OUTLINE

By the fourteenth century there appeared an intellectual awakening, known as the Renaissance. It was accompanied by a 'revival of learning' and an education called 'humanistic.'

Italy first showed evidence of the new movement. The characteristics of the Renaissance were embodied in Petrarch and Boccaccio, but little was done with the Greek classics until Chrysoloras came from Constantinople.

The tyrants of various cities often had humanistic schools started at their courts. Of these the most typical was that under Vittorino da Feltre. These schools eventually forced the universities to admit the humanities to their course. But humanism gradually degenerated into 'Ciceronianism.'

Humanistic education also gradually spread to the countries north of Italy, but it there took on more of a moral color. In France, the protection of Francis I encouraged the introduction of humanism into educational institutions by various scholars. The German universities likewise began to respond to humanistic influences.

The Hieronymians first introduced the classics into the schools, and Erasmus, who was trained by them, became the leader in humanistic education. Through other humanistic schools started by Sturm and others, the 'gymnasium,' the typical classical school of Germany, was evolved, and the humanistic education became fixed and formal.

In England the movement gradually developed at Oxford and Cambridge, and Colet started St. Paul's school, which became the model for all secondary schools. Humanism in England, however,

Mediævalism

contained the

emancipation.

soon retrograded into a formalism, and the 'grammar' and 'public' schools there are little changed to-day.

The first secondary schools in the American colonies were modeled after the grammar schools of the mother country.

The Passing of the Middle Ages.-It can now be seen that a new spirit had crept into European civilization, and that the Middle Ages were passing. We have previously noted (pp. 53 f.) that, in order to bring the German barbarians up to the level of the past, it was necessary for the Church to set an authoritative standard and repress all variation on the part of the individual. Yet such bondage of the human spirit was unnatural, and there were periodic tendencies to rebel against the system. In fact, mediævalism contained within itself the germ of its own germ of its own emancipation. During the eighth century there came about a new political order, which culminated in Charlemagne's revival of education. While conditions were never again as desperate after this stimulus, with the disruption of Charlemagne's empire another decline set in. But by the thirteenth century a new revival, material and intellectual, had also appeared. Several developments gave evidence of the expansion within, and assisted in producing it. The broadening of horizon through contact with the Moors, the development of scholasticism, the evolution of universities, the worldly appeal of chivalry, and the growth of cities, gilds, and commerce were all helping by accumulation to dispel the medieval spirit.

And by the fourteenth century a new dawn had been ushered in. The period that followed was marked by a general intellectual and cultural progress that began to free men from their bondage to ecclesiasticism and to

tendencies of

induce them to look at the world about them. The adherence to an 'otherworldly' ideal, the restriction The general of learning, the reception of the teachings of the Church the Awakening without investigation, and the conformity of the individual were by this time rapidly disappearing. Such tendencies were clearly being replaced by a genuine joy in the life of this world, a broader field of knowledge and thought, a desire to reason and deal with all ideas more critically, and enlarged ideals of individualism. The days of mere absorption and assimilation had passed.

naissance was

ternal factors,

Revival of

Learning.

The Renaissance and the Revival of Learning.This tremendous widening of horizon has been generally known as the Renaissance or 'new birth.' The term is While the Reused to indicate that the spirit of the Græco-Roman caused by indevelopment had returned, and that opportunity for ex- it was promoted by the pression was granted to the individual once more. But this period is also appropriately known as the 'Revival of Learning.' For, while the awakening preceded and was caused by internal factors, rather than by the recovery of classical literature and learning, intellectual freedom was very greatly heightened and forwarded after a restoration of the classics once began. The only food at hand that could satisfy the awakened intelligence of the times was the literature and culture of the classical peoples. The discovery that the writings of the ancient world were filled with a genuine vitality and virility, and that the old authors had dealt with world problems in a profound and masterly fashion, and with far more vision than had ever been possible for the medievalists, gave rise to an eager desire and enthusiasm for the classics that went beyond all bounds. A knowledge of classical literature had never altogether

VIMU

disappeared, and various works had been preserved by the monks and others. To search out the manuscripts of the Latin and Greek writers, the monasteries, cathedrals, and castles were now ransacked from end to end. The manuscripts found were rapidly multiplied, and the greatest pains taken to secure the correct form of every passage. The devotees of the new movement were Humanists and generally called 'humanists,' and the training embodying the classics has since been termed 'humanistic education.'

humanistic education.

Causes of the Awakening in Italy.-While the general tendency toward an awakening was apparent throughout Western Europe, it first became evident in Italy. This was due to the fact that Italy was at the time a seat of intellectual activity resulting from several factors. It Political storm was a storm center for civic and interstate quarrels, and,

center.

Commercial activity.

Home of the classics.

as a result of this political unrest, the citizens were kept constantly on the outlook for their own safety and interests, and their wits were greatly sharpened. Even the exile, into which one civic faction or another was constantly forced, had the effect of broadening their vision and bringing out the greatest possibilities within them. Again, the commercial intercourse of the Italian cities with other countries had, for various physiographic and historic reasons, become extraordinarily active. This tended to open the minds of the Italians, break up their old conceptions, free them of prejudice, and increase their thirst for learning. Furthermore, the ghost of the classic ages still haunted its old home. A knowledge of the Latin tongue had never ceased to exist in Italy, and many manuscripts of the Latin and Greek authors had been preserved. There was only

Petrarch em

Renaissance

needed an intellectual awakening sufficient to shake off the thraldom to the Church and produce an appreciation of classical literature and culture, in order to bring back this spirit of the past into real pulsating life. The Revival of the Latin Classics.—The earliest of the great humanists was Petrarch (1304-1374). In bodied the him we find the very embodiment of the Renaissance spirit, spirit. He completely repudiated the 'otherworldly' ideal of mediævalism, and was keenly aware of the beauties and joys of this life. He did not hesitate to attack the most hoary of traditions, nor to rely upon observation, investigation, and reason. He likewise felt a kinship with the thinkers and writers of the classic age, when independence and breadth were given more scope, and held that their works must be recovered before their spirit could be continued. This led to a tremendous enthusiasm for the Latin classics, and he spent much of his life in restoring ancient culture. He devoted himself during his extensive travels largely to collecting manuscripts of the old Latin writers, which previously had been widely scattered, and endeavoring to repair in them the ravages of time. And he inspired every one he met with a desire to gather and study the works of the classic authors. He also wrote a number of Latin works that were filled with the classic spirit. Among them were several collections of Letters, a work of erudition On Famous Men, and an epic poem in honor of Scipio Africanus that he called Africa. Some of his letters were indited to Cicero, Homer, and other classical authors as if they were still living. After he had been crowned as poet laureate by the University His influence. of Rome in 1341, he spent most of his time visiting

and was an enLatin classics.

thusiast on the