Worcester, and York. "The labor and enterprise which in the earlier centuries had covered England with castles and cathedrals and monasteries was now absorbed in covering it with towns." The town hall became a new center of life; streets were paved, new gates and bridges, wharves and harbors, aqueducts and markets were built. Principles of political liberty were developed in connection with the problems of selfgovernment. In the House of Commons in the early part of the fifteenth century the representatives of towns exercised a powerful influence. The fifteenth century was characterized by the steady improvement of the conditions of the middle class in general culture.

The chief cause of this development in England was the growth of the wool trade. Until about 1350 this consisted largely in the export of the raw material. By about 1450, however, England had become a country whose chief business was exporting cloth instead of wool. Likewise iron and coal mining, manufacturing in metals, silk and lace making, leather work, and other trades developed.

Conflicts occurred between town and ecclesiastical authorities. The towns came in conflict with ecclesiastical authorities in the same territory in many ways. These conflicts were partially due to overlapping of territory, and concerned commercial, judicial, military, and other duties and privileges. Thus the bishop of the cathedral in Exeter came in conflict with the mayor of the town over the mayor's right to arrest the bishop's tenants, the bishop's right to try cases where the fines might have gone to the town's treasury, the right of the coroner to hold inquests within the cathedral property, the collection of taxes, the duty of the bishop to help keep watch, the town's right to collect tax on the bishop's wine, and many other issues. (7: chap. xi.)

Town schools one issue in this conflict. One phase of this conflict between the ecclesiastical and town authorities related to education. We have seen how the Catholic Church provided

the only education available during most of the Middle Ages. In order that this education might be orthodox the Church claimed a monopoly of teaching, and no one was privileged to teach (either in elementary or secondary schools or in the universities) without the express sanction of the cathedral authorities. But as the cities grew, the existing schools often failed to meet adequately the demand for education from the middle class, and the latter tried to establish additional schools to meet their needs. Sometimes these efforts were aided by the local clerical authorities and sometimes they were opposed. At first these schools were Latin schools, just like the cathedral schools, except that they were more conveniently located. Later, however, various forms of vernacular schools developed to meet specialized practical demands, namely, writing schools to train writers, reckoning schools to train accountants, etc. The history of this movement has been investigated for the German schools much more thoroughly than for the English schools, so it will be more profitable to describe the former. It is safe to infer, however, that similar changes occurred in England.

German cities developed Latin schools under municipal authority. During the thirteenth century northern Italy served as one of the chief pathways of commerce between the Orient and Europe. From Italy the trade to the north passed through Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Frankfort on the Main, where it divided, going to Leipsic and the northern Hanse towns, on the one hand, and to Cologne and the Netherlands, on the other. Under the stimulus of this trade great cities grew up at the important points on the trade routes. The city authorities in these thriving towns undertook to provide schooling to meet the demands not met by the existing cathedral schools.

In Cologne city schools are mentioned in documents dating back to 1234, but the time of general establishment of such schools seems to begin at the middle of the century. Lübeck had been founded only

A MEDIEVAL LATIN GRAMMAR SCHOOL, NUREMBERG

Note the assistant teacher at the right, the large bunch of switches in the hand of each teacher, and what is probably a writing board with music on it, on the wall.

a hundred years before that time (1143). But the territory of the burghers' dwellings had extended rapidly between the bishop's palace and the citadel, so that up to 1250 four parochial churches had to be erected aside from the cathedral. It was only a consequence of this development that, in 1252, the city authorities desired to increase the school facilities, and they determined upon the opening of a new institution near the

market church in the middle of the city proper. They claimed that for little boys the way to the cathedral school was too far and too dangerous, situated as it was at the end of the city. The establishment was approved by the clerical authority [as well as the establishment of other schools more distant from the cathedral]. (10: 21.)

In Hamburg, after eight years of opposition from the head of the cathedral school, the town succeeded in getting another school established.

The city council of Breslau was granted permission to establish a school at St. Magdalena in the year 1267. The city children had until then to take their way across the Oder River, because the cathedral school was situated on the opposite side of the river. The distance, as the authorities complained, was far, the state of the bridges bad, and the passage dangerous, especially for the little ones, on account of the people, vehicles, and horses crowding one another in passing over.

Similar establishments in other cities were numerous. At the close of the Middle Ages no German town worth mentioning was without a school supported by the civil authorities. (10: 21.)

Vernacular schools established by towns; adventure teachers. - The schools described above were Latin schools, although established largely for practical purposes. To a certain extent they admitted pupils who desired only to learn to read and write. But they failed to satisfy the demand for this form of instruction and consequently elementary vernacular adventure" schools arose.

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City clerks, vagrant ecclesiastics and scholars, pious sisters and nuns, or secular women for the purpose of earning their livelihood, or a little extra income, offered to instruct little children in numbers, reading, and writing, as they had learned these arts themselves. . . . Such teachers for children are mentioned in Frankfort on the Main as early as 1364; women teachers are spoken of in Speier in 1362; in Mayence before 1300. (10: 24.)

In addition to these adventure teachers" there existed a limited number of official vernacular teachers, who were licensed or sanctioned by the town authorities. The local cathedral authorities sometimes opposed these efforts to establish independent vernacular schools, just as they did the

establishment of city Latin schools. But when the cities appealed to the Pope, they received permission to maintain their schools, usually being required to pay into the cathedral funds a part of the fees from the scholars. It was also common to limit the number of such schools. Thus in Lübeck about 1400 a dispute about the question was settled by a treaty giving the city the right to maintain four vernacular (German) schools. The masters of these schools were to instruct the pupils in "reading and writing, and to teach them good manners in a way that will assure God's reward and contribute to the honor and dignity of the city of Lübeck." (10: 25.)

Sometimes called writing schools; practical character. That these schools were established primarily for practical purposes is indicated by the fact that in the records they are sometimes called "writing schools," although they often taught reading as well. The vernacular schools were known, however, by a variety of names, each name suggesting something about the character of the school. Thus there were writing schools, reckoning schools, girls' schools, and "hedge" schools (unlicensed, adventure schools of any sort). Of these the writing and reckoning schools are the most interesting.

Handwriting was an important trade in the Middle Ages, owing to the lack of printing and to the limited educational facilities. There were several classes of professional writers, including the monks who wrote manuscripts, writers employed in public or government offices, private secretaries, and teachers of writing. City clerks were often called "city writers." There were also "traveling writers," employed on occasion in different places, sometimes as teachers. They also wrote letters for the illiterate. Those writing masters who taught writing to young children usually taught them reading also, but with older children they were often restricted to teaching writing. In some of the larger cities, notably in France, the guilds of writing masters enjoyed a practical and official monopoly of the teaching of writing.