Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

7. The first considerable demand for such schools arose from the need for training in writing and reckoning in the commercial cities which developed between 1100 and 1400.

8. Special writing and reckoning schools, as well as vernacular reading schools, were established under the sanction of the civil authorities in these new self-governing cities. This sometimes involved a conflict with the ecclesiastical monopoly of education.

9. This commercial demand for elementary vernacular education was restricted to the larger commercial cities, however, and at the end of the Middle Ages there were few elementary vernacular schools in the villages or rural districts.

Review of Middle Ages necessary. - Ordinarily the history of modern Europe is dated from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By that time the development of cities, of fairly definite nationalities, of vernacular literatures, and other forces, had marked off rather definitely the social types and forms of social organization that continued to play a prominent part in the development of Western Europe down to the present time.

The history of modern elementary education dates from the same period, and at that point, it might seem, should begin our account. But just as in the general history of modern Europe it is necessary to study certain of the antecedent conditions in order to appreciate later developments, so in the case of modern elementary education it will be helpful to review briefly certain fundamental factors in European social life and education which took form during the Middle Ages.

Early Christian education significant for later development. In Western Europe and in America, until after 1800, elementary education was very commonly provided and controlled by the Christian churches, and was organized primarily to train children in the Christian religion. Since 1800, however, conditions have so changed that in many places the Christian religion, in fact all religion, has been excluded from the elementary schools.

In view of the prominent part played in elementary education by religion and the church, it will be worth while to study briefly the origin of the religious interest in education and the almost exclusive control of the latter by ecclesiastics for over a thousand years. In doing this it will be necessary to go back to the beginnings of Christian education and to note under what conditions Christianity was adopted by the German barbarians, who were to become the nations of modern Europe. This we shall do now in a brief way.

Schools were organized to promote spiritual Christian life. -The early interest of the Christian church in education is explained by its desire to spread the new religion, and the consequent necessity of initiating converts into its mysteries and of training priests who could preach the gospel. It might seem that only elementary or lower schools would be necessary for this purpose, but the development of higher schools for the advanced philosophical study of religion was made necessary (1) by competition with the philosophical aspects of pagan religions, and (2) by the great variety of interpretations of the Scriptures which were made by differing factions among the Christians, and the desire which each party felt of justifying its particular interpretation. This resulted in thousands of volumes of commentaries and interpretations, which were written about the Scriptures, so that by the end of the Middle Ages years of university study were considered necessary to be able fully to understand what true Christianity is. This elaboration of the intellectual element in the Christian religion, as distinguished from the simpler religion of faith and love, was taking place, however, even during the first century of Christianity. We shall note certain examples of this change to make its meaning more concrete.

Change from Christ's simple creed to elaborate Nicæan creed. According to the standards of some of the early Christians, the only test of a true Christian life was spiritual and moral, namely, the acceptance of the simple, obvious

teaching of Christ concerning how a Christian should behave, and the leading of such a righteous life as he outlined. Faith and love, and life according to the Golden Rule, were the standards. A slightly more involved creed or test of the convert's belief is found in the statement of Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (x, 9): "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." A still more complex belief is implied in the commission given by Christ to the apostles (Matt. xxviii, 19): "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

By the second century after Christ even more complicated confessions of faith had become current. These various confessions differed in many respects, the adherents of each statement maintaining that all others failed to represent true Christianity. These differences and the resulting strife culminated in 325 A.D. in the Council of Nicæa in Asia Minor, which was attended by about three hundred bishops or leaders in different Christian communities. This council agreed on the following creed, which differs somewhat from the later, more simplified form of the Nicæan creed:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things both visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is to say of the substance of the Father, God of God and Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, . . . who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, etc. (4.)

This quotation of a part of the original Nicæan creed shows how the intellectual element in the Christian belief was becoming larger and larger. The concluding phrases of one form of the Apostles' Creed, "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, everlasting life," furnish another example of the

increasing amount of material that the Christian convert was required to memorize and believe.

Orthodox priests trained in schools of the bishops. — The differences in the interpretations of what true Christian belief included, made it seem very important that only those who held the accepted, authorized or orthodox doctrine should be allowed to preach and teach in any given region. The training of such religious leaders or priests to expound the orthodox doctrine resulted in organized schools in charge of the bishops. Here the priests studied not only the Scriptures but also more or less of the large body of interpretative doctrine or dogma, which was considered as important a part of the religious tradition as the Scriptures themselves.

Highly developed Roman schools Christianized.-Such was the basis of the development of Christian education among the highly civilized peoples inhabiting those portions of the Roman Empire which lay around the Mediterranean. In Western Europe this included what is now Italy, Spain, and southern France (Gaul). In the fifth century city life and Roman schools were as highly developed in Gaul as in Rome itself; in fact many of the leading Roman scholars, writers, and statesmen of this period were reared north of the Pyrenees. In such a situation elementary and secondary schools were already organized. It was simply necessary to Christianize existing schools in order to provide Christian education. Special religious instruction for adults as well as children was provided by the priests, who, trained in the schools of the bishops, preached and taught the elements of Christianity to the people. Those adults who desired a more intense religious life, unhampered by contact with the world, formed communities of monks and retired into monasteries, where they worked and studied. They also established schools to test and train young boys who professed a desire to join the monastic order. Later, lay youth were sometimes admitted to such schools.

Development of Christian schools among German barbarians a different problem. — It was not among the civilized inhabitants of Gaul, however, that the system of elementary education in which we are interested was developed. The Roman schools of Western Europe north of the Alps disappeared under the avalanches of migrating German tribes, and several centuries passed before systems of elementary schools, teaching the new vernaculars (French, German, English, etc.), came into existence.

Outline of migrations of German barbarians. - A glance at the following outline by Cubberley (1 : 60) will serve to recall the chief events in these barbarian migrations, from the movements of Alaric at the end of the fourth century A.D. to the attacks of the Northmen in the eighth and ninth centuries.

The Goths invaded the Eastern Roman Empire (166-378); the Visigoths under Alaric invaded Italy and Spain (395-414); and the Ostrogoths moved into Italy (490-493).

The Vandals and Sueves left the mouth of the Danube (378), moved west and south, crossed into Spain (409) and into Africa (429).

The Burgundians reached the Rhine frontier (c. 290) and settled near the present city of Worms (413).

The Huns appeared on the Volga (375), and under the leadership of Attila ravaged Gaul and Italy (449-454) and then returned to the Danube. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled in Kent (443-449), in Sussex (477), and in Wessex (485).

The Northmen began their attacks on the English coast (787), overran Northumbria, and plundered and burned the churches and monasteries (866).

Peace of Wedmore (878). Alfred ceded one half of England north of the Thames to the Danes.

The Franks, a great nation living along the lower Rhine (475), extended their power to the west and south (486–530).

Social condition of German barbarians like that of Amer ican Indians.-The social condition of the German barbarians is concretely suggested by Adams's comparison of them with the American Indians at the time of the discovery of America, as follows:

« ForrigeFortsæt »