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influence con

he became

narrow.

gratuitous and open to all. A letter of the Bishop of Orleans required it of his clergy; and through a capitulary in 802 Charlemagne strove to make it compulsory. -Alcuin's Educational Work at Tours.-After fourteen years of strenuous service, Alcuin retired from the active headship of the educational system to the abbacy of the After retiremonastery at Tours. But even here his educational ment Alcuin's work did not cease. He soon established a model house tinued, but of learning and education, whither flocked the most brilliant youths in the empire, and since they rapidly became prominent as teachers and churchmen, his influence upon the schools remained fully as marked as before. He also wrote a number of educational works, mostly on the seven liberal arts, and had a large correspondence about education with kings and the higher clergy. Alcuin, however, was by nature conservative, and with his retirement he became decidedly set and narrow. His fear of dialectic and the more advanced views of certain Irish scholars is almost ludicrous, and his repudiation of the classic poets, even his former favorite, Vergil, is pathetic.

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Rabanus Maurus, Erigena, and Others Concerned in the Revival. Fortunately, Alcuin's pupils, who at his death occupied practically all positions of educational importance, retained his broader spirit. This was true in His pupils reparticular of Rabanus Maurus (776-856), whose leader- broader spirit. ship caused the monastic school at Fulda to become the great center of learning. Rabanus wrote even more prolifically than Alcuin upon grammar, language, and theology, but was not afraid to emphasize the study of classic literature or the new training in dialectic. He also greatly expanded the mathematical subjects of the

Permanent effects of the revival.

curriculum, and tended to ascribe all phenomena to natural laws. Rabanus, in his turn, influenced a large number of pupils, and a further impetus was given to the movement by a cross-fertilization of Irish learning, which was also introduced, especially through the mastership of Joannes Scotus Erigena (810-876) at the Palace School.

Thus during the ninth century and the first half of the tenth there arose, through the initiative of Charlemagne and Alcuin, a marked revival in education, and for several generations the cathedral and monastic schools enthusiastically fostered education and learning. Curricula were expanded, and many famous scholars appeared. While, owing to the weakness of Charlemagne's successors and the attacks of the Northmen, learning gradually faded once more, intellectual stagnation never again prevailed. Through the revival of the great Frankish monarch, classical learning had to some extent been recalled to continental Europe from its insular asylum in the extreme West.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Graves, During the Transition (Macmillan, 1910), chap. III; Monroe, Text-book (Macmillan, 1905), pp. 274-279. Read also Gaskoin, C. J. C., Alcuin, His Life and His Work (Clay, London, 1904), or West, A. F., Alcuin and the Rise of Christian Schools (Scribner, 1892), and Mullinger, J. B., The Schools of Charles the Great (Longmans, London, 1877).

CHAPTER VII

MOSLEM LEARNING AND EDUCATION

OUTLINE

Moslemism amalgamated in Syria with Greek philosophy and science, and the Moslem cities there became renowned for their learning.

The masses of the Moslems were suspicious of the Greek learning, however, and those who had absorbed the Hellenized philosophy were driven from the Orient into Spain, where they founded Moorish colleges.

The Moslems thus stimulated learning in the Christian schools, and introduced Aristotle once more, but, after bringing learning back, Moslemism itself reverted to its primitive stage.

early

The Hellenization of Moslemism.-One of the most important influences in awakening medieval Europe was the revival of learning and education that came through the advent of the Moslems. Mohammed, the founder of Illiteracy of Moslemism, had been almost illiterate, and the Koran, Moslemism. or sacred book, was a curious jumble of Judaistic, Christian, and other religious elements with which Mohammed had become acquainted during his early travels. As long as this religion was confined to the ignorant and unreflecting tribes of Arabia, it served its purpose without modification. But when it spread into Syria and came in contact with Greek philosophy, in order to appeal to the people there, it had to be interpreted in Hellenistic terms, and during the eighth, ninth, and tenth

centuries, through the influence of the Nestorian scholars (see p. 46), the Mohammedans were engaged in rendering into Arabic from the Syriac, or from the original Greek, the works of the great philosophers, mathematicians, and physicians. The Mohammedan cities of Learning of the Syria soon became renowned for their learning. In cities of Syria. them arose such scholars as Avicenna (980-1037), who

Mohammedan

wrote many treatises on mathematics and philosophy, and a Canon of Medicine that remained authoritative for five centuries. Similarly, there grew up a society called the 'Brothers of Sincerity,' which in its course of study amalgamated the Moslem theology with Hellenistic philosophy.

Hellenized Moslemism in Spain. But the masses of the Mohammedans were as suspicious of the Greek learning as the orthodox Christians had been, and toward the end of the eleventh century Hellenized Moslemism was driven from the Orient and found a refuge in Northern Africa and in Spain. Here the advanced Mohammedans became known as 'Moors,' and their works were destined to have a pronounced influence upon the ChrisAverroes and tians. There soon appeared such scholars as Averroës

the Moorish

colleges.

(1126-1198), who became the authoritative commentator on Aristotle for several centuries; and Moorish colleges were founded at Cordova, Granada, Toledo, and elsewhere. In these institutions, while learning was still at a low ebb in the Christian schools, were taught arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, astronomy, physics, biology, medicine, surgery, jurisprudence, logic, and metaphysics. Arabic notation was also introduced in place of the cumbersome Roman numerals and many inventions and discoveries were made.

education.

Effect upon Europe of the Moslem Education.-These schools and colleges of the Moslems soon had their effect upon Christian education. Through their influence, Raymund, Archbishop of Toledo, by the middle of the Learning stimulated i twelfth century had the chief Arabic treatises on philoso- Christian phy translated into Castilian by a learned Jew, and then into Latin by the monks; and Frederick II had scholars render the works of Averroes into Latin. Such translations had, however, passed through several mediaGreek, Syriac, Arabic, Castilian, Latin-and could not be at all accurate. But, stimulated by this taste of Greek learning, the Christians sought a more inmediate version, and a half century later when the Venetians took the city of Constantinople, the works of Aristotle were recovered in the original and translated directly into Latin. Meanwhile the orthodox Mohammedanism had been coming to the front in Spain and overwhelming the Hellenized form, and it was left to Christian schools to continue the work of the advanced Moorish institutions. Moslemism had returned to its primitive stage, but it had helped bring back learning, especially the works of Aristotle, to Christendom. As the classical learning had been restored from the West during the revival of Charlemagne, it now returned from its refuge in the East through the coming of the Moslems.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Graves, During the Transition (Macmillan, 1910), chap. V, Monroe, Text-book (Macmillan, 1905), pp. 331-334. For a further account of Saracen education, see Coppée, H., History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors (Little, Brown, Boston, 1881),

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