What kind of schooling did the boys receive during the middle ages?

Answer 1

1st AnswerNo schooling. People didn't know how to read or write. The only ones who did were the monks. Boys could become an apprentice for a trade, noble boys could start to train at 7-8 to become a knight at 21, and peasants/serfs just kept working starting around 7-8 years old. 2nd AnswerThere were schools in operation throughout the Middle Ages. The Byzantine Empire maintained a system of primary schools from 425 AD until 1453 AD, which was intended to see that all soldiers be literate. (See link below for the history of schools)

Schools existed at the end of the Middle Ages that had been opened over a thousand years earlier, under the Roman Empire. An example of this is Cor Tewdws, which was in Wales from the time it was opened by Emperor Theodosius, who died in 395 AD, until it was closed by Henry VIII. (See link below for Cor Tewdws)

During the Middle Ages, most schools were Church run. The oldest school in the world, opened as a Church run school, is the King's School in Canterbury, opened in 597 AD. The oldest state run school, is Beverley Grammar School which was opened in Northumbria in 700 AD. Since Beverley Grammar School was in the Danelaw, it is also the oldest school in the world that was funded by Vikings, a distinction with some interesting historical implications. There are still over seventy schools open today that were opened during the Middle Ages. How many do not remain today we can only guess, but there were clearly hundreds at least, and possibly thousands. (see link below for the list of the oldest schools in the world)

Charlemagne instituted policies that promoted education. To this end he imported scholars from Britain and Spain and Italy. These included well known educators who were Anglo Saxons, Visigoths, and Lombards, along with others. (See link below on Charlemagne's educational reforms). King Alfred the Great also instituted reforms, promoting education for all free men in England, which meant the reforms were aimed at educating people who were mostly peasants. This was for secular, in addition to religious, purposes, so the intended language for education was to be English, and to promote this, he provided for the translation of great books into English. He was working on translating The Bible when he died. (See link for Religion and Culture under Alfred the Great)

Of course, members of the nobility and others of wealth could afford tutors, so some education was done privately.

Higher education was also available. The first university, the University of Bologna, received its charter in 1088, before the Crusades began. But the universities started by combining earlier, less formal, schools of higher learning that existed side by side in cities with reputations for such establishments, and these had existed for some time. By the time the Middle Ages ended, there were over seventy universities in Europe. (See links below on universities)