Did the Church have a virtual monopoly on medieval education?

Answer 1

1st Answer:

A virtual monopoly on learning was held by monks in monasteries.

2nd Answer:

In the first half of the Early Middle Ages, most schools in Western Europe were operated either by cathedrals or monasteries. There were exceptions, and we know of state run schools. Beverley Grammar School, in Yorkshire, was opened as a state run school in the year 700, as we know because remains open today. Both Charlemagne, who died in 814, and Alfred the Great, who died in 899, promoted secular education. Also, a number of people were educated privately by tutors. Nevertheless, monastery and cathedral schools tended to be the most important sources of education in Western Europe for a long time.

Western European Universities started to open in 1088 with the University of Bologna. These were divided into three groups, those that were run by the church, those that were run by the state, and those that were run independently of both. The University of Paris was Church run, Oxford and Cambridge were operated with state support, and the University of Bologna was run by students and teachers.

Shortly after the beginning of the 13th century, new types of schools called abacus schools began to operate in Western Europe, especially in Italy. These schools came into existence because of the introduction of Arabic numerals, which made mathematics much easier, but created a demand for education. The schools were privately run, and were aimed at teaching people who were in trade. They taught arithmetic, but they also taught geometry, and they taught reading and writing in the vernacular language. Some number of these schools taught both boys and girls, because women of the time were expected to be able to tend the family business in the absence of their husbands.

In the Byzantine Empire, there was a system of primary education, which was opened in 425 AD, and continued to operate until 1453. The schools in the system were secular, coeducational, and operated at the village level. They was intended to make sure soldiers were literate, but seem to have been open to everyone. The University of Constantinople, which was also started 425, as a school for higher education, evolved into a university. Similar Byzantine Universities were in Antioch and Alexandria. They do not usually appear on lists of medieval universities, possibly because they did not have precisely the same form as Western universities, or possibly because they did not have the same sort of charters.

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Answer 2

I would say no, the medieval Church did not get its power from a monopoly on education. There are two reasons for this.

First, the Church did not have a monopoly on education. The Byzantines opened a system for primary education in 425 AD and maintained it until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. They had a policy of having military personnel be at least literate. And even in the West, there was no clear monopoly. The oldest state run school in England, the Beverley Grammar School, was opened in 700. Indeed, Alfred the Great had a policy of seeing to it that those freemen in his kingdom who could learn be given a primary education in English, which is clearly not the language of the Church. And the Church certainly did not teach the Vikings how to read and write in Runes or the Muslims how to read and write in Arabic script. (See reference links below.)

Second, the Church did have two monopolies that were far more powerful. Over all people, it had a monopoly on salvation, without which the person would roast in hell, suffering all eternity, and a lot of people honestly believed this. It also had a monopoly on oaths of allegiance, in the sense that it could relieve anyone of any such oath. When a king was excommunicated, it was usual for the pope to excuse all people who had made oaths of allegiance to that king from that oath. His supporters could be excommunicated for continuing their support, or they could be rewarded for discontinuing it. Kings of other countries were excused from their treaties, and instead given license to invade and profit from their labors.

Answer 3

The stock answer for this question is that the Church had a monopoly on education in the Middle Ages. If you are working on homework, that is probably the best answer to use.

I think it is fairly easy to show no one really had a monopoly on education in the Middle Ages. The Church came close to having a monopoly on education in some parts of Europe, there were always alternatives, and there were places where nearly all education was secular.

The Byzantine Empire had a system of state supported education that was started in 425 AD and continued to operate through the entire Middle Ages, ending in 1453. It included primary schools at the village level, but included higher education as well. There were several universities, including the University of Constantinople. There may have been times in the Middle Ages when most of the literate people of Europe were educated in this system.

State run schools in the West existed from the Early Middle Ages. For example, the Beverley Grammar School, in Yorkshire, was founded in the year 700 as a state run school, and continues to exist today. There were doubtless others.

There were schools run for profit. The medical schools at Salerno grew out of earlier schools dating to the Roman Empire. These schools seem to have combined into a single school during the Early Middle Ages. Long after, the curriculum expanded, and they are now the University of Salerno.

Other commercially run schools included abacus schools, which arose in the early 13th century to teach merchants and their families how to do math using Arabic numbers. In addition to mathematics, they taught reading and writing in the vernacular languages. Such schools were very common in parts of Europe.

Only some of the early western style universities were Church run, and many were not. The University of Bologna, the first western university to open, had a papal charter, but it was run by students and teachers. Oxford and Cambridge were both state sponsored.

There is a link below to a related question on medieval education. The answer to that question deals with this question more fully and has a number of source links.