What were the educational opportunities in the middle ages?

Answer 1

math

Answer 2

The levels of education depended on when and where.

The Byzantine Empire opened a system of primary schools in 425 AD. This system operated at the village level, and was kept running until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. During this same period, the University of Constantinople was running, and educated people there to a high standard.

In the West, the Germanic tribes had systems of education that emphasized memorization over literacy. Their judges were people who had memorized the laws. As time passed, the advantages of written legal codes became clear. Beginning in the 6th century, schools were being opened in Western Europe, and elementary education started to become available. Such people as the Visigoths and Anglo-Saxons had schools opening. Charlemagne was a great advocate for education of the broadest possible numbers of people, as was Alfred the Great.

Great schools were around, however, and people could be educated to become doctors, lawyers, and so on. Certain cities became known for their schools, and started to attract student bodies. The people who were educated at these schools, however, still had no standard levels of education.

In time, the schools saw advantages in producing standard levels of education, and the universities opened, starting with the University of Bologna in 1088. The thing that was really important about the universities was that they had degrees, very much as collages and universities do today, and that the credentials were transferable all over Europe. Once that happened, there were levels of education, and a person could be said to be literate, or to have a Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctor's degree. This process was pretty much complete by the end of the Middle Ages.

Answer 3

1st AnswerNone. Most people couldn't read or barely write their names. The nobility did have private tutors and those usually came from the priesthood. The church was the only source of information and literacy. Books weren't around for people ( printing press had not been invented) and the books that were made were done by the church. One reason we give oral testimony in court is because of this lack of reading and education. There was a university education in places like Florence, but very few went that far in education and those who did were nobility. 2nd AnswerIf we take the dates of the Middle Ages as 476 to 1453, which seem to be the most common (others start the middle ages as late as 1066), what we find is that there were both schools and school systems that operated throughout the entire period.

There is a historic record that the buildings of a school called Cor Tewdws (Theodosius' College) in Llantwit, Wales, having been opened by the Emperor Theodosius, burned down 446, were rebuilt in 508. The school was later closed by Henry VIII. Since Theodosius died in 395, and Henry VII came after the Middle Ages ended, Cor Tewdws was clearly open for the entire period of the middle ages, with the possible exception of the years from 446 to 508. (see link below for Cor Tewdws)

The government of the Byzantine Empire opened a primary school system in 425 AD, with the hope that all members of the military would be literate. This school system remained open until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. So clearly there was government education in at least part of Europe through the entire Middle Ages. (see link below for the history of schools)

New schools were being opened early in the Middle Ages. We clearly have no records for the majority of them, but we know that the King's School in Canterbury was opened in 597 AD, as it is open today and its records exist. New state run schools were being opened in the Early Middle Ages also. In Northumbria, in an area now in Yorkshire, the Beverley Grammar School opened as a state run school in 700 AD. In all, there are over 70 primary and secondary schools still in existence that were opened during the Middle Ages, considering the life expectancy of schools, there were clearly hundreds, and possibly thousands, opened during the medieval times. (see link to the list of the oldest schools in the world)

The first universities in Europe were opened by combining existing teaching facilities. The first of these opened in Bologna in 1088. We have better records for these than for primary and secondary schools, and we know that there were over seventy of them during the Middle Ages. (see link for a list of medieval universities)

King Alfred the Great of England had a goal of teaching all freemen of England to read and write in English, for the betterment of the nation. To support this, he opened schools and had books translated from Latin into English. Please notice that the education was for freemen and higher status, and that freemen were farmers of the status just above serf. (see link below for the section on religion and culture in an article on Alfred the Great)

It is clear that some rich people and members of the nobility got their educations in abbeys or from tutors. But it is also clear that there were other opportunities, including some for ordinary people.

Answer 4

One Answer:

None. Women were considered property and they couldn't own land nor have an education. They had no civil rights. It was a rare woman who could make decisions for herself, but this is true all the way into the 20th century. It wasn't until the 1920's that women gained the right to vote in the United States. Women couldn't be fighter pilots until the late 80's in the armed forces and a woman couldn't have her own credit accounts until the late 80's early 90's. It wasn't until the late 1800's that a woman was able to enter medical school. So, women through the ages have been considered second class citizens and have been abused, sold, and killed. In some countries this is still true.

A different Answer:

With all due respect, I would like to disagree with much of what is in the answer above.

Some women were educated in the Middle Ages. Please see the related question below, "How were women educated in the Middle Ages?" with attention to the second answer there.

Women did have rights in the Middle Ages, though they had less than men and began to lose what they had with the coming of the Renaissance. Please see the related question below, "What were the rights of women in the middle ages?" again with attention to the second answer.

The answers to which you are being referred have links to articles that provide further information.

Answer 5

The Middle Ages lasted 1000 years, more or less, and covered a very large part of Europe. There is no generalization that would accurately characterize who got educated during that time and in that place.

The Middle Ages started with a great decline in literacy during a period people called the Dark Ages until recently. There were many causes of this. One was the collapse of the West Roman Empire. Another was the fact that among the Germanic tribes that took over much of Western Roman territory, the laws and stories were memorized, and literacy was not as respected as dedication to memorization. The Early Middle Ages lasted from about 500 AD to about 1000 AD. It is probably wise to divide this time into a part before Charlemagne and the time after, with the dividing point being 800 AD. The earlier time was the time of decline in writing and literacy, and during this time, the educated people were mostly clergy.

With the reign of Charlemagne, there was an improvement in education. He brought teachers and scribes into his court and encouraged the members of the nobility to learn to read an write. Other rulers did the same, some anticipated Charlemagne, and in fact the oldest state school in England dates to a hundred years before his time. Some improved on what he did, with Alfred the Great making education of ordinary people who learn a stated goal, and founded primary schools to educate children to read and write in English. But Charlemagne was a major leader through much of Europe, and his influence was paramount.

The coming of the High Middle Ages brought a rise in education. Not only clergy and nobility were educated, but also architects, soldiers, doctors, and merchants. Universities were founded to educate them all, beginning with the University of Bologne in 1088. It was helped along by laws, such as a law of the time in England that stated that anyone who could translate a particular Psalm from Latin qualified to be tried in ecclesiastical court for any crime of which he was accused. The goal of self education was met by the means. If you could read a little bit, you could get a fairer trial and more lenient sentence.

The Late Middle Ages saw a further spread of education. The son of a wine merchant, Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) became the father of English Literature. The erosion of feudalism, which was pretty much gone in England by the end of the Middle Ages (though it held out in some parts of Europe until the 19th century) meant that ordinary people could follow their own destinies, and education was a clear path to that goal.

Answer 6

There were several different ways a person could get educated.

Some people were educated in monasteries, where even the children of serfs might be trained to become monks with such duties as transcribing books.

People who had sufficient money could hire tutors.

There were schools through much of Europe throughout the middle ages. Most of these were run by the church, such as King's School in Canterbury, which opened in 596, but there were also state run schools, the oldest extant being Berverley Grammar School, which opened in 700. There are over seventy schools in Europe today that date from the middle ages, and clearly there were far more at the time.

After finishing a primary education, students could go on with the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), and then on to more advanced schooling. The more advanced schools became formalized as universities, starting in the eleventh century. By the time the middle ages ended, there were seventy universities in Europe.

Education was not always in Latin. King Alfred the Great, who reigned in England from 871 to 899, made it a policy that all with means to do so should be educated in English, including all freemen in addition to the nobility. He extended this to some women, including his own daughters, one of whom, Queen Ethelfleda of Mercia, became a monarch in her own right and was able to prevent her country from being taken over by Vikings. He had many books translated into English so people without education in Latin could read them.

Certain groups of people tried to have all members educated, if possible, or at least all males. The Jewish communities tried to hold this standard throughout the middle ages.

Other groups one might have guessed to be destructive either tolerated education or facilitated it. The Vikings destroyed monasteries in the ninth century and tenth century. But several schools in England today were active throughout the Viking era, despite the fact that they were in parts of England controlled by Vikings for many years. Indeed, the oldest schools in Iceland, Denmark and Sweden all date from the Viking Age.

But bear in mind that the only way most peasants could get educated was by going into a church organization, as a monk, for instance, and this often required permission from whomever they answered to. Since most people were peasants, and most stayed on their lands, most went without education.

Answer 7

There were schools in the Middle Ages.

In 425, the East Roman Empire opened a system of schools that included primary education at the village level. The Byzantine Empire maintained this system until its destruction in 1453.

There were not as many schools in the West, but there were some. Some of the schools of the Roman Empire survived, even through the entire Middle Ages. A school in Wales, called Cor Tewdws, was opened by the Roman Emperor Theodosius some time before 395, and was closed by the English King Henry VIII. Other schools in the UK include the King's School, in Canterbury, which opened in 597, and Beverley Grammar School, which was opened as a state run school in Northumbria, in 700.

There are other records of ancient Roman schools surviving through the Middle Ages. The University of Salerno was founded as the Salerno Medical School by combining various Roman medical schools that took refuge in Salerno when the Roman Empire fell.

One record of Visigoths opening a school in the early 6th century survives. Charlemagne opened schools, at least one of which survives today. There were schools in Viking lands and Lithuania.

But in general, children in Western Europe went without school in the Middle Ages.

Answer 8

They did math and writing.

Answer 9

not helpfull