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One or the first female doctors recorded in history. She also wrote many medical books.
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Who invented medicines during the Dark Ages?
The term Dark Ages is applied by some people to a time in history when very little writing was done in Western Europe. The dates most commonly used seem to be 450 to 1000 or 476 to 1066. The later part of this time coincided with the beginning of a time called the Golden Age of Islam, during which there was a lot of development of medical knowledge in such places as Persia, Iraq, Arabia, Egypt, and southern Spain. There are many names of individuals who were important in medicine at this time. One who stands out is Avicenna, who lived from about 980 to 1037, in Persia. There was work on new medicines also going on in the Byzantine Empire at this time, centering around the University of Constantinople, which opened in 425. There was also work being done in the Medical School of Salermo, in Italy, which was established when earlier medical schools established during the time of the Roman Empire, were moved there and gradually merged. We know little of the individuals who worked there, because the time was not one that had much written about individuals. One person was Trotula of Salerno, but we really do not even have her dates and know little about her. There are links below to articles on Medieval Medicine and the Islamic Golden Age.
Whuch was not a common activity for women in the late middle Ages?
Some of the jobs not common for the women of middle ages:-priest-queen-knight/soldier-sailor/navigator-builder/engineer-artist/writer-entertainer-educator/scholar-black smith/metal workerSoldier
Who are some prominent leaders of medieval Europe?
Charlemagne was an important king and emperor. Alfred the Great was an important king of England. Others were William the Conqueror, Henry II, Richard I, Edward I, and Edward III. Queen Margaret I of Denmark was important and brought the Kalmar Union into being, uniting Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland under one monarch. Louis VII and Louis IX might be included as important kings of France. Emperors Otto I, Otto II, Otto III, Henry IV, and Frederick I Barbarossa are among the important leaders of the Holy Roman Empire. Among the military leaders who were not monarchs, we could include James Douglas, El Cid, and Joan of Arc. Leaders among learned people included Alcuin of York, St. Augustine, St. Anselm, St. Francis of Assisi, William of Ockham, Thomas Aquinas, Moses Maimonides, and many others. Trotula of Salerno was a learned physician who wrote books on medicine for women and cosmetics. Religious leaders included a long list of important popes, such as Gregory I, Urban II, and Gregory VII, along with many others. Other religious leaders included some who were part of the Catholic Church, like St. Augustine of Canterbury, and some who were opposed to it, such as Peter Waldo and John Wycliffe. A leader among artists was Giotto di Bondi. Among musicians we find Léonin, Pérotin, and many others. Leaders among poets include famous people like Dante and Chaucer, but also some whose names are not so widely recognized, such as Christine de Pizan. And, of course, Eleanor of Aquitaine had a leadership role in her effects on the arts.
Who were famous women who lived in the Renaissance period?
Queen Margaret I of Denmark ruled as sovereign and united Denmark with Sweden, Norway and Iceland. She soundly defeated an army sent against her and was quite powerful.Ethelfleda was a sovereign Queen of Mercia and was pretty good at kicking the Vikings around.Hildegard of Bingen was a visionary who wrote books about medicinal herbs, wrote a play and composed music for it, which we still have and can read.Empress Mathilda, claimant to the throne of England. After being challenged by her cousin Stephen, they fought a civil war that lasted for almost two decades.Eleanor of Aquitaine was an important cultural leader and lead an armed company of women on crusade.Marie de France was an important poet, though we known practically nothing else about her.There were a number of sovereign empresses of the Byzantine Empire, including Empress Irene and Empress Theodora.Hedwig was queen of Poland for a number of years. Interestingly she had herself crowned as king to point out that she was monarch.Isabella of France, queen of England. She turned against her husband and ruled England for 3 years after his murder.Margaret of Anjou, queen of England, raised armies during the Wars of the Roses to protect the rights of Henry VI.Joan of Arc, military leader and greatest inspiration for the French revival during the 100 years war.Yolande of Aragon, power behind the indolent Charles VII and possibly behind the acceptance of Joan of Arc.Christine de Pizan, french writer and early feminist.
How were colors used in Medieval Times?
1st Answer:Colour was very hard to produce because it took natural ingredients to make any color for clothing or anything else. For instance, to make the color red gold had to be used. because of this colour was very basic. Black, brown, some blue for clothing and stain glass had a full range of colors from greens to reds.2nd Answer:This is a complicated issue because colors were used for many purposes, produced in many different way depending on use, and there were many ways to apply them. Just to give a few examples:Ecclesiastical colors included different colors for different offices of clergy. For example cardinals used crimson from, archbishops purple, priests used black, some monks used brown and others gray. All these colors were produced by dying fabrics to the correct color. Additionally, vestments for services had varying colors depending on the season of the liturgical year. For example, green was for much of the year, Eastertide vestments were white or gold, except for Pentecost, which was red.Heraldic tinctures ran a gamut of both colors and textures, including white, gold, blue, red, purple, black and green. Other colors were allowed, but these were basic. Heraldic colors were applied to clothing, armor, and flags. The colors and the pattern in which they were used, together with devices applied (for example a horse's head, clover leaf, caltrop, or any of a host of other things) identified the owner, which was important when a knight was in armor and other identification was not possible.Colored threads were used in weaving and embroidery of various cloth items, including clothing, carpets, and tapestries, all of which were very important in the middle ages. Some of these things were simple decorations, others rose to the level of fine arts. The Bayeaux Tapestry is a well known example.Enamel ware, cloisonne and other colorings were used widely in the Middle Ages. A lot of this was found in the Anglo Saxon treasures at Sutton Hoo.Stained glass is largely a medieval development. The techniques used included both staining and applying pigments to the surface of the glass, so parts of the windows were solid and rather transparent, but others bear clear evidence of being painted, especially facial features of people.Both pigments and dyes were used in manuscript illuminations, paintings and architectural decorations.Wealthy women died their hair. Ancient Romans had over a hundred recipes of dyes for darkening hair. Many, possibly most, of these survived into the Middle Ages, and medieval people developed their own. In fact a book a book on cosmetics, sometimes attributed to Trotula of Salerno, was widely published during the Middle Ages.Medieval people had food dyes. Saffron is well known as an example.The colors used were all what we would call natural, but they ran pretty much the full spectrum. Red fabric, for example, was dyed with different natural materials, including animal, plant, and mineral products. Red dyes for clothing were often produced from the bodies of insects called kermes, that lived on oak trees. Examples of fabric dyed with this product date back to ancient times and exist from Anglo Saxon England. By contrast, when red glass is to be produced, gold(III) chloride is powered and put into the molten glass when it is manufactured. This production technique was used for stained glass in the Middle Ages, and probably dates from antiquity.There are links below.
Did women have professions in the Middle Ages?
Yes, women had professions, in the Middle Ages. We can especially see this for the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages, though it may just be that the information on the Early Middle Ages was lost and so we are unaware of their activity at that time.There were a large number of professions whose memberships included women, and many, perhaps most, guilds had special provisions for women members. This only made sense; men who had wealth and guild memberships did not want their families to go into want when they died, so they built into the guild regulations ways widows could continue family businesses. Another very important motivator was that those men did not want their business to have to come under the control of another man, their daughter's husband or their wife's husband if she remarried.Doing research for this question, I came to see a pattern in medieval life I had not known about before, which was that businesses were run by husbands with their wives. They were joined by their children as the children grew, and this included both boys and girls. The training in business and trade that a girl received was one of the things that would make her attractive to a young man of the same profession.This made a statement I had read while doing research for an earlier answer take on new meaning. It happens that during the 13th century, a new kind of school came into being, called an abacus school, which was designed to teach the rudimentary skills needed for business. The article referred without further explanation to the education of boys and girls. Reading about women in professions, it became clear to me why girls were being educated in abacus schools.Women worked in almost any profession imaginable during the Middle Ages. I do not know why their participation in professions seems to have declined during the Renaissance, but perhaps I will learn that in the future. There are a number of links below. The article on Sabina von Steinbach refers to her as a stone mason, but it provides a link to images of her work, and it is clear that she was in fact a sculptor of considerable ability. The article on Women in Medieval Guilds is one I especially liked, and it lists professions available to women. The article on Christine de Pizan reveals a woman of great ability who is said to have been the first professional female author, and is accompanied by a medieval illustration showing her giving a lecture to a male audience.
How did medieval doctors become doctors?
Answer:Only members of the Catholic priesthood were allowed to become doctors during the early middle ages. Others were charged with witchcraft if they tried to practice medicine.Answer:There were several different ways a person could become a health practitioner in the Middle Ages. A doctor of medicine was a person qualified to teach medicine. Surgeons were a different group, and were not doctors of medicine. There were other types of healers as well.Surgeons got their knowledge by apprenticing in much the same way any other craftsman would, through years of working with a master. There were large numbers of these people. Groups of them accompanied every well organized army, so the injured soldiers could be treated. Surgeons also did such things as dental work, and were the people most often called on to extract teeth. Though there is a current understanding that medieval surgeons were what we call barber-surgeons, this is not correct. The two crafts were combined after the Middle Ages ended.A physician who was doctor of medicine had a different background. In the Early Middle Ages, before there were universities in Western Europe, a doctor of medicine would have had to be trained at a medical school, of which there seem to have been a few. There were several at Salerno, which moved there from Velia for protection as the West Roman Empire was collapsing. They, and a monastic dispensary, combined in the 9th century to form the Salerno Medical School, one of the most famous medical schools if its time. An interesting fact is that at least some women were trained at this school, and one of the most famous doctors of the Middle Ages was Trotula of Salerno, a woman who taught medicine in Salerno and wrote books on the subjects of medicine and cosmetics. The Salerno Medical School continued to educate physicians ever since, and it became the University of Salerno in the 20th century.Later, after universities were opened, people could choose to go to university to become a doctor of medicine, and this became the main type of education for physicians. This meant about ten years of university level medical training. The student started out with the general education in the basic liberal arts of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. After that, he focused on medicine. While some of the universities were run by the Church, and were intended primarily to teach theology, others did not. Oxford and Cambridge, for example, were state financed, and many others were run on a commercial basis, by students and teachers. In many places, the curriculum was based almost entirely on secular considerations.The university education in sciences was initially flawed because of an overly conservative approach to the subject, a problem that was recognized at the time. The problem was addressed during the 13th century by a series of Church actions called the Condemnations of 1210-1277. While this may sound like the Church interfering with science, its effect was quite the opposite. The condemnations banned the exclusive use of Aristotelian science by professors in the universities. Prior to the condemnations, if you wanted to know how many teeth a horse had, you looked it up in Aristotle's writings. If it was not there, then the information was not significant enough to consider. You did not look into the horse's mouth. After the condemnations, empirical science, based on observation, tended to prevail, and students were given a more scientific course of instruction.Many people believed the best doctors in Europe were Islamic or Jewish, and both groups were particularly active in Spain. Islamic and Jewish medicine had different approaches from what was practiced by many Christians, including a basic understanding of the scientific method. These medical traditions became more important among Christians, beginning in the 13th century. In terms of the time and amount of training it took to become a physician, however, Islamic Medicine had the students taught in a way rather similar to how Christians were taught.Aside from surgeons and physicians, there were two groups who were important in health care. One was midwives, who were women trained to assist in childbirth; they went through an apprenticeship system, though it was not as clearly defined, perhaps, as those of the crafts. Young women learned from older, more experienced midwives. Almost every village had a midwife in it or nearby.There were also folk healers who followed various traditions, often involving herbal medicine. Most villages and someone of this type, pretty much ordinary people, except that they had learned something of how to tend people who were sick or injured. Like midwives, they also learned from older, more experienced healers, but with more of a view to general health. I should mention in regard to these that they were pretty much left alone by the Church, as prosecutions for witchcraft were rather rare in the Middle Ages and active witch hunts only began after the Middle Ages ended.
What is the Evolution of education in the Middle Ages?
In the East, there was a state sponsored educational system that had been put in place by the East Roman Empire in 425 AD and remained until the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453. It had primary schools at the village level, and included education up to the level of the university. Though the University of Constantinople was founded in 425, it is not listed as the first European university, because it never granted degrees recognized in the West. Most of the schools in the Early Middle Ages in Western Europe were run by the Church. The oldest of these dated from Roman times, and there was at least one school that remained from the Roman Empire that was closed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Charlemagne opened schools, mostly under Church operation. There were schools that were state run. One current English school was opened in Northumbria in 700 AD as a state run school. King Alfred the Great set about creating schools that would teach people to read and write in his own language, Old English. Some schools were run by teachers and students, on a more or less commercial basis. The old medical schools that existed in Velia under the Roman Empire were of this type. They relocated during the 6th century to Salerno because the times were chaotic, and persisted until they were combined with one or more other organizations to form the Salerno Medical School. The date of this is not known, but it seems to have happened in the 9th century. The famous woman physician, Trotula of Salerno, is said to have taught in this school - it seems probable that she was educated in it as well. Western universities began to open in 1088 with the University of Bologna. Some of these were Church run. Others, including Oxford and Cambridge, were state run. And others, including the University of Bologna, were run by teachers and students. In the 13th century, the introduction of the Arabic numeric system produced a demand from merchants for schools that would teach them. These were called abacus schools. They were commercially run, taught reading and writing in the vernacular language, taught arithmetic and business mathematics, and seem mostly to have been coeducational, so women could tend the business when that was needed.
What did a medieval lady do in a day?
1st Answer:Women had no rights and were not treated very well. The peasant woman would take care of the children, cook the meals, help plant the crops, help reap the crops, carry the water, make the tallow candles, feed the animals, try to stay warm and dry. Some became nuns and spent their lives in a nunnery. Many women were abused and mistreated.2nd Answer:it depends on the class. if they where noble-women then they would basically sit around like a trophy wife.but if they were serfs then they would work along side the family "making clothes, milking cows" cooking meals... all though not hunting so much...(not only was it a mans thing, but it was a nodelmans thing)3rd Answer:Medieval women did many of the same things medieval men did, though they did spend more time than the men working in their homes and with their children. Of course, since most people were peasants, most medieval women worked on farms.Other medieval women worked in textile, clothing, service, and food industries, as we would imagine. But women did many things we would not so easily guess. I recently read a paper on the construction of a church in France where the majority of the workers, including carpenters and masons, were women. Some of these were masters of their trades.In the essay, "Women in the Medieval Guilds," Saunders lists the following professions women were known to have worked in: "brewer, laundress, barrel and crate maker, soap boiler, candle maker, book binder, doll painter, butcher, keeper of town keys, tax collector, shepherd, musician, rope maker, banker, money lender, inn keeper, spice seller, pie seller, woad trader, wine merchant, steel merchant, copper importer, currency exchanger, pawn shop owner, lake and river fisherwoman, baker, oil presser, builder, mason, plasterer, cartwright, wood turner, clay and lime worker, glazier, ore miner, silver miner, book illuminator, scribe, teacher, office manager, clerk, court assessor, customs officer, porter, tower guard, prison caretaker, surgeon and midwife." According to the Wikipedia article, "Horses in the Middel Ages," women also worked as farriers and saddle makers. (links below)There were a number of women who were musicians. There was even a medieval word, trobairitz, which meant female troubadour. The list of women we know of who were troubadours is fairly long, and many of their lives were documented to some extent.A surprising number of women were soldiers. This was true throughout the Middle Ages. In the Early Middle Ages, there were nations, such as the Saxons, in which it was common for women to go into combat. Fastrada, a Saxon soldier in a war against Charlemagne, later married him, and they had two daughters. But there were many others.Of course, most women married. The laws pertaining to marriage varied widely from place to place and from time to time. While the Church concerned itself with sins and morality, including the sin of adultery, it seems not to have concerned itself with the actual marriage, and medieval marriages only included Church ceremonies for wealthy people, nobility, and royalty. Arranged marriages, which were common where there was a lot of money or power involved, were different for the common people. They were probably common family functions in some place, but were clearly unheard of for most of the people in others. Poorer medieval women usually married after they had saved money for dowries, to establish their households, and this was usually when they were 25 or older in many places, according to what records we have. In many places, women were allowed to choose their own partners if they had achieve majority.The property laws pertaining to married couples were also highly varied. Some medieval women clearly were allowed to retain their own property, and others were not. Eleanor of Aquitaine retained her titles and lands when she married and was divorced from King Louis VII, and when she married Henry II, she remained in control, actually to the point of using her income from Aquitaine to support the rebellions of her sons against her husband. In England, women lost their property when they married in the 13th century, but regained title, though not necessarily use, of the land in the 14th century.It was a pattern in medieval life that married couples worked together. Men did not want their families to suffer poverty when they died, so guilds often had provisions for women members. This way, widows and daughters of members could continue family businesses and pass them to their children. In some cases, women could join guilds on their own, independently. And although many guilds were closed to women, there were also guilds that were closed to men; the silk and textile guilds of Paris and Cologne were for women only.Interesting medieval women included the following:Sabina von Steinbach was a stonemason and sculptor. She was the daughter of an architect. I have seen no suggestion she was ever married. Some people have said she took over her father's contract when he died, and completed Strasbourg Cathedral.Margery Kempe spent her later life going on one pilgrimage after another, becoming one of the greatest travellers of her age. She was the author of, The Book of Margery Kempe, which is said to be the first autobiography ever written in English. She was the daughter of a struggling merchant, wife of an ordinary man, and mother a number of children. Though she was clearly literate, she referred to herself as "unlettered." I wonder how many other medieval women were similarly "unlettered."Ethelfleda was a daughter of King Alfred the Great. She was highly literate and considered an expert in military affairs. She married a king of Mercia and seems to have run the country for him. When he died, she maintained her control of the throne, ruling from 911 to 918 AD. She enlarged Mercia by taking lands from the Vikings, and was a formidable military leader other areas of England wanted to join forces with.Christine de Pizan was a professional writer, who supported her mother, her niece, and her three children by writing poetry. She also wrote essays criticising the portrayal of women in literature and commentaries on the position of women in society. She gave revealing advice that aristocratic women: "know the laws of arms and all things pertaining to warfare, [and be] ever prepared to command her men if there is need of it."Eleanor of Aquitaine was a duchess, and controlled about a third of France. She went on a crusade as the head of a company of women warriors. She also married two kings, Louis VII of France and Henry II of England. She ruled England as regent for a number of years, while her son, Richard I, was on crusade.Margaret I of Denmark was a monarch who ruled Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. She did this despite the fact that Denmark had a law against female monarchs. The thing that made this possible was that the nobility recognized her outstanding abilities and gave her their support. When the "rightful" heir sent an army to take her off the throne, her own army defeated it soundly.Joan of Arc, a peasant girl, was given control of the French army when she was seventeen years old. During the course of a very short time, she turned the tide of a war France had been losing badly.The women of Tortosa, a city in Aragon, fought in a battle there when an enemy army beseiged the city while their men were off fighting elsewhere. They dressed in mens' clothes, armed themselves with hatchets and any other weapons they could find, and attacked their enemy under cover of darkness, driving it away. The knightly Order of the Hatchet, open only to women, was created because of this, and the women were all made knights, with all the rights and honor that entailed.Many women were involved in health and health care. There were many midwives. One woman who stands above the rest, however (and I am including men here), was Trotula of Salerno, who wrote the most important books of her time on women's health. She also wrote a book on cosmetics.Katarina Vilioni travelled to China. It seems she was involved in trade on the Silk Road. She died in China and was buried there.It is recorded that continental Saxon women of the Early Middle Ages fought in battle barebreasted. After Charlemagne defeated the Saxons and made them part of his empire, he married a Saxon woman named Fastrada, who had been a soldier and fought against him.And yes, a fair number of women became nuns. Hildegard of Bingen was a nun who wrote important books on medicine and medicinal herbs, composed music we can still perform, because it is in notation we can still read, wrote treatises on religion, and corresponded with kings and emperors.It is probably worth noting that of the ten famous medieval women mentioned above, six were of common rank.There are links below for more information.Women in mediveal times they work pretty hard. The great marjority of them were peasants. Some of these stayed on the farm got married raised there children cooked and open fires in the middle of the dirt floor of their cottages. so of them worked with their husband on the fields.others worked for themseleves or for bussinesses, operating looms and spinning wheels, finishing fabrics and sewing.others took in laundary. these are just a few ideas of what some of the women do in mediveal times.
Who was educated during the Middle Ages?
Education was different in the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe. The East Roman Empire had started both a primary schools system and more advanced schools, including the University of Constantinople, in the year 425. The Byzantine Empire, as a continuation of the Roman Empire, continued operating these schools through the entire Middle Ages. The primary schools were run at the village level, and are said to have educated both boys and girls, with the result that many people, quite possibly a majority, were literate. In the West, the decline of the Roman Empire was destructive to educational systems. As a result, the history of education was more complicated in the West than in the Byzantine Empire. During the entire medieval period, many wealthy people were educated at home, by private tutors. There were also schools, and most, but not all, were run by the Church. Most education was in Latin, but much was in vernacular languages, especially as the Middle Ages wore on, a trend that can be seen with the development of secular literature, which was rarely in Latin. Maybe for convenience we could break the history of education in Western Europe in the Middle Ages into three time periods that are not traditional: Medieval Period I (MPI) the time from the death of Theodosius I to the reign of Charlemagne (395-768 AD), Medieval Period II (MPII) from Charlemagne to the opening of the first universities (768-1088 AD), and Medieval Period III (MPIII), the period of 1088 to 1453. MPI was characterized by a general breakdown of literacy that had actually begun during the third century AD and been exacerbated by the fall of the Roman Empire of the West, about 476 AD. The recovery from the worst of those times was slow. The Germanic law and customs that replaced Roman law in much of the area of the old empire were maintained by memorization, and little respect was provided by people accustomed to such education for those who needed to record their thoughts in writing. Written law was maintained in those areas that still operated under Roman law, and other writing was done only by the Church in most areas. During this time, education that included literacy was nearly always provided by the Church. Nevertheless, there were schools that remained open from the times of the Roman Empire, such as Cor Tewdws in Wales, which was opened before Theodosius died in 395 and closed by the English King Henry VIII. Also, there was a system of primary schools opened by the Byzantine Empire starting in 425 AD, and continued until 1453. (see the link below for Cor Tewdws and the link on the history of schools). More schools were beginning to open with increasing frequency as the sixth and seventh century wore on. In fact there are six schools currently operating in the UK that date to this period. One of these, Beverley Grammar School, was supported by the state, and was, for a period of decades, supported by Vikings, as the area it was in was part of the Danelaw. (see link below to List of the oldest schools in the world) MPII started when Charlemagne became king of France and Emperor of the West. One of the things he did was to send far and wide for scholars to educate the people of his court. (see link below for Charlemagne's policies on education) Alfred the Great repeated this in England, making sure that education was available in English, instead of Latin which was the language of the Church. He saw to it that great books were translated into English, stating as a goal that education be available to all freeborn men who were capable of being educated. (see link below for Alfred the Great's educational policies) The effect was a further spreading of education, and education being available to more people. Seven current UK schools date to this period, and at least an additional seven in Denmark, Germany, Iceland, and Sweden. (see link below to the list of the oldest schools in the world) In MPIII, beginning in 1088, many more schools were founded, and with them came the great universities. The number of these opening during the Middle Ages is truly impressive, and reflects a need for education in the wealthier members of the middle class, among such people as secular lawyers, physicians, merchants, sailors, military people, bankers, and so on. Although there were only four universities that opened in England, and two of these closed, three universities opened in Scotland, and Europe had a total of nearly sixty during this period. (see links below on universities) Many more traditional primary and secondary schools were opening during this time. And also, from the 13th century on, schools sprang up that were oriented toward teaching the things most needed for commerce. These included arithmetic using the Arabic numerals that had recently been introduced and reading and writing in the vernacular language. Theses schools were called Abacus Schools. (see link below on Abacus Schools)
How were women educated in the Middle Ages?
Dates for the Middle Ages are given variously as starting with dates ranging from 395 AD and 510 AD, and ending with dates ranging from 1400 AD to 1517 AD. In the UK, the dates given are often given as 1000 AD or 1066 AD to 1500 AD or thereabouts; this usage makes the dates of 400 AD to 1000 AD in the Dark Ages. I am using the broader definition. because it answers the narrower as well.What education medieval people received depended greatly on their social status and where they lived.In Eastern Europe, the East Roman Empire ran a system of primary schools with a view to seeing all soldiers be literate. The implication is that education was generally available to anyone who might become a soldier, and this included nearly all peasants. Primary schools operated at the village level and were available for people of both sexes. The system founded in 425 AD and continued to operate until the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453. (see link below for the history and development of schools)The East Roman Empire also founded a university at Constantinople in 425, along with universities in other cities. These also remained open while they were under Byzantine control. They do not normally appear in lists of medieval universities because they did not grant the same degrees as western universities. (see the link below on the University of Constantinople)I cannot speak to education in Eastern Europe outside the Byzantine Empire.In Western Europe, there were also schools open throughout the Middle Ages. There is little history of this because they did not usually survive the thousand year period and the five hundred years since that time. Nevertheless, we know that a school in Llantwit Major, in Wales, called Cor Tewdws, or Theodosius' College, was opened by Roman Emperor Theodosius, before the Middle Ages started, and closed by the English King Henry VIII, after the Middle Ages ended. So there was at least one school that existed throughout the entire period (though there was a period from 446 to 508 when Cor Tewdws might or might not have been temporarily closed). (see link below for Cor Tewdws)There were schools throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and there are over seventy primary and secondary schools still running today that were opened during the time. The oldest still extant is King's School in Canterbury, which has been operating since 597. Beverley Grammar School was opened as a state run school in Northumbria in 700, and remains open today, and it clearly remained open during the decades when the government of the area was controlled by Vikings, who therefore must have continued to support it, or at least condone is existence. Other schools I personally find interesting are Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, which opened in Iceland in 1056, at the end of the Viking Age, and Riga State Gymnasium No. 1, which originally opened in Riga, Latvia, in 1211, when Riga was a twelve year old village, and whose opening points out the value placed on education among people of a small town. We have no way of knowing how many primary and secondary schools there were in Europe, but with more than seventy remaining from over 500 years ago, there were clearly hundreds open at the time, and more probably thousands. (see link below for the list of the oldest schools in the world)Western universities began to open with the University of Bologna in 1088, Some universities were opened by the Church, an example being the University of Paris; some by governments, and Oxford and Cambridge were of this type; and some by other types of organizations, such as the University of Bologna, which was organized by the students themselves, who therefore had a position of some authority over the teachers. The education depended on the nature of the founding organizations, and while universities under Church control may have stressed theology, the others included such things as music and language as important parts of the education from the beginnings. The universities were founded from earlier institutions that were only less formally constituted, and these earlier schools go back to the sixth centuries. By the end of the Middle Ages, there were over seventy universities in Europe. (see the link below for medieval universities)Other institutions of higher learning also operated in Western Europe. The Medical School of Salerno is descended from earlier schools at Velia that moved to Salerno during the early part of the Age of Migrations. The school in Velia had been open under the Roman Empire. The school at Salerno was considered among the best medical schools in the West during the Middle Ages. It survived as a medical school, and was chartered as a university in the 20th century. (see the link on the University of Salerno)In the High Middle Ages, the introduction of Arabic numerals meant that business people had to be educated in the new systems of mathematics. The schools opened for this purpose, called abacus schools, taught literacy in the vernacular along with arithmetic and geometry. Some of them were open to both boys and girls. (see the link on abacus schools)Educational opportunities varied by class.Serfs of Western Europe did not generally get education beyond learning farming or other work from their parents.Freemen were peasants also, and also farmed. They were also not generally educated in most times and places of Western Europe. Nevertheless, we do know that some of these people were educated. King Alfred the Great advocated for education for everyone of the status of freeman and above who was able to learn. This education, interestingly, was to be done in English, not Latin, and King Alfred also sponsored translations of great literature into English to make the books available for his subjects in general. (see link below for King Alfred's position on religion and culture)Clergy were mostly educated in monasteries. The education became improved with time. Early in the Middle Ages, there were concerns recorded in history that some priests did not have any ability to read, and were operating on the basis of memorization of the Mass and sections of the Bible. By the 13th century, however, nearly half of all of the men in the highest church offices, at the level of abbot or archbishop and above, had masters degrees, as did a third of those at the next lower levels. (see the link for universities)Lawyers and clerks of the Middle Ages had always been educated in those areas where Roman law was retained, as it was written rather than memorized. As kingdoms one after another codified laws in written form, during the fifth through eighth centuries, it became more and more important for commoners working in the courts to be educated. These people, like the clergy, were from the middle class or were younger sons of the nobility, and they were given the benefit of clergy, even when they were not ordained and living entirely secular lives. They were educated primarily in monasteries or schools. (see link on Universities)Members of the nobility were sometimes uneducated in the Early Middle Ages, but remained so at their peril, because stewards and mayors of the palaces had a tendency to marginalize and replace those over whom they could get control. More than one king fostered literacy among his vassals. Of these, Charlemagne is perhaps the best known. It is recorded of Charlemagne that he could speak Latin, understood Greek better than he could speak it, and had a little Arabic, all in addition to his native tongue. He was clearly an educated man, though an inability to write well is recorded. He made certain that his children were all educated, and promoted education among the nobility. He had schools founded, and founded at least one himself, the Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabrück, Germany, which remains open to this day. (see links on Charlemagne and the list of the oldest schools in the world, below)For women of the nobility, as well as the noblemen themselves, education was important in some places. King Alfred insisted that his daughters be educated, a policy that paid off as his daughter, Ethelfleda, ruled Mercia on behalf of a husband who was unable to do the job himself. Indeed, when her husband died, she continued to rule, and was considered a formidable military leader. Other medieval women also, while attractive to marry for political reasons, received educations so they could rule in their husbands' steads when they were away or sick, or as regents, as required. Empress Matilda is an example of such a woman, as her education is recorded. These women benefited from special educations, beyond what was available in schools, and were usually tutored. Nevertheless, we know that Matilda of Scotland (also called Edith), who was the queen of the English King Henry I, was educated in a convent. (see links below on Alfred the Great, Ethelfleda, Empress Matilda, and Matilda of Scotland)Some ethnic groups had their own educational systems.Among these were Jews who lived in many places, and Muslims, who were in Spain in large numbers through most of the Middle Ages, and in a number of other places, such as Sicily, southern Italy, and the Balkans. For both of these groups, education was a matter of religious policy. Formal education for Jews was established in the 1st century and continued since. (see link for Jewish education below)
