Reuchlin may properly be called the first great German humanist. He was educated at Freiburg, Paris, and Basel, and gave especial attention to the cla.s.sic studies, which had almost disappeared from the university courses in Germany. He took his master"s degree at Basel, and then began to lecture on cla.s.sical Latin and Greek. Being a born teacher, he drew about him a great number of students, who became interested in cla.s.sic studies. He made several visits to Italy, where he imbibed the humanistic theories of the Italians, though he was already far advanced in those theories before he went to Italy. In 1481 he was appointed professor at Tubingen, which thus became the first German university to teach humanistic doctrines.
At Linz, where he had been sent on an emba.s.sy, he made the acquaintance of the emperor"s Jewish physician, with whom he began the study of Hebrew. This marks an important epoch in his history, as he is best known for his Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon, published in 1506, and for his championship of the Hebrew literature. Owing to the scarcity of cla.s.sic text-books, Reuchlin was obliged to mark out courses for his students, and, in a measure, to supply text-books for them. Much of his work in the university had to be dictated, and students were obliged to copy their work from ma.n.u.scripts. He published a Latin lexicon and prepared the ma.n.u.script of a Greek grammar which he never published, but from which doubtless he drew in his work with students.
In 1496 his friend Count Eberhard died, and Reuchlin"s enemies succeeded in alienating the new prince, so he was glad to avail himself of the opportunity to go to the university of Heidelberg. Here he gave chief attention to Hebrew.
While in Heidelberg he became involved in an unfortunate controversy regarding Hebrew literature, a controversy which was forced upon him.
John Pfefferkorn, a converted Jew, zealous for the conversion of his race, obtained an order from the emperor to confiscate and destroy all Hebrew works which opposed the Christian faith. Reuchlin was appealed to as the highest authority on Hebrew, and he urged that, instead of destroying the literature, two professors should be appointed in each university to teach Hebrew and thereby refute the Jewish doctors by making the students acquainted with the Bible. The struggle continued for years, and although the Church and even the universities were against him, Reuchlin was finally victorious, thereby saving a n.o.ble literature to the world. This was a great victory for humanism. A short time before his death Reuchlin returned to Tubingen, where he closed his ill.u.s.trious career in 1522.
Reuchlin was the first to introduce Greek into Germany, and the first to recognize the necessity of a knowledge of Hebrew in interpreting the Holy Scriptures. He began a reform in the schools which prepared the way for a like movement in the Church, and in Luther he saw the man who was destined to carry both of these reforms to fulfillment. "G.o.d be praised," said he, "in Luther they have found a man who will give them work enough to do, so that they can let me, an old man, go to my rest in peace."
ERASMUS (1467-1536)
Erasmus was born at Rotterdam. Though not a German, he belonged to the Teutonic race. He has well been called a "citizen of the world," as he lived in so many countries, and came to be the most learned man of his time. He was left an orphan at an early age, and his guardians placed him in a convent. They wished to make a monk of him so that they could inherit his patrimony, but this plan was resisted by the boy for a long time. The life of the convent was very distasteful to him, and though he afterward took vows, he never was in sympathy with asceticism. Possibly the condition of the monasteries at that time may have had something to do with the repugnance of Erasmus to the monastic life. He was certainly greatly relieved when the Pope absolved him from his vows.
Erasmus was precocious as a child, and it was early predicted of him that he would be a great man, a prediction which he fully verified.
Through the influence and help of the Bishop of Cambray, he was enabled to go to Paris for study, though the means furnished were not sufficient for his support. He took pupils and gave lectures, thereby supplying the deficiency in his funds. It is recorded that, in his eagerness for books, he said, "When I get money, I will first buy Greek books, and then clothing." He also studied at Oxford, and afterward at Turin, where he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Though many high offices in the Church, and many positions in universities, were offered to him, he refused them all, preferring to be an independent man of letters.
Erasmus was recognized as the supreme literary authority of the world, and this lofty position was the summit of his ambition. Nothing could turn him aside from the path that led to that eminence, and, once attained, nothing could attract him away from it.
Basel had become the center of the new printing industry. This led Erasmus to choose that city as his home for the latter part of his life, and here he furthered the cause of humanism as no other man had done, by editing and giving to the world many of the cla.s.sic treasures of the monasteries. He translated Greek works into Latin, thereby making them available to the world, as Latin was better understood than Greek. His edition of the Greek Testament was his most eminent service, though his "Colloquies" are better known. His "Praise of Folly" is a satirical work, in which he holds up to ridicule the ignorance and vice of the monks.
Though he never broke away from the Church, without doubt his sympathies were with the reformers. But neither the persuasions nor the denunciations of Luther could bring him to take a decided stand on either side. He thought that the reform could be wrought within the Church. He accepted the dogmas of the Church, and remained within it as long as he lived.
Erasmus was the exact counterpart of Luther. He appealed to the limited few, Luther to the ma.s.ses; he to the educated and higher cla.s.ses, Luther to the ignorant and lowly; he was a man of reflection, Luther a man of action. The apparent vacillation of Erasmus may have been due to ill health, to the influence of the Pope, to the ties of the Church in which he had been reared, to the satisfaction he found in his eminent literary position, and to his dislike for controversy.
Erasmus gives us some very valuable pedagogical teachings, which may be summed up as follows:--
=Pedagogy of Erasmus.=--1. The mother is the natural educator of the child in its early years. The mother who does not care for the education of her children is only half a mother.
2. Until the seventh year the child should have little to do but play, in order to develop the body. It must have no earnest work, but must be taught politeness.
3. After the seventh year earnest work must begin. Latin and Greek (which should be studied together) must be taught early so that right p.r.o.nunciation and a good vocabulary may be attained.
4. The first subject to be learned is grammar. Language is necessary before a knowledge of other things can be gained.
5. Teachers should be better trained and better paid, and suitable places must be furnished for the schools.
6. The religious side of education must not be neglected.
7. Great attention must be paid to the cultivation of the memory: (_a_) by a proper understanding of the subject; (_b_) by logical order in thinking; (_c_) by comparison.
8. As the bee collects honey from many flowers, so knowledge is gathered from many sources.
9. The foundation of all training of children must be laid in the home.
Parents should know what their children ought to be taught. Above all things children must be taught to _obey_.
10. The first care with girls is to inculcate in them religious feelings; the second to protect them from contamination; the third, to guard them from idleness.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE REFORMATION AS AN EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE
=Literature.=--_White_, Eighteen Christian Centuries; _Taylor_, History of Germany; _Draper_, Intellectual Development of Europe; _Guizot_, History of Civilization; _Lord_, Beacon Lights; _Seebohm_, The Protestant Revolution; _Gasquet_, Eve of the Reformation; _Spaulding_, History of the Reformation; _Bryce_, The Holy Roman Empire; _Morris_, Era of the Protestant Revolution; _Hurst_, History of the Reformation; Lewis, History of Germany; _Myers_, Mediaeval and Modern History; _Schiller_, The Thirty Years" War; _Hallam_, Literary History; _Kiddle and Schem_, Cyclopaedia of Education; _Dyer_, Modern Europe; _D"Aubigne_, History of the Reformation; _Yonge_, Three Centuries of Modern History; _Mombert_, Great Lives; _Schwickerath_, Jesuit Education.
=Historical Conditions.=--At the beginning of the sixteenth century we find the stage of political, religious, and educational activity transferred from the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean to the north of the Alps. We have seen the great work of civilization taken from the Greek and Latin races and committed to the Teutonic race. We have traced the humanistic movement from its birthplace in Italy to Germany, where it found a more congenial atmosphere and a more suitable soil. The world was ripe for a great revolution, which was destined to advance the interests of mankind with gigantic strides.
The invention of printing by Gutenberg, in the middle of the fifteenth century, must be mentioned as the primary material agency in forwarding this advance. It was said of this art that it would "give the deathblow to the superst.i.tion of the Middle Ages." It multiplied readers a hundredfold; it stimulated authorship; it revolutionized literature, because it made the preservation and dissemination of thought easy; it was a mighty influence in bringing about universal education, a principle for which the Reformation stood.
Another event of great importance was the discovery of America, which stimulated various European enterprises. Thus, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the world awakened from its long sleep, and educational enterprise was born anew.
The German Reformation had been preceded by similar movements in other lands. Huss and Jerome of Prague, in Bohemia, Wyclif in England, Zwingli in Switzerland, the Waldenses in Italy, and the Albigenses in France, had raised their voices in solemn protest against clerical abuses,[52]
and many of the reformers had paid for their temerity by martyrdom. But the German Reformation, under the leadership of Martin Luther, was destined to exert a mighty influence throughout northern Europe, and to set in motion impulses which were to shape all later history.
The chief rulers of Europe were Frederick the Wise of Saxony, known as Luther"s friend, Henry the Eighth of England, Francis the First of France, and Charles the Fifth, king of Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Austria, and afterward emperor of Germany. Leo the Tenth was Pope, and he had great influence in temporal affairs. Emperor Charles the Fifth was the most powerful ruler of this period. Though a foreigner in manners, customs, and sympathy, and unacquainted with the German tongue, he became emperor of Germany by bribing the electors who had a voice in selecting the ruler of that nation. It is said that he paid $1,500,000 to these corrupt electors, besides making many promises of future favors. He was treacherous, and never hesitated to break the most solemn pledges when his interests so demanded. Bayard Taylor says of him, "His election was a crime, from the effects of which Germany did not recover for three hundred years."
=Intellectual Conditions=.--These, then, were the external conditions which existed at the beginning of the sixteenth century. We have seen that the need of reformation was acknowledged on all sides. There were but few good teachers to be found, even in the Church which had so long been the mother of schools. Education was at such a low ebb, and the advantages offered by the schools were so poor, and of such a doubtful character, that but few persons cared to avail themselves of their privileges. Even the universities failed to educate. Luther says, "Is it not pitiable that a boy has been obliged to study twenty years or longer to learn enough bad Latin to become a priest, and read ma.s.s?" Again he says, "Such teachers and masters we have been obliged to have everywhere, who have known nothing themselves, and have been able to teach nothing good or useful."
There was need, then, of reform in education as well as in religion, and Luther took the burden of both upon his shoulders. As an educational reformer, he has earned for himself the world"s grat.i.tude. It must be admitted that Luther"s main purpose was the reformation of the Church, and that his educational work merely grew out of the need of general intelligence as a necessary adjunct to that work. Of the existing conditions, Compayre well says, "With La Salle and the foundation of the Inst.i.tute of the Brethren of the Christian Schools, the historian of education recognizes the Catholic origin of primary instruction; in the decrees and laws of the French Revolution, its lay and philosophical origin; but it is to the Protestant Reformation,--to Luther in the sixteenth century, and to Comenius in the seventeenth,--that must be ascribed the honor of having first organized schools for the people. In its origin, the primary school is the child of Protestantism, and its cradle was the Reformation."[53]
LUTHER (1483-1546)
Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, Germany, of poor and humble parents.
He was brought up under the rigid discipline of the typical German home, in which the rod was not spared. Upon this point he writes, "My parents"
severity made me timid; their sternness and the strict life they led me made me afterward go into a monastery and become a monk. They meant well, but they did not understand the art of adjusting their punishments."
When he was fourteen years of age, his parents, then in better circ.u.mstances, sent him to Magdeburg to prepare for the university. But the expense being too great, he was withdrawn from this school and sent to Eisenach, where he could live with relatives. Here he sang in the street for alms, and his sweet voice attracted the attention of Ursula Cotta, a wealthy lady, who took him to her own home and gave him an excellent teacher.
When eighteen years of age he entered the university of Erfurt, then a center of humanistic learning. He made marvelous progress in his studies until he took his degree. His father had intended him for the law, but Luther determined to devote himself to the Church, much to his father"s disappointment. Accordingly he became an Augustinian monk when twenty-two years of age. Unlike many of his brethren, he kept up his studies while in the monastery, and was called to a professorship in the new university at Wittenberg in 1508, where he found an ample field for his remarkable powers. Two years later, he went as a delegate to the papal court at Rome, where his eyes were opened to the condition of the Church in her holiest sanctuaries. Returning to Wittenberg, he continued his studies and his lectures, and drew about him a great number of students. His lectures and his writings against the practices of the Church became so p.r.o.nounced that he was summoned before the Diet of Worms and commanded to retract. This he refused to do in the memorable words: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise. G.o.d help me! Amen." On his return from Worms, fearing for his safety, his friends took him prisoner and confined him in the Wartburg castle at Eisenach. During the nine months of his confinement he translated the Bible into German.[54]
Luther took great pains to make the language so pure and plain that it could be understood by the common people, to whom he appealed. He was never ashamed of his humble origin. When he came to be the honored friend and trusted adviser of princes and kings, he was wont to say, "I am a peasant"s son; my father, grandfather, and remote ancestors were nothing but veritable peasants."
The language of Luther"s translation of the Bible became the standard German, which was to supplant the many dialects.
His great watchword was, "Make the people acquainted with the Word of G.o.d." But the Bible was of little use to the ma.s.ses so long as they could not read. Luther therefore set himself st.u.r.dily to the improvement of the schools, which were in a deplorable condition. He urged the principle of parental responsibility for the education of children.
"Believe me," said he, "it is far more important that you exercise care in training your children than that you seek indulgences, say many prayers, go much to church, or make many vows." His pedagogy const.i.tutes the foundation of the German common school system of to-day. Luther, then, must be remembered as the greatest educator of his time for two reasons.
1. _He gave the German people a language by his translation of the Holy Scriptures._
2. _He laid the foundation of the German common school system._
=Luther"s Pedagogy.=--1. Parents are responsible for the education of their children.
2. It is the duty of the State to require regular attendance at school of every child, and the parents must be held accountable for non-attendance.