Their purpose was to prepare for the activities of the life in which their lot was cast; that of the monasteries was to preserve learning to fit men for the duties of the Church, and to prepare them for the life to come. It must not be inferred, however, that the knight was unmindful of religion, for he was inducted into knighthood by most solemn religious ceremonies and vows.
The education of the knight was divided into three periods.
=First Period.=--The first seven years of the boy"s life were spent in the home under the mother"s careful direction. Obedience, politeness, and respect for older persons were inculcated, and stress was also laid upon religious training. By the development of strong and healthy bodies the boys were well prepared for the later education upon which they entered after the seventh year.
=Second Period.=--After the seventh year the boy was generally removed from home to the care of some friendly knight, in order that he might receive a stricter training. Here he remained till his fourteenth year, chiefly under the care of the lady whom he served as page. He was taught music, poetry, chess, and some simple intellectual studies, besides the duties of knighthood, especially in relation to the treatment of women, and to courtly manners.
=Third Period.=--At fourteen the boy left the service of his lady and became an esquire to the knight. He now attended his master upon the chase, at tournaments, and in battle. He was taught all the arts of war, of riding, jousting, fencing. It was necessary that he should have a watchful eye to avert danger, protect his master, and quickly antic.i.p.ate his every wish. The service of this period completed his education, and at twenty-one he was knighted with imposing ceremonies. After partaking of the sacrament, he took vows to _speak the truth, defend the weak, honor womanhood, and use his sword for the defense of Christianity_.
This form of education was most potent in preserving knighthood for several centuries and was a powerful factor in shaping the destinies of Europe. It was faithfulness to the vow _to defend Christianity_ that led finally to the overthrow of chivalry, as will appear in the study of the crusades.
=Education of Women.=--The girls remained at home and were taught the domestic arts, as well as the forms of etiquette which were practiced in this chivalric age, and which the peculiar homage paid to woman made necessary. They were also taught reading and writing, and were expected to be familiar with poetry. Daughters of the better families were sometimes collected in some castle, where a kind of school was organized, in which they were instructed in reading, writing, poetry, singing, and the use of stringed instruments, religion, and sometimes in French and Latin. Among no other cla.s.s during the Middle Ages was such great attention paid to the education of women. It was the duty of mothers to see that their daughters were carefully prepared to sustain the peculiar dignity of feudal womanhood.
=Criticism of Feudal Education.=--1. It honored woman and gave her the highest position afforded by any system during the Middle Ages.
2. It gave the world a splendid example of chivalry, teaching manliness, courage, devotion to the right as it was understood, and the espousal of the cause of the weak.
3. It contributed to literature through the compositions of the _Minnesingers_.
4. It counteracted the ascetic tendencies of the monastics by encouraging an active partic.i.p.ation in life"s affairs.
5. It restricted its advantages to the privileged cla.s.s.
6. It despised intellectual training, while laying great stress upon physical prowess.
7. It lacked the elements of progress.
FOOTNOTES:
[41] "Mediaeval Europe," p. 478.
[42] _Ibid._, p. 480.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE CRUSADES AS AN EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT
=Literature.=--_Michaud_, The Crusades; _Stubbs_, Mediaeval and Modern History; _Mombert_, Great Lives (see G.o.dfrey); _Myers_, Mediaeval and Modern History; _Guizot_, History of Civilization; _Lord_, Beacon Lights; _Archer and Kingsford_, The Crusaders; _White_, Eighteen Christian Centuries; _Andrews_, Inst.i.tutes of General History; _Ridpath_, Library of Universal History (article on the Crusades).
Among the most remarkable movements that took place during the Middle Ages were the crusades. The Saracens had overrun and conquered the Holy Land, and the Christian nations of the west attempted to recover from the hands of the infidels the soil made sacred by the life and death of Christ. For a long time the pilgrims who made journeys to the tomb of the Savior were undisturbed, as their pilgrimages were a source of profit to the Saracens. But when the Turks gained possession of Jerusalem, they began to persecute both the native Christians and those who came from abroad. Peter the Hermit, who had suffered from these cruelties at Jerusalem, returned to Europe, and by his crude eloquence and earnestness stirred the people almost to a frenzy. Obtaining the sanction of the Pope, he gathered an immense crowd of men, women, and children, and started for the Holy Land.
They encountered great hardships, many died of hunger, disease, and the hostility of the people through whose countries they pa.s.sed, and the remnant who reached the Bosporus, were totally destroyed by Turkish soldiers.
The first successful crusade was organized by the feudal lords, who gathered an army of six hundred thousand men under the leadership of G.o.dfrey of Bouillon. They had connected with their army one hundred thousand splendidly mounted men. After untold losses and horrors, which reduced their forces to sixty thousand men, they succeeded in taking Jerusalem. They established a Latin kingdom with G.o.dfrey at the head, and thus accomplished the purpose for which they had set out. This crusade lasted from 1096 to 1099.
For about fifty years the Latin kingdom held its own; but it was constantly hara.s.sed by the Mohammedans, until it became necessary to organize a second crusade. The leaders in this were Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France. Jealousies soon arose between the rival leaders, who cared more for personal glory than for the purpose of the crusade. As a result, only a small portion of the three hundred thousand soldiers ever reached the Holy Land; and this crusade, which lasted from 1147 to 1149, resulted in failure.
Forty years later Saladin, a Mohammedan ruler, having captured Jerusalem, a third crusade was organized. This was led by Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, and Philip Augustus of France. Barbarossa went overland, but Richard and Philip, profiting by past experiences, made the journey by water, thus accomplishing it with greater ease and fewer losses. The rivalries between the different nationalities engaged prevented successful warfare; but a truce was made with the humane Saladin,[43] whereby he guaranteed protection to the Christians, and thus the crusade came to an end. This crusade lasted from 1189 to 1192.
Other crusades followed from time to time for several centuries, with but little advantage gained over the conditions granted by Saladin.
=Results of the Crusades.=--This, in brief, is a historical account of the crusades.[44] It remains for us to note their educational value.
1. They drew various nations together by one common purpose.
2. They increased the knowledge of the manners, customs, culture, products, and civilization of the East.
3. They stirred up commerce, especially that of the Mediterranean, making Venice and Genoa great commercial centers.
4. They broke up the power of feudalism. Lord and va.s.sal together entered upon enterprises of danger and suffering, which were great levelers of cla.s.s distinction. In the enthusiasm of the holy cause, many feudal lords disposed of all their worldly possessions, and became as poor as their va.s.sals. This broke up the feudal estates.
5. They widened the horizon of thought, made Europeans more liberal, and prepared the way for an intellectual and religious revival.
6. They emanc.i.p.ated philosophy from theology. As a result of movements inaugurated by the crusades, the university of Paris established the faculty of philosophy separate from that of theology.
7. G. W. c.o.x says, "By rolling back the tide of Mohammedan conquest from Constantinople for upward of four centuries they probably saved Europe from horrors the recital of which might even now make one"s ears tingle."
FOOTNOTES:
[43] See Lessing"s "Nathan der Weise."
[44] It would be impossible to give a full historical account of the crusades in a work of this kind. The reader is referred to any standard work on that subject.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE RISE OF THE UNIVERSITIES
=Literature.=--_Laurie_, Rise of the Universities; _Hallam_, Middle Ages; _Guizot_, History of Civilization; _Paulsen_, The German Universities; _Hurst_, Life and Literature in the Fatherland; _Brother Azarias_, Essays Educational.
We have seen that the Church had almost entire control of education during the Middle Ages. Through her influence schools were established and maintained, learning was preserved, and the interests of civilization were promoted. She was also influential in the founding of universities, though not to her alone were these inst.i.tutions due.
Laurie says:--
"Now looking first to the germ out of which the universities grew, I think we must say that the universities may be regarded as a natural development of the cathedral[45] and monastery schools; but if we seek for an external motive force urging men to undertake the more profound and independent study of the liberal arts, we can find it only in the Saracenic schools of Bagdad, Babylon, Alexandria, and Cordova. The Saracens were necessarily brought into contact with Greek literature, just when the western Church was drifting away from it; and by their translations of Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, and other Greek cla.s.sics, they restored what may be quite accurately called the "university life"
of the Greeks."
The first universities, however, can hardly be said to have been inspired by the influence of the Church. Nor did the State a.s.sist in their establishment, though it afterward sanctioned them, and conferred upon them their peculiar privileges. The first universities grew out of organizations of scholars and students who joined themselves together for the purpose of study and investigation. The oldest inst.i.tution of this kind was that of Salerno, Italy, which Laurie says was a "public school from A.D. 1060, and a privileged school from 1100." It taught medicine only, and was established by a converted Jew. It was entirely independent of both Church and State, and attracted students from many countries.
The next university was that of Bologna, Italy. It also had only one faculty, that of law. In 1158 Frederick I. recognized the inst.i.tution by giving it certain privileges. It awakened widespread interest throughout Europe, so that by the end of the twelfth century it is estimated that twelve thousand students had flocked to Bologna, most of them from foreign lands. This is an indication that the revival of learning was quite general throughout the world.
But the greatest university of the Middle Ages was that of Paris, which attracted at least twenty thousand students. The university of Paris was evolved from a cathedral school, and it always retained a strong theological tendency. Philip Augustus gave it privileges as a corporation, and Pope Innocent III. recognized it as a high school of theology. The course of study was by no means narrow, as it was held that broad knowledge was essential as a preparation for theological study. Consequently it was not long before a philosophical faculty[46]--the first in history--was added as separate from the theological faculty. The greatest name connected with the university of Paris is that of Abelard. Early in the twelfth century he attracted great numbers of students, and it was his personality that made Paris the greatest university of the Middle Ages.