In the preceding chapter and in this one we have traced briefly the great invasions, or migrations, which took place in western Europe, and indicated somewhat the great destruction they wrought within the bounds of the old Empire. In this chapter we have traced the beginnings of Christian schools to replace the ones destroyed, the preservation of learning in the monasteries, and the efforts of Charlemagne and Alfred to revive learning in their kingdoms. In the chapter which follows we shall describe the mediaeval system of education as it had evolved by the twelfth century, after which we shall be ready to pass to the beginnings of that Revival of Learning which ultimately resulted in the rediscovery of the learning of the ancient world.
1. Picture the gradual dying-out of Roman learning in the Western Empire, and explain why pagan schools and learning lingered longer in Britain, Ireland, and Italy than elsewhere.
2. At what time was the old Roman civilization and learning most nearly extinct?
3. Explain how the monasteries were forced to develop schools to maintain any intellectual life.
4. Explain how the copying of manuscripts led to further educational development in the monasteries.
5. Would the convents have tended to attract a higher quality of women than the monasteries did of men? Why?
6. Explain why Greek was known longer in Ireland and Britain than elsewhere in the West.
7. What was the relative condition of learning in Frankland and England, about 900 A.D.?
8. What light is thrown on the conditions of the civilization of the time by the small permanent success of the efforts of Charlemagne, looking toward a revival of learning in Frankland?
9. Explain how Latin came naturally to be the language of the Church, and of scholarship in western Europe throughout all the Middle Ages.
10. After reading the story of the migrations, and of the fight to save some vestiges of the old civilization, try to picture what would have been the result had Rome not built up an Empire, and had Christianity not arisen and conquered.
In the accompanying _Book of Readings_ the following selections are reproduced:
53. Migne: Forms used in connection with monastery life: (a) Form for offering a Child to a Monastery. (b) The Monastic Vow. (c) Letter of Honorable Dismissal from a Monastery. 54. Abbot Heriman: The Copying of Books at a Monastery. 55. Othlonus: Work of a Monk in writing and copying Books. 56. A Monk: Work of a Nun in copying Books. 57. Symonds: Scarcity and Cost of Books. 58. Clark: Anathemas to protect Books from Theft. 59. Bede: On Education in Early England. (a) The Learning of Theodore. (b) Theodore's Work for the English Churches. (c) How Albinus succeeded Abbot Hadrian. 60. Alcuin: Description of the School at York. 61. Alcuin: Catalogue of the Cathedral Library at York. 62. Alcuin: Specimens of the Palace School Instruction. 63. Charlemagne: Letter sending out a Collection of Sermons. 64. Charlemagne: General Proclamations as to Education. (a) The Proclamation of 787 A.D. (b) General Admonition of 789 A.D. (c) Order as to Learning of 802 A.D. 65. Alcuin: Letter to Charlemagne as to Books and Learning. 66. King Alfred: State of Learning in England in his Time. 67. Asser: Alfred obtains Scholars from Abroad. 68. Asser: Education of the Son of King Alfred. 69. Ninth-Century Plan of the Monastery at Saint Gall.