CHAPTER III

.

THE EDUCATIONAL REVIVAL.

The Danish invasions checked temporarily the remarkable educational progress this country was making. Beginning early in the ninth century, the era of Danish reconnoitring excursions closes with the year 855; the era of methodical plundering with the year 876. As a consequence of their various immigrations, the greater part of the English coasts were ruined and devastated. Towns and ecclesiastical buildings were plundered and burnt. "The Church with its civilising and cosmopolitan influences was for a time swept out of great districts which fell momentarily into heathen hands."[74]

After a long and fierce struggle with the invaders, Alfred, the West Saxon king, held them in check, and compelled them to make peace with him. Subsequently, in the tenth century, through the successive efforts of Alfred's son, daughter, and grandson, the territory formerly yielded was regained.

From the ruin and desolation that the Danes had occasioned, it was the aim of King Alfred to raise his country. No sovereign could recognise more fully the value of Education than Alfred did. His general attitude is evidenced by the preface he wrote to his translation of Gregory the Great's _Pastoral Care_. In it he refers to the reputation that this country at one time enjoyed on account of the wisdom and learning of its clergy. Then he proceeds to show that the decay that had set in had been so great that learning had practically disappeared from the country. He aimed at making his people familiar with the contents of some of the chief religious books, and, as the knowledge of Latin had by this time practically died out in the country, he sought to get them translated "into their own land-speech." Not content with simply expressing a wish that this might be done, he endeavoured to stimulate the efforts of others by the example he set. In order that education might make greater progress in the future, he suggested that every English child born of free condition and who had the means or faculty, should during his youth "be given over to teachers ... till such time as they may know well to read English writing." Those who evinced an interest in letters should then proceed to a study of Latin.

It is an interesting question to consider how and where these educational advantages were to be secured. Alfred himself had written: "So clean was learning fallen off from among English folk that few there were on this side Humber that could understand the service in English or even turn an errand writing from Latin into English. And not many were there, I ween, beyond Humber. So few they were that I cannot bethink me of so much as one south of the Thames when first I took the kingdom." The suggestion of Alfred is that "now we must get these from without if we would have them." Unfortunately no reliable evidence is available to assist us in suggesting an answer to the problem.

The educational activities of Alfred are described at length in Asser's _Life of Alfred_.[75] The authenticity of this life, however, has been called in question, and though Stevenson argues strongly in its favour yet the evidence against is so strong that it is difficult to admit its claim to be considered what it professes to be. Still, even if the work is not a ninth century production, there is indisputable evidence of its existence in the tenth century. We can, therefore, regard the work as setting out the educational ideas which tradition, at any rate, considered to be in harmony with the character of King Alfred. From this pseudo-Asser, we learn that Alfred first acquired the power of reading Anglo-Saxon by the aid of a master, who was most probably one of the priests associated with the court. Alfred's ambition to learn Latin was difficult of accomplishment because of the scarcity of teachers of that subject. For the education of his children, Alfred arranged that they, together with the young nobles and some promising youths of lower origin, should be instructed by masters who should teach their pupils to read both Latin and Saxon. Thus the king established at his court a Palace School similar to that founded by Charles the Great.

Though all the details given in Asser cannot be accepted as true, yet the general statement that Alfred played an important part in stimulating the educational activity of his country is unquestioned. His efforts must be regarded as the beginning of a national concern for education, as Alfred, though a pious and religious king, was actuated not by a desire to recruit the ranks of the priesthood but by a wish to make his subjects capable of discharging more effectively the duty they owed to the state. This, he considered, could be secured through education. If this contention is sound, then Alfred was the first Englishman to recognise the sociological significance of education.

There is, unfortunately, no evidence that the efforts of Alfred, in the direction of improving the education of his country, met with any success. There would be practical difficulties in securing a sufficient number of keen and capable priests from abroad; the secular clergy of this country had scarcely proved equal to the trust reposed in them. To the thoughtful observer of the day the end in view could be obtained only through the restoration of monasticism. We learn that Edgar, as a youth, had made a vow to restore as many monasteries as possible,[76] but "until Dunstan and Athelwold revived learning in the monastic life, no English priest could either write a letter in Latin or understand one."[77] We must therefore turn to those "three torches" of the Church--Dunstan, Oswald, and Athelwold--in order to learn how a revival of interest in education was effected.

We are fortunate in possessing two biographies of Dunstan which were practically contemporary writings, as one was written within sixteen, and the other within twenty-three years of his death. "Both of these are dedicated to his successors, who knew him well, as being his fellow scholars and his own disciples." Dunstan was born at Glastonbury in 925, and the old monastic buildings in a semi-ruinous condition still existed there at that time. They were then tenanted by some Irish scholars who had come to Glastonbury to visit the tomb of Patrick the Younger.[78] To these clerks Dunstan was sent at an early age for instruction. He made rapid progress and not only acquired a mastery of grammar, but also showed excellence in other branches of study.[79] Consequently, he exposed himself to the charge of "studying the vain poems and trifling histories of ancient paganism, to be a worker of magic."[80]

Dunstan, whilst still a young man, was introduced to the court of King Athelstan by Aldhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, stated by Adelard, one of the biographers of Dunstan, to have been his uncle. A serious illness and the jealousy of some of the nobles led to Dunstan's retirement from court. On the advice of Alfeah the Bald, bishop of Winchester, he took the monastic vows,[81] and in 946 was made Abbot of Glastonbury. He did all in his power to develop the growth and importance of the monastery, and it is interesting to find that under his rule, the establishment of Glastonbury was more of a school than a monastery; "the words 'scholasticus' and 'discipulus' come more naturally than 'monachus.'"[82] After holding various bishoprics, Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury in 959, and was then in a position to undertake the task of restoring the monastic conditions of the country and consequently of stimulating its educational

## activities.

Turning to the coadjutors of Dunstan in his work of reform, we note that Athelwold (who became Abbot of Abingdon in 953, and Bishop of Winchester in 965) was one of his pupils. He attained "a most generous skill in the art of grammar and the honeyed sweetness of verse; he was not only familiar with the Bible, but also with the catholic and most famous authors."[83] Oswald, the other colleague of Dunstan, had been for some time an inmate of the monastery at Fleury.

The point which we wish here to emphasise is that the men of the time who were in a position to judge were of the opinion that the only effective method of producing a reform in the educational condition of the country was primarily through the erection of monasteries, destined to be centres of intellectual activity. With this object in view, they used every possible means to build or restore monasteries in different parts and to place over them men who were not only spiritually minded but who were also men of learning and ability. We learn that in pursuance of this policy, forty monasteries for men and eight for women were erected during the reigns of Edgar and his sons.[84] The men at the head of these institutions taught personally in the schools. Thus we learn of Dunstan being in charge of the school at Glastonbury,[85] and of Aethelwold who "did not scorn ever to explain the difficulties of Donatus and Priscian to little boys."[86]

Efforts were also made to keep in touch with foreign monasteries, especially those of Ghent, Corbeil, and Fleury. These monasteries were appealed to, to send men of learning to the English monasteries, and also for advice in the conduct of the monasteries.[87] In 968 the Abbot of Ramsey sent to Fleury for a master to rule the schools, because "the study of letters and the use of schools had almost died out in England."[88] The master sent in response to this appeal was Abbo, who is described as being well versed in the trivium and the quadrivium.[89] Abbo spent two years at Ramsey and wrote a book _Quaestiones Grammaticales_ for the purpose of testing the knowledge acquired by the monks of his monastery.[90] Among the pupils of Abbo was the anonymous author of the _Vita S. Oswaldi_ (a work which shows that the writer was a man of culture and learning), and Byrhtferth, who wrote commentaries on Bede's mathematical treatises and shows a knowledge of Latin authors.[91]

In 817, by the council of Aachen, it had been decreed that no one was to be admitted to the monastery schools unless he was destined for the monastic life. It does not appear that this distinction was observed in England during the Saxon period, and it seems probable that the English monasteries continued to receive pupils irrespective of whether or not they intended ultimately to enter the monastery. Thus we learn that the scholars of Dunstan at Glastonbury were of all ages, from the little boy[92] to the man who had already taken priest's orders.[93] Then, of the pupils of Wulfstan, we learn that they included both young and old, and that many of them subsequently became secular priests.[94] Again, in the picture drawn by Aelfric of a monastery school of the period,[95] it will be noted that the pupils included not only a professed monk but also others who were engaged in secular pursuits. We also read that the boys who attended the school at Ramsey Abbey were allowed to go outside the cloisters for play and recreation.[96]

We may summarise the educational work of Dunstan and his comrades by pointing out that a new race of scholars sprang up in the restored cloisters, some of whom were not unworthy to be ranked with the disciples of Alcuin and Bede. One of these pupils was Aelfric,[97] at one time Abbot of Eynsham, who is of special interest as the writer of certain educational and other works: an Anglo-Latin Grammar, a Glossary, and a translation of various extracts from Latin writers into Anglo-Saxon under the title of _Homilies_. Aelfric's _Grammar_ is of special interest from the point of view of the study of the principles of teaching, as it indicates the writer was desirous of presenting his subject to his pupils in such a manner as to facilitate their progress. "I am well aware," he writes, "that many will blame me for being willing to devote my time to such a pursuit as to turn the _Art of Grammar_ into English. But I destine this lesson book for little boys who know nothing, not for their elders. I know that words can be construed in many different ways, but to avoid raising difficulties I follow the simplest meaning."[98]

From Aelfric's _Colloquy_ we are able to learn something of a monastic school at work. The _Colloquy_ consists of a dialogue between the master and various boys, and was intended as a First Latin Exercise book. Aelfric accompanies the Latin prose with an Anglo-Saxon interlinear translation. The dialogue opens with the request from the boys that the master would teach them to speak correctly. This, of course, relates to the ability to converse freely in the Latin tongue. Incidentally, the next question throws some light on the mode by which it was then customary to stimulate the boys to apply themselves to their school tasks.

_Master_: "Will you be flogged while learning?"

_Boy_: "We would rather be flogged while learning than remain ignorant; but we know that you will be kind to us and not flog us unless you are obliged."

Then, towards the end of the _Colloquy_, there is a conversation between the Master and a professed monk.

_M._--"Were you flogged to-day?"

_B._--"I was not because I was very careful."

_M._--"And how about the others?"

_B._--"Why do you ask me that? I daren't tell you our secrets. Each one knows whether he was flogged or not."

Of the boys in the supposed school, one was a professed monk, others were ploughmen, shepherds, hunters, fishermen, hawkers, merchants, shoemakers, salters, and bakers. The daily routine of each of them is gone through, and in this way an extensive vocabulary is introduced. One of the passages implies that the school was not restricted to the "free" classes. Thus, after the ploughman has given an account of his day's work, the dialogue continues:--

_M._--"O magnus labor est."

_A._--"Etiam, magnus labor est, quia non sum liber."

Then the boys in turn argue which occupation is the most useful, and a counsellor is called in to decide the question. The _Colloquy_ closes with some good advice: "All you good children and clever scholars, your teacher exhorts you to keep the commandments of God and behave properly everywhere. Walk quietly when you hear the Church bells and go into Church and bow to the Holy Altar, and stand quietly and sing in unison, and ask pardon for your sins, and go out again without playing to the cloister or to school."[99]

So far we have described the monastic revival that took place under Dunstan. Dunstan, however, quite clearly realised that the monasteries alone would not provide sufficient opportunities for the revival of education in England. Though nearly fifty monasteries had been erected, yet that number would meet the need of only a comparatively small section of the community. Further, no monastic institution north of the Humber (with the doubtful exception of Ripon) had escaped the destruction wrought by the Danes. Under these circumstances, Dunstan determined to stimulate the parish priests to a sense of their duty in the matter of education. In the preceding chapter[100] we noted that about 797, Theodulf of Orleans had promulgated certain canons at a diocesan synod; these canons Dunstan adopted, and secured their enactment for this country. They run:--[101]

10. And we enjoin that no priest receive another's scholar without the leave of him whom he formerly employed.

11. And we enjoin that every priest in addition to lore do diligently learn a handicraft.

12. And we enjoin that no learned priest put to shame the half-learned, but amend him if he know better.

13. And that every Christian man zealously accustom his children to Christianity and teach them the Pater Noster and Creed.

22. And we enjoin that every man learn so that he know the Pater Noster and Creed, if he wish to lie in a hallowed grave, or to be worthy of housel; because he is not truly a Christian who will not learn them, nor may he who knows them not receive another man at baptism, not at the bishop's hands ere he learn them.

21. And we enjoin that priests diligently teach youth, and educate them in crafts that they may have ecclesiastical support.

It is impossible to estimate the extent to which these canons were complied with. It is, however, noteworthy that evidence exists that in the first half of the tenth century it was customary for boys of good family to receive education from a priest. Thus Odo, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 942-959, was taught "by a certain religious man while a boy in the household of the thane Athelhelm."[102] Again, Odo's nephew, Oswald, was taught by a priest named Frithegode, who is said "to have been skilled in all the learning of that age in England, both secular and divine."[103]

In dealing with education in Anglo-Saxon times, it is necessary to use even the slightest evidence of the existence of educational activity. Domesday Book is, of course, the great authority for the social condition of England at this period, and it is essential we should turn to that work for the purpose of investigating whether or not it contains any references which in any way relate to education.

As Professor Vinogradoff tells us, we get a good deal of information in the "Survey" about the tenure of churches.[104] "They are a necessary element of every township organisation. The parish church is the "tun kirke" of Old English times, and a tenement of a hide or two virgates is of right reserved to it." The parish priest was remunerated in various ways, partly by tithes, partly by glebe, partly by "church scot." It is in connection with this latter payment that we can trace a connection between the churches and education. In 376 A.D., Gratian issued an edict, which was applied in Britain, that teachers were to be paid in "annones," that is, a measure of corn. Now "church scot" was a species of tax imposed on houses or buildings for the payment of the priest.[105] There are two passages quoted by Vinogradoff which seem to connect this payment of "church scot" with the "annones," which were perhaps originally intended as payments for the work of the priests as teachers of schools. On page 441 he writes:--

"Every socman possessed of a hide has to pay one carriage load of corn, called annona, to his parish church, and there is a provision for the case of non-performance of this duty as in Worcestershire." And on page 418 we read that "the shire gave evidence that the church of Pershore ought to have church rent from 300 hides, that is, one load of corn from every hide in which a franklin is settled."

It is not suggested that any stress should be laid on these extracts. They are interesting as indicating the possibility that a part of the remuneration of the parish priest was a payment for his services as a teacher.

In Domesday Book itself, three references to education have been traced:--

1. Wilton Church in Wiltshire was endowed for teaching.[106]

2. Lands in Oxfordshire were given by King Edward the Confessor to the Abbey of Westminster for the education and support of a novice.[107]

3. Aluuid, a young woman, held half a hide of the demesne lands at Oakley (Bucks) for teaching the daughter of Earl Godric.[108]

Taken alone, these instances do not amount to much, but when they are considered in relation to the decrees and custom of the Church and the canons promulgated in the reign of King Edgar, they tend to support the contention that provision for education was actually made in the various parishes of this country.

Turning next to the Collegiate Churches, whether of a cathedral dignity or not, we note that no evidence of their scholastic activities is available until after the Danish conquest. Then we learn that when Canute visited a famous monastery or borough, he sent there "at his own expense boys to be taught for the clerical or monastic order."[109] This statement is made by a contemporary of the king and is consequently worthy of credence. It was repeated by Abbot Samson who wrote about a century later. Samson, however, exaggerates matters and states that Canute was "so great a lover of religion" that he established public schools[110] in the cities and boroughs "charging the expense on the public purse."[111]

It is difficult to say what these statements mean. They may mean that Canute gave further endowments to particular churches on the understanding that an additional priest, who would be responsible for the teaching of the boys, would be maintained, or that endowments were given to monasteries with the implied understanding that they were given to meet the expenses incurred in the support of the boys intended for a monastic profession. Again, it is probable that by now the custom had grown up of requiring payments from the boys who attended the classes of the priests; in that case the statements would simply mean that Canute made certain grants to the particular church to free those whom he nominated from any further charges.

The account available of the foundation of Holy Cross Collegiate Church, Waltham, and its re-foundation by Earl Harold,[112] enables us to understand the organisation of the Collegiate Churches of the period and the nature of the provision made for education. Originally, there were only two clerks on this foundation; Earl Harold by additional endowments made it possible for eleven further clerks to be added. Just as the monasteries sent to Fleury and other monasteries of note for guidance in the conduct of their monasteries, so it appears that some of the Collegiate Churches sent abroad for guidance in the direction of their institutions. Thus we learn that, at Waltham a certain "Master Athelard" came from Utrecht that he might "establish at Waltham Church the laws, statutes, and customs both in ecclesiastical and in secular matters of the churches in which he had been educated."[113] The church seems to have been organised on the model of a monastic community; a number of clerks lived together under specified rules; discipline was strictly enforced. A dean, described as "a religious man, illustrious for his character, well known for his literary learning," was placed over the clerks. The schoolmaster was apparently a most important official; his authority seems to have equalled that of the dean; he taught reading, the composition of prose and verse, and singing.[114] A stringent discipline prevailed. We learn that the boys of the choir "walked, stood, read and chanted, like brethren in religion, and whatever had to be sung at the steps of the choir or in the choir itself they sang and chanted by heart, one or two or more together, without the help of a book. One boy never looked at another when they were in their places in choir, except sideways and that very seldom, and they never spoke a word to one another; they never walked about the choir.... And in walking in procession from school they go to choir, and on leaving the choir go to school."[115]

Between thirty and forty churches of secular canons are registered in Domesday Book, the majority of which were founded during the reign of Edward the Confessor. Among these pre-Conquest Collegiate Churches were All Saints' Church, Warwick, Beverley Minster, and St. Martins-le-Grand, London. At each of these churches one of the priests acted as schoolmaster, and so we assume that wherever a Collegiate Church was founded, there it was customary to delegate the task of giving instruction in Latin and Music respectively to definite persons. We know that at Warwick and Beverley there was a separate master for Song, and hence we may infer that, wherever possible, separate instructors were provided for these subjects.

It must, however, be admitted that the direct evidence of general education during the Anglo-Saxon period is slight and that we are consequently largely driven to conjecture. We are justified in definitely asserting that some of the monasteries were centres of intellectual

## activity, and that systematic education was given in connection with some

of the collegiate churches. It is also extremely probable that it was a general custom for the parish priest to give instruction in Latin to those who wished for such instruction, but it is impossible, so far as our knowledge goes now, to assert anything more than probability in this connection.

## BOOK II.

THE CHURCH IN CONTROL OF EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTORY.

The second stage which we propose to trace in connection with the evolution of education, is that in which the responsibility for the provision of educational facilities, the organisation of education, the control and the recognition of teachers, were tacitly regarded by the State as among the functions which ought to be undertaken by the Church.

A consideration of this question will involve, as a necessary preliminary, some reference to the political ideas of the Church in the Middle Ages. It would be difficult to discover any ideas which could be considered as political in their character in connection with the labours of those mission priests who were responsible for the introduction of Christianity into England. Separation from the body politic, rather than a desire to

## participate in its activities, was a distinguishing characteristic of

those monks who formed the nucleus of the Catholic Church of this country. With the progress of time, however, a change in this respect became evident. The Church tended to develop into a great social and quasi-political institution, and the question of the relation of the ecclesiastical to the secular power became of increasing importance. Various factors contributed to produce this result. Not the least significant of them was the development of the Feudal System, to which is due, to a great extent, the development of the temporal power and rank of the Church, because the great ecclesiastics were not only the leading men of the Church but also great feudal lords.

By the Feudal System is meant the system of government prevailing in Western Europe in medieval times. Though the problems connected with its origin and development cannot yet be regarded as definitely settled, yet opinion is practically united upon the main points; such differences as continue to exist relating mainly to minor points of detail. We may summarise the essential features of Feudalism in its more complete forms by saying that "the State no longer depends upon its citizens, as citizens, for the fulfilment of public duties, but it depends upon a certain few to perform specified duties, which they owe as vassals of the king, and these in turn depend upon their vassals for services which will enable them to meet their own obligations towards the king."[116] In other words, the individual citizen had little or no consciousness of any duty he might owe to the State; his horizon was limited by his responsibilities to his over-lord.

It is possible to trace the origin of the Feudal System to two practices known to Roman Law. One of these was the "precarium." Under this form the small landowner, induced by a fear of the effects of the disordered condition of the times, gave up his land to some powerful landowner whose position was strong enough to command respect. This land he received back again no longer as owner but as tenant. The other practice--the "patrocinium"--was of a similar character. The poor freeman, desirous of the protection he could not otherwise secure, attached himself to the household of a great lord, and in return for the protection thus gained he gave to the rich man such services as a freeman might perform.

At the time of the Frankish invasion of Gaul, these practices were found in operation, and as they corresponded in their main features to customs current among the Franks, the German customs and the Roman customs merged the one in the other and in their new form were adopted by the invaders. The coupling of the special obligation of military service as a condition of land tenure was strengthened by the efforts of Charles the Great. The growth in size of the Frankish empire, resulting in campaigns being necessary at great distances, produced a modification of the existing practice. Of special significance was his ordinance that the vassals should come into the field under the command of their lords; as a result, each lord endeavoured to secure as fine a body of vassals as possible. Gradually it thus came about that the inherent duty of the citizen to defend his country "was transferred from a public obligation into a private contract." The Feudal System developed further when other functions of the State passed into the hands of individuals. Of great importance in this connection was the acquisition of the power of "jurisdiction," by which the administration of justice passed out of the power of the State so far as persons residing within the limits of the fief were concerned. Thus it gradually came to pass that all real power passed from the State and centred in individual lords with the result that patriotism and a common national feeling were almost entirely wanting.

Yet, from the very time of its origin, the Feudal System contained within itself factors which influenced its decline and fall. The only force that held together a fief was the personal ability of the successive generations of lords, coupled with the nature of their success in maintaining order and security and in compelling outlying landlords to recognise their supremacy. But vassals were ever ready to throw off their allegiance and to assert sovereign rights, if the opportunity occurred, and neighbouring great barons would not scruple to entice the vassals of a rival to change their over-lord. When the Feudal System became fixed, such things might become less frequent, but, generally speaking, the law of the survival of the strongest prevailed.

Sooner or later, the Feudal System was certain to result in a period of anarchy. In this country, that period occurred on the death of Henry I., when the feudal party refused to abide by the oaths which the late king had made them swear to his daughter Mathilda. The Peterborough continuation of the English Chronicle describes this period of anarchy "in words with which in their pregnant simplicity no modern description can possibly vie."[117] "They filled the land full of castles, and filled the castles with devils. They took all those that they deemed had any goods, men and women, and tortured them with tortures unspeakable: many thousand they slew with hunger ... and they robbed and burned all the villages so that thou mightest for a day's journey nor ever find a man dwelling in a village nor land tilled. Corn, flesh, and cheese, there was none in the land. The bishops were for ever cursing them but they cared nought therefor.... Men said openly that Christ and His saints slept. Such and more than we can safely say we suffered nineteen years for our sins."

Apart from the practical and tangible effects of the Feudal System, medieval theorising on politics brought forward arguments to support the contention that the Church was not only distinct from, but was in certain essential respects superior to, the State. The starting point in such theorising was the dogma of the two powers, the Spiritual and the Temporal, the power of the priesthood derived from the King of Kings, the power of the State derived from the ability to exercise force.

Ecclesiastics maintained that of these two powers the greater dignity pertained to the spiritual. This arose directly from the views of the early Church as to the relative importance of the earthly life and of the life to come. To save souls was more important than to regulate physical life; hence, those whose function it was to save souls were not only more worthy of honour than those who simply sought to control temporal

## activities, but they possessed an authority of a higher and more

responsible character. The claim of the Church to a power of inspection and correction in reference to the behaviour and motives of secular rulers enhanced its authority still further. To the sacerdotal mind not only were princes laymen, but of all laymen they were the class most prone to sin and consequently were most in need of clerical censure. Among the duties of the kings which were imperatively insisted upon were "respect for and protection of the Church and her ministers." Hincmar, Gregory VII., and Innocent III. are prominent among those who may be quoted as the protagonists of the claim to ecclesiastical pre-eminence.

A weapon of great value in the enforcement of ecclesiastical demands was that of excommunication and anathema. This was considered to correspond to the death penalty of the Mosaic law, the employment of the sword of the Spirit. If, however, the fear of excommunication was insufficient to gain from a reluctant monarch respect for the wishes of the Church, then the power of deposition was resorted to. The authority to do this was based on the power claimed by the Church of absolving their members from the oaths of allegiance they had taken. This power was of special significance in a feudal state of society, at a time when the tendency to renounce allegiance was continually present and opportunity and pretext alone lacking.

The Norman Conquest not only intensified the development of the Feudal System in this country, but it also contributed largely to the recognition of the separate power of the Church. The Conquest had resulted in the administration of the country passing under the control of men who were "better managers, keener, more unscrupulous, less drunken and quarrelsome, better trained, hardier, thriftier, more in sympathy with the general European movements, more adventurous, more temperate.... The result was inevitably better organisation, quicker progress, great exactions and oppressions in Church and State."[118] Moreover, the invasion had claimed to possess a religious character and to have for its object the regaining of an heritage which had been "filched by a perjured usurper." The existing archbishops, bishops, and abbots fled or were deprived of their positions, and their places were filled, generally but not always, by men of foreign race. These men were not merely ecclesiastics, but were feudal lords in addition, and the temporal possessions they held in virtue of their dignities were not only considerable in themselves but, owing to various causes, were continually increasing. The clergy were thus in possession of increasing powers and additional interests, separate from and independent of the rest of their countrymen. The tendency was more and more marked for the Church to become conscious of her temporal powers, to feel jealous of her privileges, and insistent upon her rights.

This analysis of the relationship of Church and State, as it developed subsequent to the Norman Conquest, is necessary to enable us to realise the part taken by the Church in regard to education. The Church was not conceived of as a spiritual organisation existing simply for the purpose of promoting a closer fellowship between God and man, but rather as the partner of the State, and as having under her control all those national

## activities which might be described as "spiritual" in the special sense in

which the term was employed at that time. Hence the central authority of the State was merely the organisation which controlled the activities which were definitely temporal. Regarded from the point of view which was common from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, education was essentially "spiritual," and consequently was classed under the activities for which the Church alone was responsible.

We pass next to consider the social and economic condition of the country during that period in which the Feudal System was the prevailing system of government. This is necessary because experience has shown that a close connection exists between the social and economic condition of a country and its system of education, in fact, it is impossible properly to understand the educational organisation of a country apart from its social development.

The Manorial System may be regarded as the social counterpart of the feudal mode of government. When the Manorial System first emerges upon the stage of history it is recognised that two elements enter into its constitution, the seignorial and the communal; a lord and a group of dependents having rights in common. The origin of the manor is a problem which is still obscure. The question at issue is whether a servile population, working for a superior who was absolute owner of the land, existed "from time immemorial," or whether, at a particular stage of the development of a free community, an overlord succeeded in gaining the ascendancy and in imposing his will upon it. Two theories have been advanced. The Mark theory[119] maintains that a certain district, marked off from districts of a similar character, was held in common ownership, and that the Manorial System arose when through some particular cause the authority of a lord became recognised. The other theory is that set out by Seebohm in his _English Village Community_, where a connection is traced between the early English village and the Roman vill, and the conclusion arrived at that the English villages were servile and manorial from the earliest days of the Anglo-Saxon period.

Without attempting to express an opinion as to these two hypotheses, we may take "Domesday Book" as our starting point. From that book, we learn that over the greater part of England, villeins, cottars or bordars, and slaves made up the whole of the population of the country apart from the governing classes. Subsequent to the Norman Conquest, we can trace a rapid increase in the number of free tenants, due to a variety of circumstances, of which the chief were (1) the commutation by villeins of their services for money payments, (2) the enclosure and letting out of portions of the waste land, (3) the renting of portions of the lord's own demesne. The term "free tenants," as Professor Ashley has shown, is elastic enough to cover men in very different positions, "from the military tenant who had obtained a considerable holding in return for service in the field, down to the tenant who had received at a money rent one or two acres of the demesne, or of new cleared ground."[120] The larger number of those who were known as free tenants were clearly virgate-holding villeins or their descendants, who had commuted their more onerous labour services of two or three days a week for a fixed sum of money, and who had been freed from what were regarded as the more servile "incidents" of their position.

In practice the manorial system implied that freedom of movement and choice of occupation scarcely existed. Even before serfs could send their children to school, it was necessary that the consent of the lord should be obtained, and in many cases fines were exacted before this permission was granted. Thus, in the single manor of Woolrichston, in Warwickshire, we learn that in 1361, Walter Martin paid 5s. for the privilege of putting his son "ad scholas"; in 1371, William Potter paid 13s. 4d. that his eldest son might go "ad scholas," and Stephen Prout paid 3s. 4d.; in 1335, William at Water paid for a licence for his younger son William "ad sacrum ordinem promovendum."[121]

The point which we wish to emphasise here, is that the only real social distinction on a manor was that between a lord and his tenants. Between these two grades there was a great gulf fixed. Socially, they were as far asunder as the poles. Between the tenants themselves the social separation was slight. "The yardling and the cotter worked in the same way; their manner of life was the same."[122] Even the priest in charge of the majority of the village churches belonged to the same social grade as his parishioners, and, in many cases, he was as poor as any of them, and glad enough to get a few acres and to add to his income by joining in the common agriculture.[123]

Passing from the villages to the towns, we may note that at the time of the Norman Conquest there were only about eighty towns in England, and that most of these towns were distinguishable from the villages only by the earthen mounds which surrounded them. Even a town of the first rank cannot have had more than 7,000 or 8,000 inhabitants. Until the second half of the twelfth century, the majority of the burgesses still occupied themselves principally in the cultivation of the common fields, and only a minority specialised in trade or handicraft.[124]

Meredith distinguishes four stages in the evolution of a town, but he also makes the important proviso that though the majority of the towns passed through these various stages, yet it cannot be said that any one type of organisation prevailed in any given half-century. Certain factors might combine to make a particular town of great importance and to facilitate its rapid progress; hence the stage of development reached by one town early in the twelfth century might not be attained by another town until a century or more later. The stages are:--

(1) The embryo municipality is but slightly differentiated from a manorial village.

(2) The inhabitants increase in number and in wealth and are able to purchase self-government. At this stage a gild merchant is formed.

(3) The gild merchant loses its importance; its legislative and judicial work is undertaken by the municipality, whilst the separate craft gilds look after the interests of the various trades.

(4) The clear demarcation between town and country breaks down. The capitalist and wage-earning classes emerge and the central government makes inroads into the legislative powers of the municipality and gradually dispenses with the executive work of the crafts.

Is it possible to trace a connection between a social and economic condition such as we have described as existing in the manors and towns, and education? It is obvious that there could be little or no demand for education, because, before education is demanded, its value must be perceived. During this period there could not exist any idea of the culture value of education, the value of education for its own sake. Those who held official positions as bailiffs or stewards in connection with manorial estates might find a certain amount of education of value, but neither the demands of commerce nor the amenities of social life were sufficiently insistent to create a wish for education.

The main demand for education at this time came from those who desired some position or other in connection with the Church. As will be shown in a subsequent chapter, the Church provided facilities for education for three reasons: as a partner of the State she was responsible for providing it; as holding the view that intellectual training was necessary for moral perfection it was, of necessity, her mission to supply it; and in order that a sufficient number of adequately equipped clerks should be forthcoming, it would be imperative that she should take the necessary

## action.

An important question now arises. To whom did the Church offer facilities for education? To the gentry and nobility? To the middle classes? Or to the labouring classes? This question must be considered, partly because it arises out of our analysis of the social structure, and partly because of the views expressed by various writers on English education.[125]

The nature of the education received by the children of the "nobility and gentry" will be considered in