History of Education Part 15

The university of Oxford, England, was founded in 1140,[47] that of Cambridge in 1200. The oldest German university is Prague, founded in 1348. Then follow: Vienna, 1365; Heidelberg, 1386; Cologne,[3] 1388; Erfurt,[48] 1392; Wurzburg, 1403; Leipsic, 1409; Rostock, 1419; Greifswald, 1456; Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1457; Trier, 1472; Tubingen, 1477; and Mainz, 1477. In France, after Paris, Toulouse, 1233; Orleans, Cahors, Caen, Poitiers, Nantes, and others during the fourteenth century. In the same century at Lund and Upsala in Sweden, Christiania in Norway, and Copenhagen in Denmark. Italy, Spain, England, Ireland, and Scotland also felt this wonderful impulse. These universities were usually modeled after that of Paris.

The European universities were early granted certain privileges, many of which are accorded to this day. Indeed, some of these privileges were a.s.sumed and allowed before the inst.i.tutions had official recognition by charter. These educational a.s.sociations acquired so much influence and power that princes and popes vied with each other to gain favor with them by granting them special privileges. One of the most important of these is that the government of the student body rests with the university faculty, both as to their life in connection with the university, and also outside of it. Thus to this day if a student is arrested by the police, his case is turned over to the authorities of the university for trial and punishment. This was an important concession largely growing out of the fact that a great many of the students were citizens of other countries than that in which the university was located. It will readily appear that this privilege alone would have a tendency to create a world for university students and professors apart from that of the citizens. Doubtless the moral tone among the former was often very low. Students took advantage of the situation created by their peculiar privileges, and disregarded laws which the citizens were obliged to obey. Conflicts between these two cla.s.ses, therefore, were frequent and bitter.

The universities stimulated a desire for learning, created a respect for it, and began a movement toward free investigation, and for the promulgation of liberal ideas, which gains strength with each decade of the world's history. They have greatly contributed to the growth of knowledge, to the advancement of science, and to the elevation of mankind.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] The cathedral schools were inst.i.tutions connected with each cathedral for the purpose of training priests for their sacred office, but they were not limited entirely to priests. Instructions in the seven liberal arts was imparted, and also in religion. Parochial schools were established in many places for the purpose of training children in the doctrines of the Church. Thus, as early as the ninth century, the Church sought to extend the benefits of education to the people as well as to the priesthood. While the parochial schools were limited in their instruction, somewhat after the manner of the early catechumen schools, the changed conditions of Christianity permitted a much broader training than formerly.

[46] The complete university has four faculties, which embrace all human knowledge. The historical order of precedence is as follows: _Theology_ (1259-60), _Law_ (1271), _Medicine_ (1274), and _Arts_ or _Philosophy_ (1281). The last includes all subjects not embraced in the first three.

Thus all branches of science, history, language, mathematics, etc., belong to the "philosophical" faculty.

[47] Laurie, "Rise of the Universities."

[48] No longer in existence

CHAPTER XXV

MOHAMMEDAN EDUCATION

=Literature.=--_Warner_, Library of the World's Best Literature (see article on the Koran); _Johonnot_, Geographical Reader; _Lane-Poole_, Story of the Moors in Spain; _Lord_, Beacon Lights of History; _Thalheimer_, Mediaeval and Modern History; _Stille_, Studies in Mediaeval History; _Irving_, Mahomet and his Successors; _Church_, The Beginnings of the Middle Ages; _Andrews_, Inst.i.tutes of General History; _White_, Eighteen Christian Centuries; _Myers_, Mediaeval and Modern History; _Mombert_, Great Lives; _Clarke_, Ten Great Religions; _Ferris_, Great Leaders; _Laurie_, Rise of the Universities; _Walker, John Brisben_, The Building of an Empire ("Cosmopolitan," Feb.-Sept., 1899); "North American Review," Vol. 171, p. 754.

We have thus far described the work of Christian education. Parallel with this and almost entirely independent of it grew the educational work of the Moslems. This was a very important movement most valuable to civilization.

=History of Mohammedanism.=--Mohammedanism dates from the time of the Hegira, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca, A.D. 622. From this date Moslems reckon their time, as the Christian world reckons from the birth of Christ. Mohammed first appeared as prophet when forty years of age. The religion of the Arabs was a most degraded one, and there was great need of the reformation which Mohammed undertook. The prophet was not well received at first, and, being obliged to flee from Mecca, he retired to a cave at Medina, where he meditated and studied. It was during this retirement that he wrote the Koran, the Bible of the Mohammedans. He claimed that the angel Gabriel appeared to him, giving him a new revelation, which was more significant than that of the Christians. Indeed, these so-called revelations were strangely suited to the varying ambition of the founder of this religion. The Koran teaches that as Jesus was greater than Moses, so Mohammed was greater than Jesus.

There is no doubt that the new religion was an improvement upon the degraded form of wors.h.i.+p that Mohammed found among the Arabs, or that in the beginning of his activity he did much to purify and elevate his people. But as he gained great numbers of adherents, and as he acquired power, Mohammed became a warrior, and attempted by the sword to compel belief in his doctrines. Moslemism met with such wonderful success that already, during the life of Mohammed, all Arabia was conquered to this belief, while his successors spread his teachings into northern Africa, western Asia, Spain, and Turkey. They carried their triumphant arms into France, until they were checked by Charles Martel; they overran Austria and threatened the complete subjugation of southeastern Europe, until John Sobieski dealt them a crus.h.i.+ng blow before the gates of Vienna, and forever destroyed their ambition for northern conquest; they occupied Spain for seven hundred years, and still retain Turkey as their sole European possession; they have extended their power over many parts of Asia and Africa, until now they number about two hundred million souls.

The five chief Moslem precepts are:--

1. Confession of the unity of G.o.d. "There is one G.o.d, and Mohammed is his prophet."

2. Stated prayer.

3. Almsgiving.

4. The fast of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Mohammedan year.

5. Observance of the festival of Mecca. Every Moslem is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his lifetime.

=Education.=--When Mohammedanism became secure in its power, it turned its attention to education. The successors of Mohammed were called caliphs, and the caliphs of Bagdad and Cordova rivaled each other in fostering learning. Schools were established in all large Moslem cities and in many smaller towns. Their scholars translated the works of Aristotle and other Greek authors. They taught mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and grammar. They originated the science of chemistry, and made great advances in the study of algebra and trigonometry. They also measured the earth, and made catalogues of the stars. Every branch of knowledge was studied, and students were attracted from all parts of Europe to their schools, especially to Cordova.

Students lived in colleges with the professors, and there was an atmosphere of culture and investigation not equaled in any of the Christian universities of the Middle Ages.

Spain reached the summit of Moslem education during the reign of King Hakem III. (961-976). This king fostered education, being himself a man of learning. He had a private library of six hundred thousand volumes.

Education was not confined simply to the higher schools and universities. There were also a great many elementary schools. The first work of these was to teach the Koran, which was used as a reading book.

The Koran gives us the most perfect picture of the oriental mind that we possess. Children of the poor attended school from their fifth till their eighth year, when they were allowed to go to service. Children of the rich entered school at their fifth year and remained till their fourteenth or fifteenth year. After that, if parents could afford it, boys traveled until their twentieth year, under care of a tutor. This completed their education. Any person could teach who chose to do so, no authority fixing the qualifications of teachers.

The Mohammedan schools began to decline in the eleventh century. At the present time, but little attention is paid to education in any of the countries under the sway of Islam.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

1. Paganism gave way to Christianity, and the benign influence of the latter began to be felt in the recognition of the importance of the individual.

2. The Church undertook the direction of education, which, though necessarily limited chiefly to the ecclesiastics, had also a great influence upon the ma.s.ses at large.

3. The Church Fathers were the leaders in intellectual as well as in spiritual matters, while monks and priests were the princ.i.p.al teachers.

4. The monasteries were the centers of educational activity, both in fostering scholars.h.i.+p and in preserving cla.s.sic literature.

5. Secular courses of study were established, the most important being the "seven liberal arts."

6. Education was based on authority, and free investigation found but little encouragement, except among the scholastics.

7. The State a.s.sumed no part in the training of the young. Charlemagne's educational work is an exception to this rule. He a.s.serted the prerogative of the State to control education, recognized the necessity of universal education, and the principle of compulsory attendance.

8. The crusades checked the growth of feudalism, aroused the intellectual as well as the spiritual energies of the people, led to a broader conception of man's duty to his fellow-man, and prepared the way for greater religious and political freedom.

9. As an important result of the stimulated educational activity, both among Christians and Mohammedans, many universities were founded.

10. "The Middle Ages," says Emerson, "gave us decimal numbers, gunpowder, gla.s.s, chemistry, and gothic architecture, and their paintings are the delight and tuition of our age."[49]

FOOTNOTES:

[49] Emerson, Progress of Culture in "Letters and Social Aims," p. 204.

Boston, 1895.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE RENAISSANCE

=Literature.=--_Williams_, History of Modern Education; _Quick_, Educational Reformers; _Bryce_, The Holy Roman Empire; _Andrews_, Inst.i.tutes of General History; _Fisher_, History of the Reformation; _Reeve_, Petrarch; _Symonds_, Renaissance in Italy; _Seebohm_, Era of Protestant Revolution; _Spofford_, Library of Historical Characters; _Hegel_, Philosophy of History; _Draper_, Intellectual Development of Europe; _Azarias_, Philosophy of Literature; _Schwickerath_, Jesuit Education; _Dr. Ludwig Pastor_, History of the Popes, Vol. I, p. 54, etc.

As the fifteenth century drew to a close there were unmistakable evidences of the dawn of a better day, and the long period known as the "Dark Ages" was to be succeeded by a brighter and more glorious era. The sway of the Church over the consciences, lives, and material interests of men was disputed; the feudal system had begun to disintegrate; the world had been aroused to new enterprise by the discovery and exploration of distant continents, by the invention of paper, the printing press, gunpowder, and the mariner's compa.s.s; the Ptolemaic system of astronomy had been superseded by that of Copernicus; the great empires of the Middle Ages had disappeared, and upon their ruins had been constructed smaller nationalities which spoke a language of their own. The period in which these remarkable changes were taking place is known as that of the Renaissance. It cannot be confined to definite chronological limits, but is the period of transition from one historical stage to another, in which there was a "gradual metamorphosis of the intellectual and moral state of Europe." The Renaissance must be viewed as "an internal process whereby spiritual energies latent in the Middle Ages were developed into actuality and formed a mental habit for the modern world." It prepared the way for the Reformation, and introduced the era of wonderful progress upon which modern civilization has entered. It was the new birth, the regeneration (renascence) of the world.

A most important instrumentality for carrying forward the great work thus inaugurated was the Teutonic race. The despised northern barbarians, who had conquered Rome, had become civilized and Christianized, and were found to possess the sterling qualities which made them capable of bearing the great responsibilities of progressive civilization. The proud Roman Empire had at last succ.u.mbed to its internal weaknesses and vices, and had disappeared forever from the face of the earth.

With the greater enlightenment of men had come once more an appreciation of the value of the cla.s.sic languages, and Greek, the language of the Eastern Empire, was no longer regarded with antipathy. The revival of learning, which had its inception in Italy and spread northward, found its most important expression in the new interest awakened in the cla.s.sic languages. It is in this, the so-called humanistic phase of the Renaissance, that the student of education is chiefly interested. To this we turn our attention.