Question

Seminars about medieval education

Answer 1

As we have mentioned in our disclaimer, most of our articles examine historical scholarship of the Middle Ages in England and North France from 1060-1550. This is not going to be the case with this article. Medieval education in Europe was so varied from place to place that it can not be covered by just this remit. We will be mentioning England, France, the Italian states, Spain and Scotland. This article will not cover the education of crafts- and tradesmen, which will be the topic of a later article regarding Guilds and Craftsmen.

The importance of education

It is estimated that by 1330, only 5% of the total population of Europe received any sort of education. For most people, education during the medieval times was not deemed a necessity. Its need only became apparent with the rise of bigger kingdoms, which relied on skills like administration, arithmetic and, of course, the written word, in order to manage them.

Even then education, as we understand it, was not accessible or even desired by everyone. Schools were mostly only accessible to the sons of high lords of the land