Latest / Short History of the Christian Church / 037 - 6 The Schools of Charlemagne

Transcript

037 - 6 The Schools of Charlemagne · Short History of the Christian Church

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part one, Chapter six of Short History of the Christian
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter six The Schools of Charlemagne. The
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: rulers immediately before Charlemagne were of barbarian origin and had
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: no sympathy with the classic treasures. They could not appreciate
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the literary wealth of the countries which they conquered. They
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: even had little respect for the poetic literature of their
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: own countries. Theodoric could not even write his own name.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Charlemagne introduced a new order. He was the first of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the barbaric rulers to see the importance of learning, and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: while not educated himself, he knew the value of education
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: as a source of prosperity for his dominions. He surrounded
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: himself with learned men. Alanine of England was his adviser
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: in all literary matters. Charlemagne in true trusted him with the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: organization of schools, and had him report constantly concerning the
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: state of education among his subjects. Guizo calls Alanine the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: intellectual prime minister of Charlemagne. Longfellow draws the following picture
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of Alanine in the Palatine school in sooth. It was
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a pleasant sight to see that saxon monk with hood
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: and rosary, with inkhorn at his belt, and pen and book,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: and mingled love and reverence in his look. Or hear
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the cloister and the court repeat the measured footfalls of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: his sandaled feet, or watch him with the pupils of
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: his school. Gentle of speech but absolute of rule. But
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Charlemagne had other scholars about him, such as Clement of Ireland,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Peter of Pisa, Paul the Deacon, Eginhard, Paul of Aquileia,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and Theodolph. These were the true paladins of his literary court.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: The old universities of the classic world had been located
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: in the lands overrun by the Saracens, and were now
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: blotted out of existence. Their place was occupied by seminaries,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: where only theology was taught. The education of the better
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: part of Europe was in the hands of the church.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: The episcopal seminaries had been seats of clerical learning from
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the primitive period, but these had been interrupted by the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: onslaughts of the barbarians. Charlemagne saw their value, began to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: restore them to their old importance, and enlarged the curriculum
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of study. Out of these episcopal seminaries grew for centuries
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: afterwards some of the great universities of modern Europe. Charlemagne
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: took pains to establish grammar and public schools. These were
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: purely secular and were of popular character. They were preparatory
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to the seminaries and to all the secular professions. Theodolf,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Bishop of Orlean, was deputed to establish village schools for
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: all classes. Then, for the first time in Europe, learning
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was made free for all for the children of his court.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Charlemagne had schools connected with his palace or the School Palatine.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: To enrich the more ignorant portions of his empire. He
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: provided endowments for the support of schools. England, Italy and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Greece were drawn upon to furnish manuscripts for the new libraries.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: A special imperial constitution was adopted which regulated the course
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: of study and all other matters connected with the schools.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: The old trivium and quadricium arrangement was adopted. Under the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: former were embraced philology, logic and rhetoric. Under the latter, music, arithmetic,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: geometry and astronomy. Here, the average like Egenhard, grew up
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: in logic, point device, perfect in grammar and in rhetoric wise,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: science of numbers, geometric art and lore of stars, and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: music knew by heart a minacinger long before the times
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of those who sang their love in Indian rhymes. A
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: strong theological bias was given to all studies. Music was
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: largely limited to chanting, and astronomy to the calculation of Easter.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: The emperor took great pains to locate his schools in
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: proper places. That he was wise in his selection can
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: be seen in the fact that some of these schools
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: have existed ever since. He established about fifty schools of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: high grade. Italy, Germany, and France were most favored. Among
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the schools which he organized were the following Paris Tours,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Corbi or Leon, Leon To, Lues, Klugni, Mainz, Travese, Cologne, Utrecht, Falda, Paderborn,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and Hildasheim. The cultivation of national literature by Charlemagne was
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: a favorite pursuit. He ruled over a heterogeneous people. Some
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of the tribes were advanced and already had a taste
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: of the classic fountains, but the most were in dense barbarism.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: The emperor caused grammars to be compiled in the languages
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: of his Teutonic subjects, and collected the Bardic lays of Germany.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: He required that the sermon should be preached in the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: vulgar tongue, and that the common people should have the apostles,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: creed and the Lord's prayer in their own languages. Stripes
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and fasts were the penalty of neglect. Special measures were
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: taken for the circulation of the scriptures. Copies were multiplied
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: by the monks and were distributed among the schools. Many
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: found their way into private hands. Theological literature received a
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: strong impetus. The monasteries became busy places, and many of
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the monks became authors. Their works were largely reproductions of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the fathers, but occasionally the quiet atmosphere was disturbed by
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: an original manuscript. The decline in literary activity began immediately
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: after the death of the Great Charles. The church fattened
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: on his educational beginnings. The bishops and other clergy took
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: education into their own hands. The Carolingian kinglets were unable
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to cope with Rome when it began to grasp for
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the possession of the schools. From the sixth century, to
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the eighth. The education of Europe had been ecclesiastical. Under Charlemagne.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: It had broadened to a remarkable degree and struck its
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: roots deeply into the popular life. It was made the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: affair of the state and contributed infinitely to the development
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: of the church. But now a return to the old
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: order took place. The clergy having secured the school, its
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: broad scope was destroyed, its general adaptation to the professions
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and popular education was narrowed. The state lost it and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: never gained it until the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter six