In the hands of the Church which wished to mould him into a Christian knight, the feudal baron was a very intractable individual. No one could be more brutal or more barbarous than he. . . . ... The Church said "Moderate your courage." They did moderate it, and their savagery by degrees became their prowess. . . . First loyalty, then largesse, then moderation, and finally that perfection of civilized chivalry which we call courtesy. Honour crowns them all. "Death rather than dishonour": the whole code of chivalry is contained in these four words, which, by the grace of God, have become a commonplace term with us. It is the grand saying of Hue le Maine, brother of the King of France, before Antioch: "Who does not prefer death to dishonour has no right in seignorie." And throughout the Middle Ages this motto was preserved. No matter in what sequence the Church bestowed these virtues upon the warrior, she gave him a definite aim and object — a precise law. The law was the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments of chivalry, which we propose to illustrate. The object was to enlarge the Kingdom of God on earth. When our knights attended mass one might have seen them, before the reading of the second lesson, draw their swords and hold them unsheathed in their hands until the reading of the lesson was finished. This defiant attitude seemed to imply their readiness to defend the Gospel. "If the Word is to be defended, we are ready." This is the whole spirit of chivalry. 81. Educational Influences of the Church Services (Draper, J. W., History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, vol. II, p. 202. New York, 1876) For the great mass of the people of western Europe there was no other education during the long Middle Ages than that given by daily toil, training to do what others had done before, and the religious services of the Church. Draper describes very well the influence of the last in the following selection. And yet we must not undervalue the power once exercised on a nonreading community by oral and scenic teachings. What could better instruct it than a formal congregating of neighborhoods together each Sabbath-day to listen in silence and without questioning? In those great churches, the architectural grandeur of which is still the admiration of our material age, nothing was wanting to impress the worshipper. The vast pile, with its turrets or spire pointing to heaven; its steep inclining roof; its walls, with niches and statues; its echoing belfry; its windows of exquisite hues and of every form, lancet, or wheel, or rose, through which stole in the many-colored light; its chapels, with their レ pictured walls; its rows of slender, clustering columns, and arches tier upon tier; its many tapering pendants; the priest emerging from his scenic retreat; his chalice and forbidden wine; the covering paten, the cibory, and the pix. Amid clouds of incense from smoking censers, the blaze of lamps, and tapers, and branching candlesticks, the tinkling of silver bells, the play of jewelled vessels and gorgeous dresses of violet, green, and gold, banners and crosses were borne aloft through lines of kneeling worshippers in processional services along the aisles. The chanting of litanies and psalms gave a foretaste of the melodies of heaven, and the voices of the choristers and sounds of the organ now thundered forth glory to God in the highest, now whispered to the broken in spirit, peace. 82. How the Church Urged that the Elements of Religious Education be Given (Statutes Diocesan Council, Winchester Diocese, England. Leach, A. F., History of Winchester College, p. 40) The following statutes, dating from 1295, are interesting as showing the mild pressure exerted by the Church in one English diocese to secure a little learning for the members and their children. In the churches near the school of the city of Winchester or in other walled cities of our diocese, let scholars only be appointed to carry the holy water. Moreover, let the rectors, vicars, and parish priests take care that the boys in their parishes know the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Salutation of the Blessed Virgin, and how to cross themselves rightly. Let inquiry also be made of the grown-up laymen when they come to confession whether they know this exactly, that if by any chance they do not know it, as is very often the case, they may be taught it by the same priests. Let boys' parents also be induced to let their boys, when they have learnt to read the psalter, learn singing also, so that after they have learnt higher subjects they may not be compelled to return to learn this, nor as being ignorant of this be always less fit for divine service. 83. Licenses to be Required to Teach Song (From the Chapter Acts of Lincoln Cathedral, England, 1305; trans. by A. F. Leach) This document shows how carefully the Precentor, or others acting for him, guarded the right to license elementary or song schools in the bishopric of Lincoln, England. Be it remembered that on Saturday next after the feast of the Con version of Saint Paul all the parish clerks of the churches of the city of Lincoln were teaching boys in the churches singing or music; and being present in chapter before Masters Robert de Lacy and William of Thornton, who charged them that they had held adulterine schools to the prejudice of the liberty of the mother church, they firmly denied that they were keeping any schools in the churches, or teaching boys singing; but as they could not deny that they had at some time done so, the said Masters Robert and William made them swear, holding the most holy Gospels, that they will not henceforward keep any adulterine schools in the churches, nor teach boys song or music, without license from the (Song) Master. 84. Form of Appointment and Oath of a Grammar-School Master The following notice of appointment as a schoolmaster at Northallerton, in 1385, shows a form of notification of election to a position as teacher used at that time in England. (a) Appointment of Master of Song and Grammar School, Northallerton, 15 December, 1385 (Leach, A. F., Early Yorkshire Schools, vol. I, p. 61) Robert, Prior of the Cathedral Church of Durham, Ordinary of the Spiritualities of Saint Cuthbert in York diocese, to our beloved in Christ, Sir William of Leeds, chaplain, health in the embraces of the Saviour. Considering you on the praiseworthy evidence of trustworthy persons sufficient and fit to teach boys as well song as grammar, We confer on you by these presents our school of Allerton, as well of song as of grammar, as they have been heretofore accustomed to be conferred, by way of charity. To have and to rule from the date of these presents for the term of three years next following as long as you behave yourself well and uprightly, and personally show effective diligence in teaching boys. In witness whereof our seal is appended to these presents. The following oath of office of a grammar-school master at Cambridge, England, dating from c. 1276, to the Archdeacon of the diocese at Ely, shows the ecclesiastical control exercised over grammar schools in the diocese. (b) Oath of a Grammar-School Master (The Archdeacon of Ely's book; trans. by C. H. Cooper, in his You shall swear obedience to the archdeacon of the church of Ely and his officers, and will never attempt anything, by yourself or through another, nor after your power permit any attempt against his archidiaconal jurisdiction. You will swear further that you will, during your time, bear faithfully all the charges falling on the Cambridge Grammar School according to the hitherto approved custom, without any extortion from the scholars of the aforesaid school; and if anything shall be otherwise attempted by you or by another in your name, you grant that you are, in virtue of the oath you have taken, ipso facto deprived of the same school until you shall have been able to obtain redress from him whose business it is. All this you promise that you will observe faithfully. So help you God etc. CHAPTER VIII INFLUENCES TENDING TOWARD A REVIVAL OF LEARNING THE Readings of this chapter are illustrative of a number of the more important movements which took place in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and which did much to prepare the way for the rise of the universities in the thirteenth century and the revival of learning in the fourteenth. The development of a new and, for the time, wonderful Mohammedan civilization in Spain; the rise of Scholasticism within the Western Church; the recovery of the Roman legal code, the revival of the study of Roman law; the restoration of the old city life and commerce; and the rise of merchant and trade guilds in the cities - these were the most important of the new influences and movements which indicated that a revival of learning in the western world was about to begin. The first of these new influences was the rapid development of Mohammedan civilization and learning in Spain. The influence exerted by this on western Europe, chiefly through the introduction of the lost texts of Aristotle and some new mathematical knowledge, is indicated in the Readings. The first selection (85) pictures the Mohammedan civilization at its best, and the second (86) reveals their remarkable scientific work. The next selection, which is a list of Aristotle's works known to western Europe by 1300 (87), shows the extent to which Christian Europe drew upon Mohammedan translations. The greatness of Aristotle's mind is testified to by the Mohammedan Averroës (88), while the reception given to his writings in the rising universities at Oxford and Paris is indicated by the testimony of Roger Bacon (89) and the four extracts from the Paris Statutes (90 a-d). The latter extend over a period of forty-four years, and cover the time from the earlier prohibition of his works to their later full acceptance by the Western Church authorities. The new questioning attitude of a few thinkers within the Church, another of the new movements of the time, is well shown by the extracts from Abelard's new textbook on Theology, Sic et Non (91 a-b), while the great reconciling and harmonizing work |