Book Review
The book by Nicholas Orme is an important study in the history of education of the medieval England, and it exceeds expectations of many scholars and laymen who are familiar in this subject. As this typical rendition will have it, medieval schools were far and few in the medieval times, and how the schools did exist to dominate in the field of religious subjects. The author presents a convincing case in something like the opposite of that view, as education was relatively widespread in the times of medieval England, and was typically provided in the non-monastic settings, when in most cases at the hands of the teachers, and the subject included many secular subjects, including even business skills. The common refrains in historical discussions in the field of education are prior in the modern age, particularly in reference to the introduction of the universally compulsory education, educational care was rare and exclusive commodity that was typically available to the clergy and only very rich people. At some levels this happened to be unavoidable, specifically in the times when the methods of production were primitive and in the frames of the productivity of
Labor they were extremely low; concerning the precious labor resources in the years of formal schooling that were nonsensical to the points of absurdity. Orme shows that even bearing the smaller numbers of people in mind, for which education activities could be
Feasible and very important for modest people, for whom formal education was good.
The book is written, first of all, for the audience of experts in the field of the medieval philosophy and education. The aim of this work is to convince readers of how medieval philosophy can contribute to the field of education in the modern context. Orme’s influence on the findings in this field are very significant, he reached his aim and clarified objects that were hidden, including the hidden intellectual discussions. This book is very significant to Orme, since he decides very good and makes important conclusions from the historical issues. Orme uses a specific framework for these books, and concentrates on the influence of church in the Medieval world, when education belonged to the monasteries, and mostly religious leaders could contribute to the educational issues. They had right to decide what to teach and how to teach, and people followed only obsolete ideas, concerning theology. Ruling the world with ideas was the aim of those who organized the medieval schools, and Orme understood this very well.
Nicolas Orme has made a good educational contribution in the context of the monasteries, but he nevertheless made a very important contribution to researches of education in the medieval England. For instance, in medieval schools Orme supports Leach’s startling conclusions about the role of education for people. He explains the freestanding schools as opened to public:
“Anybody (at least any boy) could go to them. Their teachers and pupils were secular priests, clerks, or laity who lived in the world, not people who withdrew from the world like monks, nuns, or friars. From the twelfth century onwards these were the major schools of medieval England, embracing a larger proportion of the population than the private schools in the households of the nobility or the schools of the religious orders.” (p. 55)
Education in the context of medieval England was too far from the uniformity, and thus we can have some local issues in the reading and musical issues that were taught in some schools and grammar issues in other, advanced schools, and especially in which every of these subjects can be taught in same institutions. Grammar could be taught even in more advanced manner than reading, and as involved in the reading and analytical affairs of the more advanced texts. Such texts could include many important works of the classical prose and poetry. Some descriptions of the ideal curriculums draft shortly after the year of 1200, and called upon students to learn “the useful compendium of morality which the multitude supposes to be that of Cato, and let him pass from the Eclogue of Theodulus to the eclogues of the
“Bucolics [of Virgil]. . . .Then let him read satirists and historians, so that he may learn about the vices to avoid in the age of minority, and let him look for the noble deeds of those [who ought] to be imitated. From the joyful. The baid [of Statius] let him pass to the divine Aeneid, nor let him neglect the poet [Lucan], whom Cordoba brought forth . . . . Let him reserve the moral sayings of Juvenal in the secrecy of his breast, and study hard how to avoid the shame fastness of nature. Let him read Horace’s Satires and Epistles and Art of Poetry and Odes with the book of Epodes. Let him hear Ovid’s Elegies and Metamorphoses, but especially let him be familiar with the little book [by Ovid] of The Remedy of Love. (p.97)”
It is known that in the medieval universities the secular subjects were taught in abundance, and in fact theology was at least a common degree (mostly as the law). In the opinion of Orme, such subjects could be also featured at the level of pre-university. By the 14th century, at the latest grammar schools who taught business skills for those who seek the employment in the field of trade and administration.
“Such instruction might include “dictamen” (the art of writing letters), the methods of drafting deeds and charters, the composition of court rolls and other legal records, and the keeping of financial accounts.” (p. 68)
In the period of 1200-1400, it was very common for the documents to be published in French, so the students could learn French as well. When desiring to call the attention to the frequently organized schools, Orme cannot seek to dismiss instructions dispensed by monasteries and some mendicant orders that made education much valuable beyond some confines of the members. When offering educational services to those who could not go and become monks was a common feature of the traditional education from the beginning: in the 6th century, St. Benedict instructed children of Roman nobles, and St. John Chrysostom explains us that it was custom in that days for the Antiochians to send sons to be educated in monasteries. St. Boniface established schools in all monasteries founded in Germany and England, as well as St. Augustine of Canterbury with his monks organized schools in many regions they visited.
“Altogether,” in the opinion of Orme, the importance of such schools in the religious context in medieval England cannot be doubted. They were responsible for the further education of large numbers of monks, canons, and friars in grammar, arts, and theology, and they enabled many thousands of lay boys and girls to be educated. . . . At university level they established some nine or ten communities at Oxford and half a dozen at Cambridge. (p. 287)”
Such type of education was too disrupted, if not that brought to the end, by Henry VIII’s dissolution for the monasteries in the 1530s. According to Orme, the medieval educators should show themselves in the context of new educational winds:
“They were meticulous in their analysis of Latin and inventive in teaching it to children. They devised the foreign-language textbook as we understand it, first for Latin and later for French. They helped create modern English, in its spelling and style, through using it for teaching Latin. They laid the foundations of the structure of schooling in England today: the custom of going to school between about five and eighteen, the hierarchy of primary and secondary schools, the three-term year, and the six-form organization. Even the philosophy of education was being studied by the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, from the works of continental scholars like Hugh of St. Victor, Vincent of Beauvais, and Giles of Rome. (p. 345)”
Nicholas Orme contributed enormously to the studies of medieval education; even he confined himself to English experience. “Apart from schooling for all,” he assumes,which did not become a national policy until the late nineteenth century, there is hardly a concept, institution, or practice of modern education that cannot be traced, somewhere or other, in medieval England. (p. 345).
This original book was printed on the heavy stock paper, lavishly illustrated in the scores of works of the medieval art. Shortly, the essential starting points for the future perspectives in the medieval education, and importantly in the context of contribution to the scholarships overturning in the caricatures to constitute the wisdom of the Middle Ages.
The books is a very emotional and is applied to the context of religious discussions and the role of education in the life of people. Orme criticizes the fact that common people could not use the right to learn in schools, and it was very difficult for them to use the opportunities if any. Monks could organize education, but they could not bring fresh ideas to the world, and even if people were being taught in monasteries, they just used some restrictions, and there were no other opportunity, but follow canonic rules perfectly.
Medieval education was very specific, and religious rules dominated in the society very much, so many issues were concentrated on the endeavors of people who were trying to bring new ideas to the society, especially in the modern context. When comparing medieval education to modern, it is worth to point out that many things were common, but today the role of education is not that formal. Those who wish to learn will learn, and it is even more important to give opportunity to learn, but not by force.
Orme gives hints about the reasons why medieval education did not succeed, and how issues were treated in the context of education. In any case, the author hoped to succeed with this book. Although it is staffed with many facts, this work is not that difficult to read, as many facts are described in a good manner. The book can be useful for those who study the main principles of education and how it is organized.
Orme is focused on the major problems of medieval education, and the main problem, in his opinion, is that of the level of organization of the medieval schools. For example, if organized in monasteries, these schools could be only very strict and ordinary. All that could be done is only the improvement of the style of education, and especially when revealing the main issues and aspects of how this style of education could be organized and ruled. In fact, in the context of Middle ages, not much could be done to improve education, but in any case, some efforts were applied even to that context. For example, some preachers and travelers who visited many regions of Europe were in seek of fresh ideas continuously, so this could not be treated as useless in the context of that time.
Orme’s books presents main issues that could be treated very positive, as well as many negative issues that were popular that days. Nowadays we can read this book and make judgments about how it can be applied in the modern context, and what can be done to find out how to make rules, restrictions and improvements to educate people well. The name of Orme can be appreciated much for his contribution with this book.
Orme, Nicolas. Medieval Schools. Roman Britain to Renaissance England. University Press Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries. 2007. Print.
