Sustaining Culture and Education in Europe
Monasteries were unrivalled in their production of books, and the architectural landscape of medieval Europe was shaped by ecclesiastical buildings, including monastic. The laity bestowed on monastic orders large sums of money or pieces of land and with these gifts, the monasteries were able to finance their cultural endeavors. However, monasteries were essentially worlds in microcosm. Their contributions to European culture existed in an enclosed world set apart from the difficulties of secular life (Clark, 2007, 3). The books they produced, along with illuminated manuscripts, were for their own use and not enjoyed by the public. In addition, churches, not monasteries, were more commonly visited by the laity. Monasteries were not for the enjoyment of the public.
Regarding education, universities did not begin to appear until the end of the period, so monasteries were the biggest source of learning (“The First Universities”; Gardner, 1996, 80). While the education within the monasteries was undoubtedly a large driving force in the advance of learning of the monks themselves, the same cannot be said for secular learning. Most men who studied at monasteries were either monks, or later became one, meaning that any learning they partook of inside the monasteries had little impact outside the walls (“Medieval Education”, 2008). In addition, the majority of learning at monasteries was directed toward theology – not much use to someone who had no dreams of a career in the church. There is also evidence to suggest that despite the abundance of teachers available in the monasteries, most wealthy families preferred to have their children educated in the home, and hired tutors independent of monasteries to do so (Gardner, 1996, 80).
Ultimately, it appears that despite their reputation for culture and learning, monasteries did not have the huge impact on Western civilization that has sometimes been assumed. Art and culture was produced for the use of the monks themselves, not society in general. And while it is true that monasteries were centers of learning, European civilization was not sustained by this education, only the monks. Early medieval monasticism sustained itself with culture and learning instead.
References
Clark, J. G. (2007). Introduction: The Culture of Medieval Monasticism. Studies in the
History of Medieval Religion, Volume XXX, 1-20.
Gardner, E. J. (2006). The English Nobility and Monastic Education, c.1100-1500. The
Cloister and the World: Essays in Medieval History in Honour of Barbara Harvey, 80-94.
Medieval Education. (2008) Retrieved from http://www.medievality.com/education.html
The First Universities. n.d. Retrieved from
http://babylon.acad.cai.cam.ac.uk/people/dmh/engineering/engineer03l/cefirstuniv.htm
