Page 273 - Encyclopedia Of World History

education 623

The School of Athens, a fresco in the Camera della Segnatura of the Vatican, Rome.

strong Frankish monarchy was crucial to this period and subject of the songs of troubadours and minstrels.At the
was solidified by the accession of Charlemagne to the same time there began a consolidation of various kinds
throne in 768 and his crowning as emperor by the pope of advanced professional and liberal schools and institu-
in 800. Charlemagne encouraged scholarship and used tions, the beginning of European universities, mostly in
the palace school to promote learning, while directing the south and west, in the late twelfth century such as
that monasteries and abbeys conduct schools and that, Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Salamanca, and Padua.
where possible, parish churches should do so as well.
The importance of Charlemagne’s efforts lies in the re- Islam
vival of learning and the marrying of Latin and Christian Arabic education was influenced by Islam ever since the
traditions. time of the Prophet in the sixth century, establishing two
important traditions—the provision of schools in con-
Diversity of Schooling nection with mosques and the preservation and devel-
In feudal Europe social divisions were reflected in differ- opment of the intellectual achievements of the Greek and
ent educational forms. For example, the majority of serfs the Hellenistic world, including mathematics, medicine,
or peasants had little access to formal education since and the works of Plato and Aristotle.The Islamic empire
most schooling focused on priestly or other service to the of the seventh century, especially, became a repository of
church. Chivalry and its ideals developed as a form of scientific knowledge and a publishing center for books,
training for the nobility and knighthood, and became the a collector of manuscripts, and a builder of libraries and