Medieval R & Christianity

Education in medieval times was brought on by multiple factors all occurring at the same time. The division of the empire into two main parts pushed “barbarians” to invade Roman territory in search of resources needed for survival. While this was taking place, the Christian religion spread steadily through the state until it was made the official religion of the empire in 323 (Lanham 80). The transition to Christian society deteriorated classical learning institutions, wearing them down to a thread. Whatever teaching was being done was done so in Latin, which spread to Rome’s provinces before collapse.

The spread of Christianity across Europe brought with it and explosion of creativity. Non-Romance language speakers had to devote much greater effort to learn the forms and syntax and vocabulary of Latin. These apt pupils soon displayed their accomplishments through abundant composition. This “Christian” Latin had enriched the classical Latin literature (Lanham 80). Although Christian teachers recognized the usefulness of classical analytics, the pagan nature of the material made many weary of adopting it. St. Augustine demonstrated how to bend these classical pagan ideas to serve Christian purposes. In the ninth century, Charlemagne ordered the founding of schools to improve the education of clerics and the Latinity of documents (Lanham 81). Though war continued after Charlemagne’s death, foundations for lasting education and schools had been established.



Prior to professional education, entrenchment within the Bible taught people style and arrangement, most often before they learned to read or write. Oral recitation of the Psalms, as with Dhuoda (who wrote a handbook of moral instruction for her teenage son), taught sentence structure, ornamentation, and stylistic devices through imitation. This prepared those entering the academic arena by already providing them with useful tools to use for the rest of their education.






Why don’t we see a continuance of sophistic ideas with the spread of Christianity and the revival of education?



(98) Given Quintilian’s edict on memorizing syllables and the Christian idea of meditation over scripture, what is the purpose of memory in medieval rhetoric?



(100)With poetry's central position in educaton, how did they impact Latin prose?