Education in the Middle Ages: The Medieval University and More

Many misconceptions exist about education in the Middle Ages (and about the Middle Ages in general). In fact, education was quite advanced compared with the ideas that people usually have in their heads. Most medieval people could read and write, and do some basic arithmetic (enough to pay their bills, count money, and keep track of accounts). What most people do not realize is that the opportunities for education were profound, and medieval education is the basis for most educational systems today.

Education depended largely on the individual family. Children in towns were generally educated to some level of reading and writing, along with the basic arithmetic necessary to run the family business, whatever that was. We know this because there are many surviving letters written by ordinary people, showing that generally people knew how to read and write at a basic level sufficient for everyday concerns.

Women were educated in household skills, which included cooking, sewing, weaving, dyeing, spinning, butchering animals, food storage, and servant management (which may have included payroll, and certainly including accounting for paying bills to tradesmen and employees). In addition, "genteel" women, that is, the royalty, the nobility, and the social climbers, were educated in "accomplishments" such as music, dancing, fine needlework, and other subjects. Tradespeople generally taught their daughters some math for accounting, as well as what they learned helping out in the family business, which may have included a wide variety of skills, including reading and writing. Those tradespeople who were well-to-do often educated their daughters in order to show off.

Women also had the option of the clergy, and in many convents reading, writing, singing, biology, and other subjects were nurtured and encouraged.

Men had several options: the military, in which case in addition to reading and writing, those who rose in the ranks were taught the trivium and the quadrivium; the clergy, which taught reading and writing (and those who showed promise were taught such skills as herbalism, cooking, and brewing); the trades, in which young boys were apprenticed to brewers, weavers, dyers, goldsmiths, woodworkers, and just about every kind of trade imaginable; and the universities, which at a minimum taught the trivium and the quadrivium. In the later Middle Ages universities were well-established, and specialized law schools and medical schools were attracting students from all over Europe and parts of Asia. Those students already knew how to read and write, which defies the presumption that most people in the Middle Ages were illiterate.

In Western Europe, many cathedrals, monasteries and convents held classes for adults and children in the area. Students were taught as much as the clergy knew; in some cases, that knowledge could be quite extensive. There were monks who had, before taking vows, been highly educated, and they readily passed on their skills in agriculture, brewing, and other useful occupations, as well as the basics of reading and writing.

Yes, that's right. Universities sprang up all over Europe during the Middle Ages, along with the degree system of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees. Medical schools and law schools requiring a Masters degree were well-established by the end of the Middle Ages (the law school at Bologna, Italy, and the medical schools at Montpellier, France, and Salerno, Italy were particularly prestigious and still are today).

Although women could not be admitted to universities, some attended classes at university, and before the official recognition of a school as a university, women were taught there (such as Héloise at what would become the University of Paris).

You did not have to be wealthy to attend university. Although in some universities teachers were paid by the students, many teachers were paid either by the Roman Catholic Church or by the State, and admission to these universities was inexpensive or free.

Some universities and the dates of their recognition (some were teaching for hundreds of years before gaining official university status):

Eleventh century:

• University of Bologna, Italy – 11th century, recognised as University 1088

Twelfth century:

• University of Paris, France – recognised as University 1150
• University of Oxford, England – 1096, recognised as University 1167
• University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy – recognised as University 1175
• Bosnian Church University, Moštre near Visoko, Bosnia (today Bosnia and Herzegovina) – recognised as University 1175 - Medieval university in Moštre was disbanded along with Ottoman advancement into Bosnian Kingdom between 1463-1528

Thirteenth century:

• University of Vicenza, Italy – recognised as University 1204
• University of Cambridge, England – 12th century, recognised as University 1209
• University of Palencia, Spain – recognised as University 1212
• University of Arezzo, Italy – recognised as University 1215
• University of Salamanca, Spain – 12th century, recognised as University 1218
• University of Padua, Italy – recognised as University 1222
• University of Naples Federico II, Italy – recognised as University 1224 by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
• University of Toulouse, France – recognised as University 1229
• University of Siena, Italy – recognised as University 1240
• University of Piacenza, Italy – recognised as University 1248
• University of Valladolid, Spain – recognised as University 1250
• University of Seville, Spain – recognised as University 1254
• Sorbonne, France (at the University of Paris) – recognised as University 1257
• University of Northampton, England – recognised as University 1261
• University of Montpellier, France – recognised as University 1289
• University of Coimbra, Portugal – recognised as University 1290 (in Lisbon)
• University of Macerata, Italy – recognised as University 1290
• University of Lleida, Spain – recognised as University 1300

Fourteenth century:

• University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy – recognised as University 1303
• University of Avignon, France – recognized as University 1303
• University of Orléans, France – recognised as University 1306
• University of Perugia, Italy – recognised as University 1308
• University of Treviso, Italy – recognised as University 1318
• University of Cahors, France – recognised as University 1332
• University of Stamford (or the Stamford Schism) - 1333 to 1334
• University of Angers, France – recognised as University 1337
• University of Grenoble, France – recognised as University 1339
• University of Pisa, Italy - recognized as University 1343
• Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic – recognised as University 1348
• University of Florence, Italy – recognised as University 1349
• University of Perpignan, France – recognised as University 1350
• University of Pavia, Italy - recognized as University 1361
• Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland – recognised as University 1364
• University of Vienna, Austria – recognised as University 1365
• University of Pécs, Hungary – recognised as University 1367
• University of Heidelberg, Germany – recognised as University 1386
• University of Cologne, Germany – recognised as University 1388
• University of Ferrara, Italy – recognised as University 1391 by papal bull
• University of Erfurt, Germany – recognised as University 1392
• University of Zadar, Croatia – recognised as University 1396
• University of Fermo, Italy – recognised as University 1398 by papal bull

Fifteenth century:

• University of Würzburg, Germany – recognised as University 1402 by papal bull
• University of Turin, Italy - recognized as University 1404
• University of Leipzig, Germany – recognised as University 1409
• University of St Andrews, Scotland – recognised as University 1413 by papal bull
• University of Rostock, Germany – recognised as University 1419 by papal bull
• University of Leuven, Belgium – recognised as University 1425
• University of Poitiers, France – recognised as University 1431 by papal bull
• University of Caen, France - recognised as University 1432
• University of Catania, Italy - recognized as University 1434
• University of Bordeaux, France - recognized as University 1441
• University of Barcelona, Spain – recognised as University 1450
• University of Glasgow, Scotland – recognised as University 1451 by papal bull