Medieval Education: From Schools to Universities

Explore the history of education in the Middle Ages through the development of schools, curriculums, the growth of universities, and the diverse individuals who were involved in teaching and learning during this 1000 years of history.

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This six-week course includes live 90-minute sessions with the instructor each week. Sessions consist of lecture, discussion of readings, and Q&A.

Week 1

What Makes Education Medieval?

In the first week we will explore what makes education during the Middle Ages distinct, and how education created and continues to define what it means to be ‘medieval’. We will explore the late Roman system of education inherited in medieval Europe, and the foundations of a Christian system of learning.

Week 2

Teaching and Learning in the Carolingian World

Learn about the origins of the so-called “Carolingian Renaissance,” how it shaped the rest of the history of education, and the ancient texts it did (and did not) preserve for modern readers. We will also discuss the travel of scholars across Europe, particularly the famed British teacher and court intellectual Alcuin.

Week 3

The High Middle Ages: Eleventh-Century Manners and Twelfth-Century Arguments

This week we transition into the High Middle Ages, when growing populations and cities led to much more complicated and numerous urban schools. We will explore the rise of scholastic thought and the popularization of – and problems with – scholars spending a lot of time arguing with each other.

Week 4

Language and Learning: Vernacular Educational Traditions

In week 4 we will take a detour from our core story to look at different traditions from around Europe, and the diversity that arose as new educational systems developed in the Middle Ages. The focus will be on regions with distinct textbooks written in local languages, especially Iceland, Ireland, and Northern Italy.

Week 5

The Medieval University

We introduce the medieval university, an institution that both developed into the modern university, and is surprisingly different from it. We will see how universities spread across Europe, how they redefined formal education, and their many entanglements with issues like papal politics and urban life.

Week 6

Humanists, Lutherans, and Printing: The End of Medieval Education

In the final week, we will look at the ways we can think of a distinctly ‘medieval’ education coming to an end, for religious, technological, and academic reasons. At the same time, we will discuss the many continuities between medieval and modern education that can show us how traditions, ideas, and practices from the Middle Ages are still with us.

Meet your Instructor

Ryder Patzuk-Russell

Dr. Patzuk-Russell is a historian specializing in medieval Iceland, Old Norse language and literature, and the medieval Church. The history of education has been a fascination of his since he first learned how strange and eclectic medieval Icelandic grammatical textbooks could be. His first book, The Development of Education in Medieval Iceland, was published in 2021. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Silesia in Katowice in Poland researching the late medieval period in Iceland, focusing on monasteries, the Church, and social networks.

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    Course materials are available for three months from the first course session.