During the Middle Ages we see many evolutions of scholastics and tendencies of education within the society. The education of people came from the monasteries and cathedrals, from which many universities today are inspired by. There was teachings of grammar, mathematics, sciences, and philosophy, however, a large portion studied law. A text from the 12th century created a guiding for studying and going about Canon Law, known as the Decretum. It was a collection of 3,800 texts that showed regulations and church discipline that was by a Benedictine monk known as, Gratian. 
During the 5th and 6th century we see the Benedictine rule arise under St Benedict, himself. During his rule he created a set of regulations that were appointed by him and the church to try and clean up the behavior of the people. However, the regulations were rather intense and some even seemed to be a little absurd, like don’t be to happy. Some of the texts within the Decretum were derived from the benedictine rule, there are probably a few texts that came straight from Benedict himself. This collection of texts changed the way people studied Law and even modified the Papacy. Popes were no longer coming from just monasteries anymore, rather they started to emerge from the people who studied canon law and were highly involved in the Papal politics (Bennet 182-183). Alexander III was an example of such a feat, along with many of his successors, changing how people saw the papacy and the study of law.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Gratian's Decretum.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28 Jan. 2015, www.britannica.com/topic/Gratians-Decretum.
Bennett, Judith M. Medieval Europe: a Short History. McGraw-Hill, 2011.
interesting to see how religion still manifested itself, even if a slight undertone, in aspects of education other than theology...
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see how the church thought absurd rules could change followers behavioural patterns during this period of time. The fact that a rule such as "don't be to happy" existed is even comical. Good post Zach.
ReplyDeleteNice reference to Bennett. 3800 laws.
ReplyDelete3800 laws to regulate the way of life. It makes me wonder exactly when the separation of religious and secular invaded academia and people started focusing more on the behavior and action human to human and less human to god. Great post.
ReplyDelete