Children of the Renaissance

"Renaissance," French for "rebirth," portrays the intellectual and economic changes that happened in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. During this era, Europe emerged from the economic stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced a time of financial growth. Also, and perhaps the most importantly, the Renaissance was an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turned in new directions (Annenberg/CPB).

Of all of the misconceptions of the Middle Ages, some of the most difficult to overcome involved life for children and their place in society. Our distorted view is understandable because evidence is scarce, and little work has been done on the topic by medievalists until recently. In addition, as is often the case with medieval studies, assumptions have been made by those who sought to hold up the modern age as "enlightened" in comparison to the "dark ages" that had gone before. It is these generally unfounded concepts that seem to be most common in people's opinions of the time (Snell: Childbirth, Childhood, and...).

Because the primary purpose of marriage at any level of society during the medieval times was to produce children, the birth of a new baby was usually a cause of joy with a slight element of anxiety. Even though the childbirth mortality rate at the time was not as high as some people make it out to be, there were still the possibility of problems such as birth defects, breech birth, and the death of the mother, child, or both. Also, even under the best circumstances, there was no anesthetic to lessen the pain (Snell: Childbirth). Even so, families still often had a new child every year. (Iannuzzo). On that note, it is not surprising that it was common for people to have twelve to fifteen children (Marszalek).

"Childhood," when a child was in the hands of domestic women, lasted until about the age of 7. At this point, an upper-class girl might be sent to a convent for schooling until she was either called home to marry a man she had never met or told to take the veil and save the family the expense of her dowry. An upper-class boy would be put in the hands of a "gouverneur" and may be sent to a "college" or tutored at home. There, he would learn public speaking, philosophy, Latin, etc. In a school, the hours were long, the discipline was harsh, the food was bad, and the heating was rare. All of this was thought to be good for one's character (Iannuzzo).

Some cities, such as London, had schools that children of both genders attended during the day. Here, they learned to read and write, a skill that became a requirement for acceptance as an apprentice in many Guilds (Snell: Schooling). The school day began at seven o'clock a.m. in winter or six o'clock a.m. in summer. After prayers, they worked until about nine o'clock when they were permitted breakfast, then they worked until eleven o'clock. Dinner was from eleven o'clock to one o'clock. The school day ended at five o'clock or 5:30 p.m. It was understood that students must have their education beaten into them, like their manners and behavior (Ros: What Every Schoolboy...).

The most elementary level of schooling was called petty school. There, children learned to read and write in English and do basic arithmetic. The main concept of petty school, however, was to get the children into grammar school. The petty school was often run by a young wife who taught the local children in her home for a small fee. The primary study of a grammar school was Latin grammar, using Lily's Grammar as the basic text, with Plautus, Terence, and Seneca as classical sources. Any history, literature, or drama was mainly a vehicle for illustrating the grammar. The function of the grammar school was to prepare the children for university, where courses were conducted in Latin, even after the Reformation. Music, modern languages, and science were irrelevant. Latin was also the language of international affairs, and men of affairs were expected to be able to communicate in it. Anyone who wanted to make his way in the world had to have at least an operational familiarity with Latin (Ros: What Every Schoolboy...).

A small percentage of peasant children managed to attend school in order to learn to read, write, and understand basic math. This instead, usually took place at a monastery. For this education, their parents had to pay the lord a fine and usually promise that the child would not take religious orders. When they grew up, these students would use what they had studied to keep the village or court records, or even to manage the lord's property (Snell: Schooling).

Noble girls, and on occasion boys, were sometimes sent to live in nunneries in order to receive basic schooling. Nuns would teach them to read and make sure they knew their prayers. Girls were very likely taught spinning, needlework, and other domestic skills to prepare them for marriage. Occasionally, such students would become nuns themselves (Snell: Schooling).

If a child was to become a serious intellectual, his path usually lay in the monastic life, an option that was rarely open to or sought by the average townsman or peasant. Only those boys with the noblest acumen were chose from these ranks. They were then raised by the monks, where their lives could be peaceful and fulfilling, or frustrating and restrictive, depending on the situation. Children at monasteries were most often younger sons of noble families, who were known to "give their children to the church" in the early Middle Ages. This practice was, of course, outlawed by the Church as early as the seventh century, but was still known to take place on occasion in the centuries that followed (Snell: Schooling).

Monasteries and cathedrals eventually began to maintain schools for students who were destined for the non-spiritual life. For younger students, instruction began with the skills of reading and writing and moved on to the Trivium of the Seven Liberal Arts: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. As they grew older, they studied the Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Younger students were subject to the corporal discipline of their instructors, but by the time they entered University such measures were rare (Snell: Schooling).

Advanced schooling was almost exclusively the province of males, but some females were able to acquire an admirable education nonetheless. However, in the later Middle Ages, nunneries suffered a drop in literacy, reducing available options for a quality learning experience. Higher education for females depended largely on the individual circumstances (Snell: Schooling).

In the twelfth century, cathedral schools evolved into universities. Students

...