Cathedral school

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Cathedral schools
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The cathedral school of Trondheim, founded in 1152, is the oldest school in Norway. Today, the Katedralskole serves as secondary school.

Cathedral schools began in the

medieval universities.[1] Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools
. Some of these early cathedral schools, and more recent foundations, continued into modern times.

Early schools

archivolts over the right door of the west portal at Chartres Cathedral

In the later

Visigothic Spain at the Second Council of Toledo in 527.[2] These early schools, with a focus on an apprenticeship in religious learning under a scholarly bishop, have been identified in other parts of Spain and about twenty towns in Gaul (France) during the sixth and seventh centuries.[3]

During and after the mission of

oldest schools continuously operating. A significant function of cathedral schools was to provide boy trebles for the choirs, evolving into choir schools, some of which still function as such.[citation needed
]

Admonitio Generalis required that schools be established in every monastery and bishopric, in which "children can learn to read; that psalms, notation, chant, computation, and grammar be taught."[4] Subsequent documents, such as the letter De litteris colendis, required that bishops select as teachers men who had "the will and the ability to learn and a desire to instruct others"[5] and a decree of the Council of Frankfurt (794) recommended that bishops undertake the instruction of their clergy.[6]

Subsequently, cathedral schools arose in major cities such as Chartres, Orleans, Paris, Laon, Reims or Rouen in France and Utrecht, Liege, Cologne, Metz, Speyer, Würzburg, Bamberg, Magdeburg, Hildesheim or Freising in Germany. Following in the earlier tradition, these cathedral schools primarily taught future clergy and provided literate administrators for the increasingly elaborate courts of the

Characteristics and development

Cathedral schools were mostly oriented around the academic welfare of the nobility's children. Because it was intended to train them for careers in the church, girls were excluded from the schools. Later on, many lay students who were not necessarily interested in seeking a career in the church wanted to enroll. The demand arose for schools to teach government, state, and other Church affairs. The schools, (some notable ones dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries) accepted fewer than 100 students. Pupils had to demonstrate substantial intelligence and be able to handle a demanding academic course load. Considering that books were also expensive, students were in the practice of memorizing their teachers' lectures. Cathedral schools at this time were primarily run by a group of ministers and divided into two parts: Schola minor, which was intended for younger students, would later become

elementary schools. Then there was the schola major, which taught older students. These would later become secondary schools
.

The subjects taught at cathedral schools ranged from literature to mathematics. These topics were called the

.

Cathedral schools today

While cathedral schools are no longer a significant site of

Lutheran cathedrals operate as primary or secondary
schools. Most of those listed below are modern foundations, but a few traces their history to medieval schools.

Australia

Canada

Denmark

Finland

France

Guatemala

  • Colegio San José de los Infantes (founded in 1781)

India

The Netherlands

Norway

  • Bergen katedralskole
  • Hamar katedralskole
  • Kristiansand katedralskole
  • Oslo katedralskole
  • Stavanger katedralskole
  • Trondheim katedralskole

Pakistan

South Africa

Sweden

United Kingdom

England

Wales

United States

Among others:

See also

References

  1. ^ Riché 1978, pp. 126–127, 282–298.
  2. ^ Riché 1978, pp. 126f.
  3. ^ Riché 1978, pp. 282–90
  4. ^ Riché 1988, p. 191.
  5. ^ Charlemagne: "De Litteris Colendis Archived 2014-08-14 at the Wayback Machine"
  6. ^ Riché 1988, p. 192.
  7. ^ C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale English Monarchs), 2001 p. 25.

Sources

External links