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Latin school
The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Other terms used include Lateinschule in Germany, or later Gymnasium. Latin schools were also established in Colonial America.
Emphasis was placed on learning Latin, initially in its Medieval Latin form. Grammar was the most basic part of the trivium and the Liberal arts. Latin schools aimed to prepare students for university, as well as seeking to enable those of middle-class status to rise above their station. It was therefore not unusual for children of commoners to attend Latin schools, especially if they were expected to pursue a career within the church. Although Latin schools existed in many parts of Europe in the 14th-century and were more open to the laity, prior to that the sole purpose was of training those who would one day become clergymen. Latin schools began to develop to reflect Renaissance humanism around the 1450s. In some countries, but not England, they later lost their popularity as universities and some Catholic orders began to prefer the vernacular.
Medieval Europe thought of grammar as a foundation from which all forms of scholarship should originate. Grammar schools otherwise known as Latin schools taught Latin by using Latin. Latin was the language used in nearly all academic and most legal and administrative matters, as well as the language of the liturgy. Some of the laity, though not instructed formally, spoke and wrote some Latin. Courts, especially church courts, used Latin in their proceedings, although this was even less accessible than the vernacular to the lower classes, who often could not read at all, let alone Latin.
Students often studied in Latin school for about five years, but by their third year, students would be deemed as "knowledgeable enough" in Latin grammar to assist the master teacher in teaching the younger or less skilled pupils. Most boys began at the age of seven but older men who wanted to study were not discouraged as long as they could pay the fees. Students usually finished their schooling during their late teens, but those who desired to join the priesthood had to wait until they were twenty-four in order to get accepted. There was usually a limit to how long a student could stay in school, although if a relative was one of the school's founders then an extended stay was possible.
Schools were managed by appointing a committee who then employed a teacher and paid their salary. These schools usually had limited supervision from the town authorities. Freelance Latin masters opened up their own schools quite frequently and would provide Latin education to anyone willing to pay. These freelance schools usually taught students in the master's home. Others taught as a tutor in a student's household by either living there or making daily visits to teach. Students ranged from those who were members of the peasantry to those of the elite. If a serf's child wanted to go to school, payment given to the lord was required (to replace the value of his labour) as well as his consent.
As Europeans experienced the intellectual, political, economic and social innovations of the Renaissance so did their attitudes towards Medieval Latin schools. Renaissance humanists criticized Medieval Latin calling it "barbaric jargon". Scholars like the Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536), denounced the church and the way it taught. He desired that a Renaissance in the Roman Catholic Church should accompany the study of the classics. Humanist ideas became so influential that residents in Italian states began to call for a new kind of education in Latin. Schools and academies that centred on instructing classical literature, history, rhetoric, dialectic, natural philosophy, arithmetic, medieval texts, the Greek language, as well as modern foreign languages, emerged. They called this new curriculum the Studia Humanitatis. Latin school formed the basis of education in the elite Italian city-states. Positions such as headmaster of grammar schools or professor of Latin grammar, rhetoric and dialect, were filled in by erudite humanists. Guarino da Verona, another humanist, devised three stages for humanistic learning: the elementary, the grammatical and the rhetorical. Humanists held the belief that by being a learned individual they were contributing to society. Hence, humanistic education constituted the intermediate and advanced levels for most of the urban population. It created an opportunity to advance an individual's social status since more institutions intellectual, political and economic sought workers who possessed a background in classical Latin as well as training in humanistic scripts.
Still considered as the language of the learned, Latin was esteemed and used frequently in the academic field. However, at the start of the 14th century, writers started writing in the vernacular. Due to this event and the common practice of interweaving Latin with a dialect even at advanced stages in learning, the precedence of Latin schools from other pedagogical institutions diminished.
Clergy often funded ecclesiastical schools where clerics taught. Many historians argue that up until 1300 the Church had a monopoly on education in medieval Italy. Latin church schools seemed to appear around the 12th century; however, very few remained after the 14th century, as a vernacular, more definite form of Latin school emerged in Italy. In some areas in Spain during the late 15th century, the church encouraged priests and sacristans to train others in reading and writing.
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Latin school
The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Other terms used include Lateinschule in Germany, or later Gymnasium. Latin schools were also established in Colonial America.
Emphasis was placed on learning Latin, initially in its Medieval Latin form. Grammar was the most basic part of the trivium and the Liberal arts. Latin schools aimed to prepare students for university, as well as seeking to enable those of middle-class status to rise above their station. It was therefore not unusual for children of commoners to attend Latin schools, especially if they were expected to pursue a career within the church. Although Latin schools existed in many parts of Europe in the 14th-century and were more open to the laity, prior to that the sole purpose was of training those who would one day become clergymen. Latin schools began to develop to reflect Renaissance humanism around the 1450s. In some countries, but not England, they later lost their popularity as universities and some Catholic orders began to prefer the vernacular.
Medieval Europe thought of grammar as a foundation from which all forms of scholarship should originate. Grammar schools otherwise known as Latin schools taught Latin by using Latin. Latin was the language used in nearly all academic and most legal and administrative matters, as well as the language of the liturgy. Some of the laity, though not instructed formally, spoke and wrote some Latin. Courts, especially church courts, used Latin in their proceedings, although this was even less accessible than the vernacular to the lower classes, who often could not read at all, let alone Latin.
Students often studied in Latin school for about five years, but by their third year, students would be deemed as "knowledgeable enough" in Latin grammar to assist the master teacher in teaching the younger or less skilled pupils. Most boys began at the age of seven but older men who wanted to study were not discouraged as long as they could pay the fees. Students usually finished their schooling during their late teens, but those who desired to join the priesthood had to wait until they were twenty-four in order to get accepted. There was usually a limit to how long a student could stay in school, although if a relative was one of the school's founders then an extended stay was possible.
Schools were managed by appointing a committee who then employed a teacher and paid their salary. These schools usually had limited supervision from the town authorities. Freelance Latin masters opened up their own schools quite frequently and would provide Latin education to anyone willing to pay. These freelance schools usually taught students in the master's home. Others taught as a tutor in a student's household by either living there or making daily visits to teach. Students ranged from those who were members of the peasantry to those of the elite. If a serf's child wanted to go to school, payment given to the lord was required (to replace the value of his labour) as well as his consent.
As Europeans experienced the intellectual, political, economic and social innovations of the Renaissance so did their attitudes towards Medieval Latin schools. Renaissance humanists criticized Medieval Latin calling it "barbaric jargon". Scholars like the Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536), denounced the church and the way it taught. He desired that a Renaissance in the Roman Catholic Church should accompany the study of the classics. Humanist ideas became so influential that residents in Italian states began to call for a new kind of education in Latin. Schools and academies that centred on instructing classical literature, history, rhetoric, dialectic, natural philosophy, arithmetic, medieval texts, the Greek language, as well as modern foreign languages, emerged. They called this new curriculum the Studia Humanitatis. Latin school formed the basis of education in the elite Italian city-states. Positions such as headmaster of grammar schools or professor of Latin grammar, rhetoric and dialect, were filled in by erudite humanists. Guarino da Verona, another humanist, devised three stages for humanistic learning: the elementary, the grammatical and the rhetorical. Humanists held the belief that by being a learned individual they were contributing to society. Hence, humanistic education constituted the intermediate and advanced levels for most of the urban population. It created an opportunity to advance an individual's social status since more institutions intellectual, political and economic sought workers who possessed a background in classical Latin as well as training in humanistic scripts.
Still considered as the language of the learned, Latin was esteemed and used frequently in the academic field. However, at the start of the 14th century, writers started writing in the vernacular. Due to this event and the common practice of interweaving Latin with a dialect even at advanced stages in learning, the precedence of Latin schools from other pedagogical institutions diminished.
Clergy often funded ecclesiastical schools where clerics taught. Many historians argue that up until 1300 the Church had a monopoly on education in medieval Italy. Latin church schools seemed to appear around the 12th century; however, very few remained after the 14th century, as a vernacular, more definite form of Latin school emerged in Italy. In some areas in Spain during the late 15th century, the church encouraged priests and sacristans to train others in reading and writing.