learning

universities

The Universities. These general statements are especially Introduction true of the universities. Here the old traditions long resisted of the new the spirit of the new learning. Though the conquest of some into the was complete and the new subjects in time found tolerance in all, the formalism of most university work was not radically changed. The most important modifications were a broadening of the authority which dominated the work, the change in content made by the addition of literary and linguistic subjects, especially Greek, and the substitution of classical for ecclesiastical Latin. It was in the Italian universities, those of Pavia, Florence, Padua, Milan and Rome, that the new learning first found a permanent home. As a result of the influence of Petrarch and Boccaccio, teachers of rhetoric in the universities began to devote their time to the study of the classical authors. The "imitation of the ancients " became a passion with many, "Imitation and students were drawn from the dominant interests of law of the and dialectic. This imitation led to the study of the classics and from that to an attempt at reproduction, especially through epistolary efforts. In the case of the leading humanists this imitation produced a real literature; for it was not only an attempt to master the style of the ancients, but also to assimilate the content of their writings, their dominant ideas, and their conduct of life. During the fifteenth century the teaching of Greek in the universities, in the schools under the patronage of local lords, or in those under wholly private auspices, became quite common throughout Italy. By the sixteenth century the classical study in these universities had degenerated into that narrow Ciceronianism previously noted.

ancients"

in Italy;

As the new learning had spread through Italy chiefly through in France; the wandering scholars and teachers, so it passed to the universities of the North during the later half of the fifteenth century. The University of Paris, where the Hieronymians had gained a stronghold and favored the new learning, was the storm center. Greek was taught here as early as 1458. The political connection between France and Italy was especially close after 1494;

this aided the development in intellectual sympathy, already strong because of the basal Latin character of the two peoples. During the sixteenth century French scholars and printers were the leaders of the movement, both within and without the universities.

was

After 1460 the German universities of Heidelberg, Erfurt and Leipzig were frequented by these wandering teachers of "poetry" (p. 173). The first permanent chair of the new learning" Poetry and Eloquence" it was called established at Erfurt in 1494. Wittenberg, founded in 1502, was humanistic from the beginning. By 1520 the new learning was at least represented in all the German universities and thoroughly dominant in several of them.

The new learning was first introduced into England at Oxford by a group of students who had acquired their inspiration from the Italian schools. The foremost of these Hellenists were William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre. Around these men Erasmus found a group of scholars gathered when he came to Oxford in 1498. At Cambridge it was Erasmus himself who introduced the new learning from 1510 to 1513. Ascham and Colet were Cambridge products of the early sixteenth century.

Schools of the Court and of the Nobility. - The hostility of the universities and of the Church and monastic schools to the new learning led to the establishment of many schools embodying the new spirit, under the patronage of the monarchs and of the nobility. This was especially true in many of the small Italian states, where the dignity of the court was much enhanced by such attendants (p. 174). A great rivalry grew up among these states for the attachment of noted scholars or for the possession of famous schools. The customary migratory life of the scholars in their search for learning or for new honors encouraged this competition and assisted in the dissemination of the new learning. At Florence, Verona, Padua, Venice, Pavia and numerous Italian cities, such court circles flourished, frequently with no organization into schools whatever. Some of these rivaled

the universities, and some were in connection with the local universities, which were but appendages to the court. Many such schools of these early masters embodied in a less notable degree the same ideas as the school of Vittorino. The function which these schools had in the education of the children of the court led to an emphasis on the physical and social elements in education as well as on the literary, and resulted in a fusion of the chivalric and humanistic ideas.

The Fürstenschulen, or schools for princes, founded in Germany during the early sixteenth century, were similar to these court schools of Italy in their purpose, in their curriculum, in their complete control over the life of the boys, and to a certain extent in their spirit. They differed from the dominant type of German Renaissance schools in a variety of respects. They were not controlled by municipalities as were the gymnasien,

but were under the immediate control of the courts. They were boarding schools, and hence had wider supervision and more thorough control of the students. They aimed to train directly for leadership in Church and State, and drew their students chiefly from the families of the nobility. In respect to the content of their curriculum, they represented a broader if less definite type than the gymnasium and to an extent paralleled the work of the universities. The most important of these schools, never very numerous, were those of Pforta, Meissen and Grimma.

The Gymnasium is the typical humanistic school of the Teutonic countries, and has remained until the present time as the