9th Century Frankish Monasteries - DergiPark

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Sakarya University Journal of Education, 4/2 (Ağustos/August 2014) ss. 19-37.

The Content Of Elementary And Higher Education In

8th - 9th Century Frankish Monasteries

Seda ERKOÇ*

Abstract

Along with the Carolingian1 Social Renovations realized thanks to the reformist zeal of Charlemagne, espe-cially concentrated on the intellectual background of the Clergy which was highly degenerated and corrup-ted, a new educational aspect was gained both in Carolingian court and in monastic circles. Charlemagnemet the Irish scholar Alcuin on the way back home in Parma on one of his visits to Rome and invited himto his court along with some other European scholars. Alcuin contributed a lot to the educational organiza-tion of the clergy, to the instruction of the noble and lay boys and girls. Carolingian monasteries were espe-cially held in this study because it was the only place education could be found in an institutionalized levelin the Frank Empire at the time apart from the Palatine School of Charlemagne. Charlemagne and Alcuinheld the reconstruction of intellectual life so seriously that they issued numerous charters on educationboth for the clergy and for the lay boys in pariochal areas. Alcuin included Liberal Arts (Trivium and Qu-adrivium) to the Carolingian educational processes along with the Latin, computus and basic arithmetic te-achings. In this study one can found the general content of elementary and higher monastic education inCarolingian Monasteries following an introduction of the structure of Carolingian monasteries at the time.

Keywords: Carolingian Monasteries, Liberal Arts, Carolingian oblates, St.Gall, the Rule of Saint Benedict.

8. ve 9. Yüzyıl Frank Manastırlarında Orta ve YüksekÖğretimin İçeriği

Öz

Özellikle ruhban sınıfının hayli dejenere olmuş ve yozlaşmış durumdaki entellektüel altyapısınaodaklanmış bir şekilde, Şarlman’ın reform tutkusu sayesinde gerçekleştirilen, Karolenj2 reformları ilebirlikte hem Karolenj Hanedanlığının sarayında hem de manastır çevrelerinde yeni bir eğitsel bakış açısıkazanıldı. Şarlman İrlanda asıllı bir bilgin olan Alcuin’e Roma’ya düzenlediği gezilerden birinden dö-nerken Parma’da rastlamış ve bir kaç diğer Avrupalı bilginle birlikte onları sarayına davet etmiştir. AlcuinRuhban sınıfının, asil ya da köle sınıfından olmayan kız ve erkek çocuklarının eğitim ortamlarının düzen-lenişine çok katkıda bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmada özellikle Karolenj manastırları ele alınmış ve incelenmiştirçünkü o dönemde eğitime Frank İmpratorluğu’nda, Şarlman’ın Saray Okulu’ndan başka kurumsallaşmış

* Sakarya University, Institute of Education, Higher Education Department, [email protected] A Frankish noble clan which started to reign in Frankland in 7th century. It means “people descending from Char-les.2 7. Yüzyılda Frank ülkesinde hüküm sürmeye başlayan soylu bir klan. “Charles’ın soyundan gelen” anlamı taşımak-tadır.

20 SAÜ Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü

bir seviyede rastlanılabilecek tek yer bu manastırlardı. Şarlman ve Alcuin entellektüel hayatın yenidendüzenlenişini o kadar ciddiye almışlardır ki hem ruhban sınıfı hem de kilise semtlerinde yaşayan ve busınıfına dahil olmayan çocukların eğitimi üzerine çok sayıda nizamname yayınlamışlardır. Alcuin Karolen-jlerin eğitsel süreçlerine Latince, temel hesaplamalar ve aritmetik öğretimi ile birlikte Beşeri İlimler’i (Trivi-um & Quadrivium) de dahil etmiştir. Bu çalışmada, dönemin Karolenj Hanedanı’na ait manastırlarındakiyapının tanıtılmasını takiben bu manastırlardaki ruhban eğitiminin orta ve yüksek seviyelerindeki geneliçerik incelenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Karolenj Manastırları, Beşeri İlimler, Karolenj Manastırlarında Öğrenciler, St. GallManastırı, Aziz Benedict Kuralları.

1. INTRODUCTION

There are many works on how the monasteriesin the early middle ages educated their oblates.But how the organization of teaching was inelementary and higher levels is not that specifi-cally dealt in details. In the early middle ages;there were many monasteries in different partsof Europe and many had their own system ofteaching, along with the Rules of Saints,Church Fathers’ teachings, various epistles,teachings orally transmitted, chants, etc. Caro-lingians were especially concentrated on mo-nastic education and monasteries were not onlyholly educational centers but also functioned ascomplexes economically self-sufficient. But themost important aspect to be underlined is theireducational characteristic no matter how reli-gion-oriented it is. The aim of this study is tospecify these characteristics and present theeducational environments in a certain arrayand can be read as a basic and simple guidelineto how these monastic circles performed theirteaching exercises in the aforementioned centu-ries at the high-time of the Frankish realm.

1.1 Method

This study has a descriptive character; the in-terpretations of the author depends on variousworks under related topics but Grotans’ Rea-ding in Medieval St. Gall (2006), Hildebrants’ TheExternal School in Carolingian Society (1992),Sullivan’s The Gentle Voices of Teachers: Aspectsof Learning in the Carolingian Age (1995), Cun-ningham & other’s Culture and Values: A Surveyof the Western Humanities (2013), De Jong’s In

Samuel's Image: Child Oblation in the Early Medi-eval West (1996) and McKitterick’s CarolingianCulture: Emulation and Innovation (1994) areespecially at the center of the study as theirwriters’ profound knowledge of the period canbe observed in their other works under varioustopics in the related literature. These works areespecially benefitted from to present the con-tent of the medieval Carolingian monasticcurriculum. Most of the tables are especiallyformed by reading the tables in Grotan’s Rea-ding in Medieval St. Gall as it has a very quali-fied array of descriptive tables on the content ofeducation in St. Gall. St. Gall can be dependedon to make some solid generalizations as it wasa very characteristic and prominent abbey atthe time as others like Fulda, Metz and St.Dennis, etc. Verhulst’s The Carolingian Economy(2002), Bernhardt’s Itinerant Kingship and RoyalMonasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936-1075 (2002) and Riché’s Daily Life in the World ofCharlemagne (1978) were especially cited to givefigures on the economical and demographicqualities in Carolingian monasteries as it isimportant to know the avarage or approximatepopulation and economical well-being of Caro-lingian monasteries to have an idea about theirother fucntions and how they served not asonly educational centers but also as a sociologi-cal phenomenon at the heart of the early midd-le ages.

Sakarya University Journal of Education 211.2 Monasticism as a Concept & Overall Infoon Carolingian Monasteries in 8th and 9thCenturies

Having a look at the literature it is highly prob-able to come across with some typical state-ments on the origin and the nature of Christianmonasticism: “The concept of monasticism, thewithdrawal from the corruption of everydaylife in order to contemplate things spiritual,originated in 4th century Egypt, where Christianhermits led solitary lives in the desert wilder-ness. At about the same time, the idea devel-oped that groups of monks might live togethercommunually, and both the hermitic and com-munal forms of monasticism spread rapidlyfrom Egypt to the edges of the Christian world”(Moffett & Others, 2003: 125 ). “The originalmonks were hermits living in isolation -– theword monk was derived from the Greek for‘one who dwelt alone’. However, some hermitsbegan to live in communities. By the earlyfourth century the monastic movement haddeveloped in the Egyptian desert, and from thissource it spread throughout the Christianworld” (Greene, 1992: 1). “The ideals of monas-ticism were summed up in the three ideals ofchastity, poverty, and obedience. The primarycharacteristic of monasticism is denial” (Cor-dasco, 1976: 24).

Monasticism occupies a central but anomalousplace in the history of the Middle Ages. Monksand nuns were the religiosi3, they practiced thepurest Christianity, a life of prayer and workembracing poverty, chastity, and obedience.From monastic colonies such as Canterburyand Fulda much of Europe was evangelized4,and in Ireland abbots supplemented or super-seded bishops in providing a framework forecclesiastical organization. The work of teach-

3 Plural form of “religioso” which means religious ormonk in Italian. It is a word descended from Latin.4 Christianized.

ing letters and coping manuscripts in monas-teries preserved the legacy of classical culturethrough the political and social dislocations ofthe early medieval period and inspired greatartistic achievements in illumination and met-alwork. Abbeys became the centers of huge andwidely disperced estates whose leaders wereimportant figures in the world they renounced(Venarde, 1999: 1). Monks educated in thecloister might be called to court service andeventually made bishop; courtiers educatedclerically at court might become abbots or bish-ops. A virtually complete interchange amongthese three dominant centers of intellectual andcivil/administrative life seems to be one resultof the universality of education (Jaeger, 1994:27). As can be deduced reading upon theselines it was a highly prestigious social attribu-tion to be a part of the clergy and it wasthrough monastic education. So monasterieswere significant self-reliant institutions thatmattered both for the Empire and the individu-als within the related part of the society whoplans a career in clergy. Carolingian clan val-ued monasteries a lot and they were integralpart of the Empire in socio-cultural and eco-nomical sense. Hildebrant (1992: 51) writes thatthere are three main reasons why monasterieswere that important for Carolingian clan. Threereasons are:

Monasteries were a part of the family in-terest or wealth and many Carolingianmayors like the first Carolingian Arnulf5

pursued a church career first becomingbishop and then sainted.

Monasteries were considered educationalinstitutions for recruiting allies or adminis-trators.

5 7th century Frankish monarch.


The wealth and the land associated withmonasteries become crucial prizes to beawarded loyal supporters.

Looking at these reasons Hildebrant claimed,we can see that monastic life was closely inter-twined with the economic aspect of the empirealong with the administrational one. So itwasn’t something unusual to have a desire topromote within the body of Abbeys; to becomeabbot or abbesses in order to acquire wealthand prestige. McKitterick writes (1994: 623) thatmonasteries were prominent in the overwhelm-ingly rural landscape, harboring hundreds ofpeople; their economic, social and culturalimpact has been compared to that of towns in alater age.

Bishop churches and abbeys, whose real prop-erty in the ninth century was equally im-portant, had built up through gifts of kings,aristocrats and ordinary people, an immensepatrimony mostly consisting of manors. Theabbey of St Germain-des-Prés had 25 villae6

listed in the famous polyptych of abbot Irminofrom c. 825–9, which was a minimum. Togetherthey represented about 30,000 hectars of landand woods. Smaller abbeys had ten to twentyvillae with several hundreds of hectares of ara-ble land each (Verhulst, 2002: 32). Nevertheless,scattered evidence from the ninth century andgood documentation from the tenth and earlyeleventh centuries indicate that a similar typeof monastic property division materializedslowly in the east Frankish realm and becamefirmly established during the German imperialperiod. The economic, political and religiousconditions that instigated and, in some ways,presupposed the assignment of special conven-tual endowments and the eventual divisions ofmonastic property did not exist to the same

6 House, estate.

extent east of Rhine7. Thus, development wasslower there. For instance, in comparison withthe west Frankish monasteries, those in the eastFrankish realm-with the possible exception ofLorsch and St. Gall and, perhaps, Fulda, Hers-feld and Corvey- did not at this early date pos-sess property and assets in such abundancethat the abbot had a huge excess to grant inbenefice or to secularize, and thus endanger theneeds of the monastery and the congregation(Bernhard, 1993: 110). So there was a differenceand unbalance between the economical powerin two parts of the realm which signifies thatthe abbeys and churches were one of the maineconomical sources themselves and we alreadyknow that an abbey was very easily able to beeconomically self-sufficient and could savemoney as after the inversion of St. Gall’s planinto to monastic realm, an abbey had manysocial unit like a tailor, market, blacksmith, etc.

Chroniclers who wished to praise some partic-ular monastery tended to puff up the memberswith references to hundreds of monks. “ThusJumieges was said to hold 900 monks, althougha list from the year 826 contains only 114names. As we have seen, the dormitory ofSaint-Gall made provision for 70 monks. Some72 monks can be counted for Ferrieres; 70 atSaint-Wandrille, and 84 at Charroux. Adalhardof Crobie claimed 300 monks for this monas-tery with 150 auxillaries. At Saint-Bertin therewere 60 religious and 112 servants. In 832,under Hilduin, there were 150 monks at Saint-Denis. Some 120 religious are known to havebeen at Saint-Germain-des-Pres in 820. There-fore, except for Corbie and Saint-Riquier, wherethe number of monks reached 300, the numbersfor the great monasteries range between 70 and150, which is modest enough. To this number

7 A European river flowing through present dayGermany, Ausrtia, Switzerland, France, Netherlands,Luxemburg, Italy, Liechtenstein.

Sakarya University Journal of Education 23we must add servants, temporary domesticpersonnel, the poor, and the foreigners whoresided briefly in the hostelry. Thus the popula-tion of a monastery was very unstable, but itrarely surpassed a thousand person” (Riché,1978: 40). As can be deduced from all these,though changeable, monasteries were promi-nent institutions with a solid population inwhich education is held by a solid number ofmonks and monastic students.

In 787 Charles addressed a capitulary to theabbot of Fulda, ordering that in all monasteriesand bishops’ houses there should be study, and“let those who can, teach.” In 789 he enacted:“Let the ministers of God’s altar…Collect andassociate with themselves children not only ofservile condition, but free born: and that theremay be schools for reading –boys, let themlearn psalms, notes, chants, the computus andgrammar, in every monastery and bishop’shouse.” (Deanesly, 1969: 57) Carolingian capit-ularies on education do not make distinctionsbetween cathedral and monastery schools; theyenjoin the same education on both (Jaeger,1994: 27). Actually, the monasteries were thesole schools for teaching; they alone offeredprofessional training; they preserved books;they were the only libraries; they produced theonly scholars; they were the sole educationalinstitutions of the period. By the 10th century,they developed both inner monastic schools forthose intending to take the vows (oblati), andouter monastic schools for those not so intend-ing (externi). Although instruction in bothschools was meager, it provided for reading,writing, music, arithmetic, religious observa-tion, and rules of conduct (Cordasco, 1976: 24).Horn and Born, who posit two separate schools,argue that the scola interior was essentially confinedto elementary learning whereas the scola exteriorquickly developed into a school for advanced study.This view is supported by a distinction made by

Hildemar8 in his Expositio Regulae, namely thatmonastic schools offered training in monastic dis-ciplines such as chant, reading and basic arithmetic,whereas ecclesiastical schools taught the sevenliberal arts. Riché notes that some Carolingian mas-ters use the term coined by Gregory the Great9

“exteriora studia” to refer to a study of the sevenliberal arts as opposed to theology (Grotans, 2006:58). Those exterior schools were small schoolswithin the complex of monasteries or cathe-drals and they served for the children of thevillagers or of the public of the county. As onecan understand from the enactments of Char-lemagne, he was the first emperor ever to ena-ble the secular education take place around hiskingdom in the middle ages. To make it moresolid, he sent decrees and arranged capitulariesthroughout the kingdom. The charters de-manded there would be no discrimination onwho can make use of the education provided.

There used to be adult novices and oblates ifwe need to categorize the age group into themost basic level. According to the Rule of SaintBenedict which was accepted in the Carolingi-an monastic circles under the reign of Charle-magne, to be able to become an oblate or aconversi, in other words; an adult novice, therewere some criterion like age (15) and voluntar-iness. Child oblates needed to desire it to en-roll in the monastic education which meansthey could not be compelled to start a monasticeducational life. About that De Jong (1996: 61)writes on a capitulary issued on the Benedictinemonasticism as ‘no one may be forced againsthis will to take the vow, adds that childrenwere referred differently than the adult ones sothe two belonged to different categories. Hemoves on the change pointing out to the coun-cil of Mainz in 813 and quotes again a criteria:‘except at the legitimate age and of their freewill, or with the permission of their lord’ which

8 Hildemar of Corbie, monk, (c.821 or 826- 850) .9 Saint Gregory the Great, he has numerous writingswhich regulates monastic affairs. (c. 540- 604) .


shows that children are now in line with theadult ones.

Teachers, the magistri, were so occupied andhad lots of things to do within a day of teach-ing. They had both educational and supervis-ing tasks on novices and oblates. The job of themagister was never-ending. Not only was he incharge of the intellectual welfare of the pupils,but also of their spiritual well-being.Overwhelmed by the amount of work, andperhaps wishing to spend more time with theirbooks, some teachers tried to evade other mo-nastic duties (Grotans, 2006: 66). A magistrineeded to be 25 at least to teach. The older onesteaching were called the magistri, some ofwhom could be specialized in one, some ormost of the liberal arts while there were otherswhom could be called as semi-magistri. Teacherswere supposed to be at least 25 years old, alt-hough monks often taught at a younger age inthe role of teaching assistants, called semi-magistri (Grotans, 2006: 65). The novices anoblates wore monastic garb, whereas the pupilsof the outer school wore the white robe of thesecular priest. But the discipline to which thelatter were subjected was quite as rigorous asthat of the cloisters. There were wardens (circa-tores) whose duty it was to keep the order.They were generally old monks and their vigi-lance was unceasing. They went on their ro-unds at all hours to see that everyone was do-ing his task; they supervised both the youngboys and their elders. If they detected any dis-demeanour they silently wrote the name of theculprit on their wax tablets and brought thematter up the next morning in chapter (Clark,1926: 94).

We can state that although they were childoblates, they could get higher in rank in respectto the other monks. An oblate might be higherin rank than another who is older than him. Soage is not a ground for competence and effi-

cacy. It was up to how much time was spentwithin the monastery not the age. “Whoeverentered the monastery first could count on ahigher position in the order of monks. In allsituations in which the community met in itsentirety, ‘age should not determine the rank’. Inthe refectory and the oratory, therefore, childoblates might occupy a better place than adultnovices who had joined the monastery afterthem (De Jong, 1996: 145-6).

2.“ECCLESIASTICAE DISCIPLINAE” InCAROLINGIAN MONASTERIES

2.1 Elementary Tutelage

In Charlemagne’s Empire, the lingua franca wasthe lingua latina. The caretakers of literary cul-ture were monks and clerics, many of whomwere also politically active at the royal courts.They were entrusted with the care and propa-gation of the written word, primarily of Godbut also of classical authors, which provided aneducational framework and normative modelfor written Latin that was soon to be adaptedby Church and government for their own pur-poses (Grotans, 2006: 15). This can be shown asreason why it was so important for a novice ina monastery to learn and utilize that languageat the highest level. During this period, compu-tus was a central part of religious academicstudy, especially within the Carolingian revivalof learning. In Bede10’s time, there was no syl-labus as such for monks; instead mimesis oftheir seniors provided monks’ basic training inall practical and doctrinal matters in theircommunal lives. Charlemagne instituted acurriculum for both monasteries and cathedralsthat put computus on the map of Europeancontinental scholarship. The curriculum in-

10 Anglo-Saxon monk, (c.672/673- 735), well known asan author and scholar, and his most famouswork, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum., famousfor his works in computus as well. Alcuin was hisinstructor.

Sakarya University Journal of Education 25cluded grammaticum (reading), notas (writ-ing), cantus (music), psalmos (liturgy) andcompotum (computus) (Carlbach, 2011: 10).

Reading & Writing Latin: Latin was the lan-guage of administration, the church learningand even for those who spoke Latin as theirnative language, instruction in the complexitiesof its grammar was necessary (McKitterick,1994: 174). Instruction in Latin grammar wasprovided from the grammars of Donatus11 andPriscian12. There were manuals for studentswhich depicted parts of speech. They werelargely in dialogue form and thought this way(Cross & Livingstone, 2005: 293). Tutelage forwriting in Latin consisted of repetitious writingon wax tablets for practice. And what they saidand sang were the words of God and words inpraise of God, words that had to be pro-nounced correctly to be effective (Sullivan,1995: 115). Students learned the letters in com-bination and separately. Reading Gospels,Psalms, Psalters and the Bible was the basicnecessity in the elementary level. Every educa-tional sum of data needed to be memorizedand memorization was almost the basic or thecore technique used in theological learnings.Students were even required to memorize theinterpretations of the Psalms and the Gospels.The more a student had these in memory thewiser and able he was considered. They did itthough constant drills and repetitions. Hisprogress would be charged with his compe-tence in reciting the Psalters.

Arithmetic through Computus: During theninth century, under the influence of Carolin-gian educational efforts, ecclesiastical compu-tus became one of the essential components of

11 Aelius Donatus, known as rhetorician and aGrammarian in Rome in the mids of c. 4th centuryAD.12 Priscianus Caesariensis, Latin grammarian in Romeinc. 500 AD.

clerical instruction. The diverse collections ofastronomical traditions began to be manipulat-ed in new ways, transposing the discipline ofantique Latin astronomy into a Christian con-ception of time.' Monastic reform legislationand the dissemination of classical astronomicaltexts on the constellations of planets played animportant role in the transformation of monas-tic traditions of reckoning time, while Carolin-gian writers like Hrabanus Maurits encouragedthe instruction of a computus that had, sinceBede, included elements of ancient astronomyderived from authors ranging from Pliny toIsidore of Seville (Corradini & Others, 2003:270).

Future priests and monks would often draw onthe practical skill of manipulating numbers inthe performance of their sacred and mundaneduties. They had to know how to calculatedates of holy days such as Easter and the equi-noxes and how to use the various tables thatmade that task easier. Collection of the titheand its distribution into fourths also requiredarithmetical learning, as did calculation ofharvests from fields or receipts from peasants,which often fell to clergymen. Carolingianmasters were at their cleverest when attempt-ing to teach arithmetical reasoning. A series of"story problems" attributed to Alcuin wouldnot be unfamiliar to modern students. "Sup-pose," one propositi13 suggested, "that three menare traveling together, each with his own sister.When the six travelers came to a river, theyfound a boat that could carry only two personsat a time over the river. One of the men lustedafter the sisters of his friends. How did theymanage the crossing and at the same time pre-serve the girls from harm?" (Sullivan, 1995:117).

13 A name or person from whom a line, a statementor a quotation descended.


Chant: One of the main areas to study foroblates was to study music and chants. Musicalcurriculum was like the core of elementaryphase of an oblate’s education. Along with thetenth and eleventh centuries, oblates wereexpected to recite or memorize a great manyPsalms and hymns, litanies, reading texs, learnhow to read them by heart with correct intona-tion and sing both simple and fairly complexexamples of chants as a genre. Boys were as-signed an ever greater number of chants andreadings. Learning these chants and readings,as well as many others, seems to have occupiedevery free moment of the day. The trainingprocess necessarily constituted a monk's entireeducation, at least until he mastered the mostessential liturgical material. The first chants tobe learned were the Psalms, canticles andhymns (Ferzoco & Muessig, 2001: 8). Since thechoice of Psalm tone and differentia dependedon the mode of the antiphon chanted beforeand after the Psalm, beginning students had tolearn the church modes, a system of tonal or-ganization adopted in the Carolingian periodthat provided parameters for the classificationand memorization of chants (Ferzoco &Muessig, 2001: 13).Music was the theoretical study of scale, pro-portion, the harmony of the universe, and “mu-sic of the spheres.” Music in this period wasdistinguished from cantus, which was the prac-tical knowledge of chants and hymns forchurch use (Cunningham & Others, 2013: 248).The Psalms are songs, and while learning toread them, students learned to sing them andthus received their introduction to chant. Theobservation of the daily office made chant alifelong practice. Neumic notations, the earlymedieval system of assigning graphic values tomelody, appear as apparently random jottingsin many nonmusical manuscripts, thus suggest-ing that students thought about or practiced

their lessons away from the choir (Sullivan,1995: 116).2.2 Advanced Tutelage: Liberal Arts

By the time of the Caroligians, especially withthe efforts of Alcuin, Liberal Arts got into thecurriculum of Carolingian higher studies andeducation and naturally into the monastic cir-cles as well. From that period they got into acharacter like Christianized Liberal Arts. Theyhad become a part of the new Carolingianeducational curriculum which was started upto start a renovation on the education of theclergy. So it was inevitable that it was highlyvocational or occupational in character, leaningtowards the theological aspect.

The trivium comprised grammar, rhetoric, anddialectic. Pupils then moved to the Quadriviumof the interconnected subjects of arithmetic,geometry, music, and astronomy. (Cross &Livingstone, 2005: 293). The term Triviummeans, “where three roads meet” while theterm Quadrivium means “where four roadsmeet.” So important was the use of trivium inall areas of learning that a students wasn’tpermitted to begin study of the quadriviumuntil he had sufficiently mastered the trivium.The conceptual basis of education was thusunderstood as a process of synthesis, or reason-ing, by which students learned how ideas andsubjects integrate and interact with one anoth-er, and by which they learned how to synthe-size subjects on their own (Barber, 2008: 96).Not only were the trivium and the quadriviumfrequently separated and latter often not taughtat all between the seventh and the eleventhcenturies, but within the trivium itself thestudy of grammar and rhetoric received farmore attention than logic. This is partly theresult of the emphasis that early medieval cul-ture placed upon literary training for the studyof sacred texts and partly the result of the char-

Sakarya University Journal of Education 27acter of materials available for the study oflogic (Dales, 1973: 13).Grammatica began with lectio, which providedthe foundation for all further textual interpreta-tion, since through it the letters (litterae) of atext were transformed through a syntheticrecognition into syllables, words and finallyinto connected discourse (oratio). In its prelimi-nary phase, praelectio, reading included deci-phering the graphemes on the manuscriptpage, construing words and determining theirsyntactic relationships, defining their meaning

and finally reciting the text aloud according to

a correct understanding of it. This last step wasparticularly important, for it was only throughactual vocal performance that a text becamediscourse and was realized as such. Thus thespoken word (as based on the written text)became the object of further analysis, whichincluded interpretation (enarratio), correction(emendatio) and criticism (iudicium) (Grotans,2006: 26). To be able to comprehend the subdi-visions of the trivium we can have a look at thedetails of grammatica and rhetoric as in thefollowing charts.

Praelectio

Working outgraphemes, thetext, understand-ing the meaningand reciting thetext

1. Lectio

Rules for reading

*from letters tosyllables, wordsand into a connect-ed discourse

a)accentus: cor-rect stress andintonation

b)discretio:

sysntactial analysisand punctuation

c)pronountiatio

correct sentenceand imitation,setting the pace ofspeech

2. Enarratio

Rules for compere-hension anaylsis inmeaning

3.Emendatio

Correctingerrors andcreating au-thenticity

4. Iudicum

Political,peotic, pro-sal, ethicalvalue of theworks inquestion,critic oncontent

*Orthography

How to write

and speak

correctly,

especially

Latin. Stu-

dents worked

by Treatises

on orthogra-

phy.

(Quintilian,

Alcuin, Not-

ker and Hra-

banus had

orthographic

works on

which the


* Interpretation

d) modulatio:correct modulationof the tonation, ofthe voice

Carolingian

scholars

taught.)

Figure 1: Arte Grammatica

In ancient Rome Rhetoric was the first of theliberal arts in order of dignity; in Gaul theSchools of Rhetoric survived the fall of theEmpire. But within the walls of mediaevalmonasteries, where silence was prized morehighly than speech, the art of the orator was feltto be unnecessary, if not positively dangerous.Isidore of Seville declared that the word of Goddid not need the verbal display of the rhetori-

cian. A few generalities based on the theoretictreatises of classical writers formed the stock-in-trade of the mediaeval teacher. It was gene-rally considered sufficient to be acquaintedwith the terminology of Rhetoric, to be able todistinguish the three kinds of eloquence, tohave some idea what was meant by inventio,dispositio, and elocutio, to know the six partsof an oration, and so on (Clark, 1926: 114).

1. inventio

Collecting the neces-sary knowledge aboutthe speech

Verse, Quis, Quid,Ubi, Quibus Aux-iliis Cur, Quomodo,Quando?

(Who, What, Where,By Which Means,Why, How, When?)

2. dispositio

Organizing the datagathered, forming thestructure of the speech.

3. elocutio

Providing text withelegance and gran-deur: style of thespeech

a) Genus judiciale:concetrates on past.More defense lessaccusation.b) Genus delibera-tivum:concetrates on fu-ture. More persua-sion less discussion.c)Genus demon-strativum: dealswith present most.Concentrates on thebeauty of the text,easthetical.

4. actio

Delivering, per-forming thespeech, actualiz-ing it.

5. Memoria

Reciting, learning it

by heart.

Figure 2. Arte Rhetorica

Sakarya University Journal of Education 29The study of grammar would set out the rulesof writing, while dialectic would help distingu-ish true from false propositions (Cunningham& Others, 2013: 248). Dialectic, in other words;logic was also a part of the medieval SevenLiberal arts which was originally nine at totalincluding the Philosophy previously. Dialecticincluded subranches like genus, species, diffe-rentia, property and accident. The four mathe-matical arts, called the quadrivium, usuallyreceived only superficial treatment in the Caro-lingian schools. Because the acquisition of theability to read and write in Latin was a greattask in itself, emphasis was placed on the liter-ary subjects of grammar, rhetoric and dialecticwith the Carolingians named trivium (Lynch,2013: 93). New texts for teaching the triviumwere provided by Carolignian scholars likeAlcuin. By contrast study of the quadrivium waslimited. Arithmetic was learned in the contextof computus, music as a means to augment theimpact of the liturgy, astronomy as a means todetect the providential plan in the movement ofthe planets, and geometry hardly at all since itwas difficult to apply usefully in the context ofChristian learning. (McKitterick, 1994: 37).

3. PROMINENT TEXTS AND CLASSICAL

WORKS STUDIED IN CAROLINGIAN

MONASTERIES

There was, however, little fresh or originalwork done on these subjects (Copleston, 1950:110). Few books were available, and writingwas done on slates or waxed tablets, becauseparchment was expensive (Cunningham &Others, 2013: 248). The students, who learnedthe elements of reading, writing, chant, andcomputus were ready for their own crossinginto the world of the liberal arts. Here the ter-rain got technical very fast (Sullivan, 1995: 117).While gliding into Liberal Arts Carolingianmonastic students studied with Martianus

Capella14’s Marriage of Philosophy and Mercury,Isodore of Sevilles15’s Etymologies and De naturarerum, Cassiodorus’s Institutiones. In grammar,some of the texts of the Latin grammarian Pris-cian might be studied and then applied to pas-sages from Latin prose writers. (Cunningham& Others, 2013: 248). The larger cultural workperformed by grammatical can be observed inthe status given to writing and texts in Bede’sHistoria ecclesiastica. The Historia ecclesiasticadiffers to written records as the primarysources of history and presents oral report onlywhen written records are lacking and whencontemporary history, yet untextualized, mustbe committed to writing (litteris mandare) (Iri-vine, 2006: 273). In rhetoric, the work of Cice-ro16 was studied, or Quintilian17’s Institutiooratoria if it was available. For dialectic, some ofthe work of Aristotle might be read in Latintranslation of Boethius (Cunningham & Others,2013: 248). Evidence of dialectical reasoning inthe Libri Carolini18 and in the writings of Alcuin,Fridugisus, John Scottus, Heiric and Remigiusof Auxerre, Ratramnus and Hadoard of Corbie,and many others is incomprehensible withoutacknowledging dialectical studies in the scho-ols. Some of these masters taught dialectic, andtheir lessons have survived in the form of glos-ses and the dicta. Students practiced formalsyllogistic exercises on the flyleaves of manusc-ript (Sullivan, 1995: 123). In arithmetic, multi-plication and division were learned, and per-haps there was some practice on the abacus,

14 Latin Prose writer and developer of Liberal Arts in5th century.15 An archbishop in Seville in the 6th century, hewrote the first genre that can be named as an encyc-lopedia.16 Marcus Tullius Cicero, (c.106-43 BC), Roman politi-cian, orator, lawyer, constitutionalist.17 Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, (c.35-100 AD), Hispa-nic rhetorician.18 A book written by the command of Charlemagneand consists of the conclusions of the Second Councilof Nicaea held in 787.


because Latin numerals were clumsy to com-pute with pen and paper. Arithmetic also in-cluded some practice in chronology, as stu-dents were taught to compute the variable dateof Easter. They would finish with a study of theallegorical meaning of numbers. Geometry wasbased on the study of the Greek mathematicianEuclid19. Astronomy was derived from theRoman writer Pliny the Elder20, with someattention to Bede’s work. (Cunningham & Oth-ers, 2013: 248). Latin versions of Aristotle21’s Decategoriis and De interpretatione and other compi-led treatises may also have been read at the earlyintermediate level (Grotans, 2006: 73). Therewas also a literary type called epic vitae. Epicvitae were read in the classroom. Poems, bothClassical and Christian, provided the funda-mental curriculum texts, and verse compositionrepresented the apex of learning in monasticand cathedral class-rooms of the Central Mid-dle Ages. From antiquity, epic was consideredto be the most authoritative form of poetry."The epic vita, read in the classroom, couldcombine the abbey's institutional history andan edifying exemplum with many of the fea-tures that made Classical epic so useful forteaching. (Taylor, 2013: 11).

They illustrate the continuity that the writerscreated between themselves and figures of thepast (local and otherwise) and the communitiesthey perpetuated within and beyond the clois-ter. They show the intertwined functions ofpraising the saint, flattering the patron, andeducating the young (Taylor, 2013: 290). Al-cuin, though certainly himself well acquaintedwith the principal Roman poets, in later lifecondemned the teaching of Pagan poetry to theChristian youth: and the tendency of the age

19 Greek mathematician, 300 BC, known as the fatherof Geometry.20 Gaius Plinius Secundus, (c.23-79 AD), philosopher,naturalist and writer.21 Greek Philosopher, (384-322 BC).

which he inaugurates was on the whole in thesame direction, though the more enlightenedteachers of the Dark Ages took a more liberalview, and it is probable that in practice boyscontinued to be taught grammatical Latin byreading a classical author, such as Virgil orOvid: and in the best schools, notably at Fer-riéres, under Alcuin’s pupil, the Abbot Serva-tus Lupus, a wider study of Classical literaturewas pursued with some enthusiasm (Rashdall,2010: 36).

Hrabanus Maurus22 was archbishop of Mainz;he was Benedictine. He wrote treatises on edu-cation, grammar and theology. One of his mostfamous treatises is “On Clerical Training”which he wrote while teaching in Fulda Monas-tery, largely concentrates on the education ofyoung priests. “The first part of the treatiseintroduced students to the Church, the ecclesi-astical grades, vestments, the sacraments—especially baptism and the Eucharist—and tothe Mass. The second section provided a handyprecis of the divine office, the liturgical year,feast days, hymns, the Bible, and basic prayersand blessings, and heresies. The final sectionoutlined what priests in training ought toknow, "Quid eos scire et habere conueniat, quiad sacrum ordinem accedere uolunt." Whatthey ought to know was, essentially, the liberalarts curriculum—grammar, rhetoric, dialectic,mathematics, arithmetic, geometry, music,astronomy, and the "philosophical" books (Sul-livan, 1995: 109). Knowledge of the figures ofspeech as well as of the technique of construc-ting an argument was useful in literary exerci-ses and treatises, but discouraged in publicspeech. Preachers from the time of Caesarius ofAries in the sixth century through the Carolin-gian period were reminded to preach in a simp-le, clear fashion and not to make declamations

22 Hrabanus Maurus Magnentius, (c. 780-856 AD),Frankish Benedictine monk.

Sakarya University Journal of Education 31as if they were performing before scholars. Infact, Carolingian preachers were encouraged touse the vernacular, Thiotiscam (German) andthe rustica Romana lingua, since German spea-kers could not understand Latin, and Romancespeakers could not understand the new Caro-lingian pronunciation of Latin (Sullivan, 1995:122).

After Charlemagne’s death, his son Louis thePious narrowed the range of monastic educa-tion. Anthologies of excerpts from the ChurchFathers dominated the monastic curriculum,and the study of belles-lettres, Christian orsecular, was discouraged (Lerner, 2009: 31).Notker of Saint Gall's guide to the foremostcommentators on Scripture is another text thatcan stand both as a product and index of Caro-lingian educational practice. Notker (ca. 840-912) prepared his survey of biblical exegetes forhis former pupil Bishop Salomon of Constance(ca. 860-919/20). The reading program that heset out is heavily dependent on the work of thechurch fathers—Augustine, Jerome, and Greg-ory the Great—but also recommends Isidore ofSeville, Alcuin, and Hrabanus Maurus (Sulli-van, 1995: 110). Interest in dialectic in Carolin-gian schools was both deeper and wider thanthese seemingly isolated examples suggest. Thesources for Carolingian dialectical studies werelargely Claudianus Mamertus, Augustine, andBoethius. Alcuin, as he did in so many otherareas of Carolingian pedagogy, oriented dialec-tical studies when he compiled a manual on thesubject, the De dialectica which, while it derivedfrom earlier authorities, addressed issues ofparticular interest to Alcuin and his circle (Sul-livan, 1995: 123).

4. OTHER AREAS OF LEARNING IN CAR-

OLINGIAN MONASTERIES

4. 1 Knowledge of Scripture

One of the most significant aspects of monas-teries was to have scriptoriums where manu-scripts were copied. It required knowledge ofhow to make manuscript leaves and a seriousinstruction of scribing. Thanks to Carolingianmonasteries and their scriptorias, lots of classicand new works were copied and multipliedwhich meant a great number of educationaltext and book, but the most importantly copiesof the Holy Bible and Psalters could be abun-dant for educational use. So instruction forScripture was held very seriously. The studyand comprehension of Scripture were the ulti-mate goals of Carolingian education. Althoughmodern observers of the Carolingian scene maybe dazzled by the philosophic brilliance of aJohn Scottus Eriugena23 (ca. 810—ca. 877), theexegetical prowess of a Paschasius Radbertus24

(ca. 790—860), the poetical sophistication of aTheodulf of Orleans25 (ca. 760—821), or theclassical humanism of a Lupus of Ferrieres26

(ca. 805— ca. 862), what united these scholarsof different talents and interests and their con-freres was the absolute centrality of the Bible intheir intellectual life. Notker27's guide to theauthorities one needed to consult to compre-hend the Bible reflects the preeminence of bib-lical studies in Carolingian schools and thematuration of Carolingian biblical studies—aprogram complete with a list of authors hadbeen erected around the Bible (Sullivan, 1995:110).

4.2 Christianism according to Benedictine

Rule promoted by Benedict of Aniane

23 Irish theologian, poet, philosopher. He was neopla-tonist.24 Frankigh theologian, abbot in the monastery ofCorbie.25 Bishop of Orleans, writer, poet.26 Abbot in the Ferrières , Benedictine monk.27 Known as Notker I, Notjer the Poet, Nother theStammerer, (c. 840-912 AD), author, poet, musicianand Benedictine Monk in St. Gall Abbey.


In the early ninth century, during the fourteen-year reign of Emperor Charlemagne, Benedictof Aniane (750-821), sometimes called “thesecond St. Benedict,” adopted a strict ob-servance of the Rule in his monastery in south-ern France. Benedict, having served earlier bothin the military and in the court of Charlemagne,during which time he became a monk, wasnow called upon by Charlemagne to lead amonastic reform in his region of France accord-ing to his strict observance of the Rule (Robin-son, 2010: 9). With respect to learning, Carolin-gian monasticism differed markedly from thatin Benedict’s time. Benedict attached no partic-ular significance to intellectual activity or themonastic schools: according to his prologue,monastic life itself was the ‘school of the serviceof the Lord.’ By the ninth century, however, thestudy and production of texts had assumedparamount importance in the cloister (McKit-terick, 1994: 637). Opus Dei (prayer), the litur-gical function of the monks was seen such asignificant matter in the monastic circles that itrequired a high level of discipline within themonastery.

The Rule of Saint Benedict consisted of a pro-logue and 73 chapters (some only a few sen-tences long), which set out the ideal of monas-tic life. Monks (brethren) were to live a familylife in community under the direction of afreely elected father (the abbot) for the purposeof being schooled in religious perfection (Cun-ningham & Others, 2013: 250). The Rule ofBenedict was impersonal and it imposed a lifedevoted to monastic life and lacked any possi-bility of returning to the world. Below one cansee the density of a day in an oblate’s or amonk’s life which includes almost 8 hours aday. The Rule of Benedict was like a balancingphase between the strict end of Monasticism atEast and the newly Europeanized Monasticismin the west. It lessened the manual and physicallabor, duration, amount and the excessive bur-den of the prayer and though not planned,spared some space for the intellectual thrive ofthe people in monastic circles in the ninth cen-tury. Below one can found a daily schedule inan early medieval monastery which was quitehectic during the night time before the acquisi-tion of his Rule.

Figure 3. Monastic Timetable. Cunningham & Others, (2013: 250).

5. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

Although Charlemagne was a member of abarbarian clan and didn’t have a lot at hand to

compose a vast intellectual background, hemade use of what he descended from his fatherPippin the Short: the monasteries; he imple-

Horarium Monasticum2.00 A.M. Rise2:10-3:30 Nocturns (later called Matins; the longest office of the day)3:30-5:00 Private reading and study5:00-5:45 Lauds (the second office; also called "morning prayer")5:45-8:15 Private reading and Prime (the first of the short offices of the day); at times, there wascommunal Mass at this time and, in some places, a light breakfast, depending on the season8:15-2:30 Work punctuated by short offices of Tierce, Sat, and None (literally the third, sixth, andninth hours)2:30-3:15 Dinner3:15-4:15 Reading and private religious exercises4:15-4:45 Vespers—break—Compline (night prayers)5:15-6:oo To bed for the night

Sakarya University Journal of Education 33mented his own educational zeal as a policy forrenovating the state and one of its most promi-nent parts: the clergy. Reading all the infor-mation above one can deduce that education ofCarolingian clergy was dealt with considerablecare. Because it was the clergy who prayed inthe name of the people and it mattered howthey did it. If there was a community in theempire which was crucial after the courtiersand the military it was the clergy. Anotherdeduction could be that education was mostlydominated by theology which means all ofthese efforts was to promote a vocationalbranch of education. Studies conducted withinsuch a context have provided cogent demon-strations of the unique and distinctive charac-teristics and accomplishments of the Carolingi-an cultural effort. Equally important, this lineof investigation has established the groundsupon which Carolingianists could claim thattheir era left a significant Nachleben givingshape to post-Carolingian intellectual and artis-tic life in Western Europe (Sullivan, 1995: 57).So despite the few numbers of the Classicalworks in manuscripts and the lack of educa-tional environments in the nearby places ofwestern Europe, present day parts of FrankEmpire owes a lot to what the literature pro-nounces about Carolingian contribution to theEuropean intellectual heritage today. But ap-parently it wasn’t a tremendous success in thelong run as stated within the article itself, alongwith the reign of his Charlemagne’s son, Louisthe Pious all these efforts started to lose theirprominence. For example, in the synods of 816-7 he ordered the cancellation of the schools inmonastic complexes where lay boys were in-structed. Under the light of all and looking atthe literary genres and types studied we canstate that Carolingians were educating theirclergy dependant on the tradition, mostly onintellectual heritage of classic texts, works andchants they inherited. Treatises, epic viteas and

poetry constituted a significant part of literaturefor instruction. It seems that the BenedictineRule was like the law for every systematic partor process in a Carolingian monastery and thetutelage of the generations to become clerics.And apparently the elder was highly respectedand they are never useless even in the old ageand that age didn’t mean rank within the clois-ter as whoever came first and progressed isfairly more respected. Even a child oblate couldbe superior to a recently joined adult novice. Ifthe Carolingian empire and civilization hadsurvived and continued to flourish, a period oforiginal work would doubtless have eventuat-ed at length; but actually it was destined to besubmerged in the Dark Ages and there wouldbe need of another renaissance before the me-dieval period of positive, constructive andoriginal work could be realized (Copleston,1950: 110). Along with Charlemage, Alcuinobviously was the name who contributed mostto the process. Thanks to him and the nameslike Notker, Hrabanus Maurus, etc. Carolingi-ans raised the number of texts which could beleft to the following generations, in short thenumber of written texts got higher in number.Carolingian renaissance, which also altered theinstructive processes in monasteries thanks toAlcuin and his regulations on educational cir-cles including the monasteries, could not striveat all or in other words; lived at its utmostduring the synergy between Charlemagne andAlcuin but in the following periods it all van-ished and could not compete with the Darknessof the Middle ages, Dark Ages itself. All thesewere to some extend due to the chaos run bythe famous “feudalism.” We can, at an extremeedge, claim that Carolingian efforts were in-deed unique in sense of being a distinctiverenaissance in the renovation of the cleric edu-cation. But it all happened so effectively anddied off so soon within its scope. And althoughthey were separate units with their own admin-


istration and monopoly in the policy of deter-mining the certain educational decisions, mon-asteries also must have been affected by thepitfalls and the imperial decline of the follow-ing centuries. To sum up, it was the monaster-ies which embodied the highest level of educa-tion one can get at the time (Trivium & Quad-rivium) and they served to the production ofmanuscripts which is a highly important con-

tribution to the educational literature and high-er studies at the time. So at some point, we candeduce that theological tutelage was prominentat the time and European higher educationowes a lot to Carolingians for preserving cer-tain level of information, as the university sys-tem of our present day emerged from monasticand cathedrical education.

Referances

Barber, J. (2008). The Road from Eden: Studies in Christianity and Culture. California: Academica Press,LLC.

Bernhardt, J. W. (2002). Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936-1075 (Vol. 21). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Carlbach, E. (2011). Palaces of Time. Canada: Harvard University Press.

Clark, J. M. (1926). The Abbey of St. Gall as a Centre of Literature and Art. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press.

Copleston, F. (1950). History of Philosophy (Vol. 2). New Jersey: Paulist Press.

Cordasco, F. (1976). A Brief History of Education: A Handbook of Information on Greek, Roman, Medieval,Renaissance, and Modern Educational Practice (No. 67). Rowman & Littlefield.

Corradini, R., Diesenberger, M., Reimitz, H. (2003). The Construction of Communities in the Early MiddleAges: Texts, Resources and Artifacts. Leiden: Brill.

Cross, F. L., & Livingstone, E. A. (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: OxfordUniversity Press.

Cunningham, L., Cunningham, L. S., & Reich, J. (2013). Culture and Values : A Survey of the Western Hu-manities (8th ed.). Thomson Wadsworth

Dales, R. C. (1973). The Scientific Achievement of the Middle Ages (Vol. 57). University of PennsylvaniaPress.

Deanesly, M. (1969). A History of the Medieval Church: 590-1500. London: Routledge.

De Jong, M. (1996). In Samuel's Image: Child Oblation in the Early Medieval West (Vol. 12). Leiden: Brill.

Ferzoco, G., & Muessig, C. (Eds.). (2001). Medieval Monastic Education. London/New York: LeichesterUnivesity Press

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Grotans, A. A. (2006). Reading in Medieval St. Gall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Rashdall, H. (2010). The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages: Salerno. Bologna. Paris. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

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Robinson, D. (2010). Ancient Paths: Discover Christian Formation the Benedictine Way. Massachussetts:Paraclete Press.

Sullivan, R. E. (1995). The Gentle Voices of Teachers: Aspects of Learning in the Carolingian Age. The OhioState University Press.

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Verhulst, A. (2002). The Carolingian Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Genişletilmiş Özet

Manastırlar tarih boyunca dini karakterlerinin yanı sıra birer eğitim kurum olma özeliği de taşımış veHristiyanlığın doğuşundan sonra özellikle de Orta Çağ Hristiyan Avrupa’sının eğitim tarihinde önemliyer tutmuşlardır. Manastırların ilk olarak Hristiyan keşişlerler çöl hayatında dayanışma içinde yaşama-ya başladığında, 4. yüzyılda Mısır’da ortaya çıktığı bilinmektedir. Mısır’da başlayan bu mevhum Avru-pa’ya da yayılmıştır. Orta Çağ Avrupa’sında manastırlar hükümdarın olduğu kadar halkın gözünde deçok önemli bir yer tutardı çünkü kendileri için Tanrı’ya yakarıp dua eden yani dini ritüelleri gerçekleşti-ren ruhban sınıfı manastır kökenli idi ve bu grup teolojik meselelerde hükümdara danışmanlık yapardı.O dönem diğer Avrupa hanedanlıklarında olduğu gibi Karolenj hanedanlığında da ruhban sınıfı dolaylıda olsa siyasi ve dini alanda erk sahibi idi ve bu sınıfa dahil olmak prestij demekti. Din adamları için 8.Yüzyıl’da Karolenj hanedanına mensup Kral Şarlman yönetimi altında Nurthambria’lı İngiliz bir aka-demisyen olan Alcuin’in yönettiği entelektüel bir yenilenme hareketi başlatıldı. Şarlman ve Alcuin yöne-timde oldukça kapsamlı bir reform başlattılar ve ruhban sınıfı da bu reformlardan eğitsel ve bilgilendi-rici eğitim süreçlerinin yenilenmesi bakımından etkilendi. Ruhban sınıfı Orta Çağ Avrupası’ında olduk-ça yetkindi; manastır çevreleri ekonomik açıdan neredeyse otonom gibiydi ve krala karşı sorumluyuı.Toplumda yüksek prestij sahibi olan başkeşişler tarafından yönetilen bu eğitim kurumları, öğretiminteolojiye yani Hristiyanlığa dayalı da olsa programlı ve sistematik hale geldiği (katedral ve kilise okul-ları karakterine sahip) tek kurumlardı. Şarlman’ın bu girişiminden önce, eğitim karakteristik olarakyerel kiliselerde rahiplerin verdiği temel dini bilgilerden, ayin bilgisi ve klasik eserlerin okunuşundanileri gitmiyordu. Şarlman ve Alucin’in yayınladığı bildirgelerle birlikte müfredatta değişiklikler yapıldıve Karolenj manastırlarındaki eğitim kadar saray okulundaki eğitim de değişikliğe uğradı. En önemlisimüfredata teolojik ve litürjik bilginin yanı sıra Beşeri İlimler de dahil edildi; bu dönemden itibaren Beşe-ri İlimlerin manastırlarda Hristiyan karakteri kazanmaya başladığı söylenebilir. Ayrıca bu dönemdemanastırların planlarına vergi veren halkın çocuklarının devam edebileceği harici okullar da eklendi. Buokullarda temel gramer, hesap, aritmetik ve ilahi eğitimleri de veriliyordu. Manastır öğrencileri Teolojiya da Felsefe okumaya başlamadan önce Latince “Üçlü Yol Ağzı” yani Trivium (Gramer, Mantık veHitabet) ve sonra Quadrivium (Aritmetik, Geometri, Müzik ve Astronomi) yani “Dört Yol Ağzı” anlam-larına gelen bilimleri sırayla başarmak durumundaydı. Bu iki grup birbirinden ayrı olarak çalışılırdı;Trivium’da Gramer ve Hitabet, Mantık bilime göre daha önemliydi. O zamanda “Grammatica” olarakgeçen Gramer, özellikle metinlerin doğru ve etkili bir şekilde yorumlanması ve imla ile ilgili idi. Hitabetise dinleyicileri belirli bir konuda bilgilendirme, ikna etme, cesaretlendirme ya da motive etme üzeri-neydi. Karolenj manastır çevrelerinde Quadrivium yüzeysel ilgi görmüştür hatta bu hareketin mimarıolan Alcuin de çalışmalarının çoğunda Trivium’a odaklanmıştır. Diğer birçok rahip, keşiş, akademisyenve din adamına ek olarak Alcuin gibi Hrabanus Maurus ve Notker Balbulus, diğer adı ile “KekemeNotker” de Karolenj manastrılarının repertuarını genişleten bilimsel ve edebi eserlerler ortaya koymuş-lardır. Dönem manastırlarında “scriptoria” denilen yazıhaneler de mevcuttur ve yazman rahipler ya damanastır öğrencileri bu yazıhanelerde o dönemde ulaşılması güç ve sayıca az olan klasik ve yeni eserle-rin orijinal örneklerini yazı ile çoğaltmışlardır. Bu eski ve kopyalanarak çoğaltılan temel eserler Triviumve Quadrivium bilim gruplarının eğitiminde kullanılmıştır. Günümüz eğitim sistemine bir benzetmeyapılacak olursa Trivium ve Quadrivium isimli bu ikili yapıyı bir nevi Master Derecesi olarak kabuletmek mümkündür diyebiliriz. Karolenj manastırlarında eğitim sürekliydi ve eğitimcilere magistri deni-lirdi. Bu eğitimciler gündüz eğitim ve dini yükümlülükler, gece ayinler, manastır yaşamının gereklilik-lerinin yanı sıra öğrencilerin eğitimi ile de yakından ilgilenirdi yani manastırda eğitim ve çalışma hayatıkesintisizdi. Karolenj manastırında eğitim almak ya da rahip olmak, Şarlman zamanında kabul görenAziz Benedict Kurallarına uyulmasını gerektiriyordu fakat aynı hükümdar yönetimi altında başka aziz-

Sakarya University Journal of Education 37lerin kurallarının da kabul gördüğü olmuştur. Genç bir manastır öğrencisi yeni başlayan bir yetişkindenkademe açısından daha üstün kabul edilirdi çünkü önemli olan manastırda ne kadar zaman geçirilip,ilerleme kaydedildiği idi; yaş değil. Circatores olarak bilinen yaşlı ve tecrübeli rahipler gün boyunca damanastır avlusu ve diğer alanlarda genç öğrencileri izlerlerdi. Karolenjler entelektüelizme değer verme-yen diğer barbar kavimlerden bu yönleri ile ayrılırlar. Şarlman, kendi döneminde, ruhban sınıfını yetiş-tiren kurum olan manastırlarda bilimsel düzey ve yüksek öğrenime –ki bahsi geçen dönem yükseköğretime rastlaması güç bir dönemdir- etkili bir yenilenme hareketi ile oldukça katkıda bulunmuştur.Her ne kadar bu hareketler temelinde mesleki yani teolojik yöne eğilim verse ve kısa ömürlü olsa daKarolenj eğitim reformu, klasik eserlerin ve klasik döneme ait bilgi birikiminin muhafaza edilmesine,Karanlık Çağları atlatıp İtalyan Rönesansı’na kadar hayatta kalmasına büyük katkıda bulunmuştur. Bubağlamda Avrupa yükseköğretiminin, bugün çoğu bilime temel hazırlayan klasik eseri muhafaza ettiğive belli seviyede bilgi sürekliliğine katkıda bulunduğu için Karolenj hanedanlığına çok şey borçlu oldu-ğu söylenebilir.

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