The Content Of Elementary And Higher Education In 8th - 9th Century Frankish Monasteries

Abstract

Along with the Carolingian 1 Social Renovations realized thanks to the reformist zeal of Charlemagne, especially concentrated on the intellectual background of the Clergy which was highly degenerated and corrupted, a new educational aspect was gained both in Carolingian court and in monastic circles. Charlemagne met the Irish scholar Alcuin on the way back home in Parma on one of his visits to Rome and invited him to his court along with some other European scholars. Alcuin contributed a lot to the educational organization of the clergy, to the instruction of the noble and lay boys and girls. Carolingian monasteries were especially held in this study because it was the only place education could be found in an institutionalized level in the Frank Empire at the time apart from the Palatine School of Charlemagne. Charlemagne and Alcuin held the reconstruction of intellectual life so seriously that they issued numerous charters on education both for the clergy and for the lay boys in pariochal areas. Alcuin included Liberal Arts (Trivium and Quadrivium) to the Carolingian educational processes along with the Latin, computus and basic arithmetic teachings. In this study one can found the general content of elementary and higher monastic education in Carolingian Monasteries following an introduction of the structure of Carolingian monasteries at the time.