The provost was to exercise a general supervision over the establishment, to guide the studies of the fellows and all others who wished to avail themselves of his services, and to preach in the diocese of York, especially in specified churches.[681]
The first fellow was to give instruction in grammar under the direction and supervision of the provost. The second fellow was to teach the art of music[682] “especially in plain and broken chant, in all the moods and forms of the art,” to scholars desirous of learning coming from any part of England and especially from the diocese of York.[683] The third fellow was to be learned in the art of writing and in the keeping of accounts. Archbishop Rotherham states that he founded this third fellowship because he desired to assist those who did not wish to attain to the “high dignity” of the priesthood, to fit themselves “for the mechanical arts and other worldly concerns.”[684] All these fellows of the college were diligently to teach “without exaction of money or anything else in the schools and houses assigned for the purpose in the college.”[685]
Before proceeding to consider the data we have collected in this chapter, we may refer briefly to the educational provision made in connection with hospitals. In addition to the educational aspect of the charitable foundation at Ewelme, to which we have already referred,[686] we note that in 1231 a Jewish synagogue existed in the parish of St. Bennet Fink. This was given to the brethren of St. Anthony of Vienne in France by Henry III. A hospital consisting of a master, two priests, a schoolmaster, twelve poor brethren, and various officers was established by them.[687] A further development occurred in 1441 when John Carpenter, who held the position of master of St. Anthony’s Hospital at that time, obtained from the Bishop of London the revenues of a rectory adjoining the hospital for the maintenance of “a master or fit Informer in the faculty of grammar ... to keep a grammar school in the precinct of the hospital or some fit house close by, to teach, instruct and inform gratis all boys and others whatsoever wishing to learn and become scholars.”[688] The school, thus founded, made considerable progress and for about 200 years was the chief school in London.
We may also mention the foundation of Heytesbury Hospital in Wiltshire. Licence was granted[689] in 1472 to Lady Hungerford to found an almshouse to consist of a master and twelve poor brethren. The statutes for the government of the institution show that the master was to be able to teach grammar, that the chancellor of Salisbury was to present “an able keeper and a sufficient teacher of grammar at every avoidance,” and that it was the duty of the master “to teach and inform all such children and all other persons that shall come to the place which is ordained and deputed to teach them in within Heytesbury and ... shall teach them from the beginning of learning until such season as they learn sufficient ... of grammar; no school hire take of no person or take (except from) such as their friends may spend £10 or above, or else that will give freely.”[690]
Our treatment of the problem with which we are concerned in this thesis, has differed in this chapter from that adopted in other chapters. We have here collected together a mass of evidence illustrative of the part taken by collegiate churches in education. The evidence is not exhaustive. We can readily adduce evidence of the education provided by the collegiate churches at Ledbury, at Llangadock, at Brecon, at St. David’s, at Crediton, and probably further research would enable additional examples to be obtained.
The question is: what general principles arise as a result of a consideration of these examples?
(1) The Church considered it one of her primary works of charity to provide for education. The charitable aspect becomes particularly evident when we consider the association of almshouses and schools as at Eton, Ewelme, Heytesbury, and St. Anthony’s. Though, as we have tried to show in preceding chapters, the rise of a social consciousness had led various community organisations to realise that they had a duty to discharge in the provision of educational facilities, yet the fact that other authorities were stirring themselves in the matter did not involve that the Church was to be apathetic. On the contrary, the examples we have adduced indicate considerable activity.
(2) Each of the collegiate churches was normally regarded as a centre of educational work. This fact seems to have been so generally known that it is rarely expressed in the licences authorising the foundation. It is only some special circumstances, e.g. the existence of the statutes or the return to the chantry commissioners, which enables the teaching work of these colleges definitely to be known. Since the educational aspect of the work of these colleges was not a matter of enactment[691] it must have been due to tradition. This tradition must date back to the earliest days of the establishment of such colleges and here we go back to the time of the introduction of Christianity to this country. In fact, a definite connection between collegiate churches and education can be traced back to the days of St. Augustine of Hippo.[692]
(3) A change is gradually observable in the relationship of these collegiate churches to education. At first the master of grammar and of song was merely a hireling, a clerk, probably, who was attached in some subordinate capacity to the institution. The foundation deed of Winchester College, for example, makes no mention of a master of grammar, the foundation charter of Eton College refers to a “magister sive informator in grammatica,” but, whilst other appointments are definitely mentioned, the appointment of a schoolmaster was apparently of secondary consideration. Gradually the position of the master improves until we see in the last instance of the establishment of a college prior to the Reformation, and which we have given in this chapter, the foundation of Rotherham College, that the establishment consisting of a provost and three fellows, each of whom was engaged in educational work, was one in which the scholastic aspect took precedence over all other aspects.