“A litel scole of Cristen folk ther stood
Doun at the ferther ende, in which ther were
Children an heep, y comen of Christen blood
That lerned in that scole yeer by yeer,
Swich maner doctrine as men used there,
That is to seyn, to singen and to rede,
As smale children doon in hir childhede.”[726]
Among these children, he describes a “widwes sone, a lytel clergeon, seven yeer of age” who had been taught by a pious mother to kneel down and say an “Ave Marie” whenever he saw “th’ image of Cristes moder.” The little boy heard his elders singing the “Alma redemptoris,” and asked one of them to “expounden this song in his langage, or telle him why this song was in usage.” The older boy explains that it was sung in honour of the Mother of Christ, “Hir to salue and eek hir for to preye.” However, he could tell his questioner little more.
“I can no more expounde in this matere;
I lerne song, I can but smal grammere,”
i.e. he was learning how to read and sing, but his knowledge of Latin was slight.
These extracts from Chaucer enable us to see that schools were common at this time, and that the curriculum of the schools consisted of Latin reading, of song, and, for those who showed aptitude, a further study of Latin grammar.
Chaucer also describes for us:—
“A clerk ther was of Oxenford also,
That unto logik hadde longe y go,”
but the only information we glean of the academic studies of this clerk was, that he had,
“at his beddes heed,
Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed,
Of Aristotle and his philosophye.”[727]
At the close of the fourteenth century, the statutes of New College, Oxford, which were also partly those of Winchester College, give us the curriculum of the time. The university scholars were to study Theology, Canon and Civil Law, Arts, and Philosophy; the choristers were to be taught to read and sing; this is subsequently explained to mean “reading, plain song and old Donatus.” The “pauperes scholares” of Winchester were expected to be proficient in grammar.[728]