13. In the cloisters of some of our old cathedral churches and colleges, such as Gloucester and Westminster, on some of the old stone benches, there are holes and scratches still to be seen where school-boys of long ago played games with marbles and stones.
14. By the thirteenth century there seem to have been schools in all the chief towns. Though they may not have held very many scholars, they were not intended for the sons of well-to-do people only; they were for poor scholars as well. Thus, at St. Alban's, provision was made for sixteen poor scholars, and the same kind of provision was quite common. There was some chance, even in those days, for a lad with "brains" to get on in the world. In fact, we know that in those Middle Ages a good many men rose "from the ranks" to hold high office in the state. There was, for instance, Thomas à Becket. He was born in London, and not ashamed to be known as Thomas of London. Then there was Thomas Scot, who rose to be Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England in the fifteenth century, who was known as Thomas of Rotherham, after the place where he was born. William of Wykeham, that great founder of schools, is still known by the name of the little out-of-the-way Hampshire village where he was born—Wykeham. Winchester College, the first of our public schools, was founded by him. His real surname was Longe, and the motto he chose, "Manners Makyth Man", is worth putting up in every school in the land.
Photo. Valentine
WINCHESTER COLLEGE (page 132)
15. But there were dunces in those days too, who made little or no use of their opportunities, and others who turned them to bad purposes.
Summary.—Schools began in the monasteries, and those at Canterbury, York, and Jarrow were famous in the seventh and eighth centuries; and King Alfred was a great promoter of schools. Soon after the Conquest other schools began at Derby, St. Alban's, and Bury St. Edmund's. Learning had to be by heart, as books were few. Latin was the great language of learning in the Middle Ages. There were frequent holidays, though they did not last for weeks at a stretch. Boys took part in the early Mystery Plays, which were the origin of our stage plays. By the thirteenth century there were small schools in most towns, and provision was made for poor scholars. Many great men, like Thomas à Becket, Thomas of Rotherham, and William of Wykeham, rose from such schools as these.
[CHAPTER XXXIV]
UNIVERSITIES
1. Now, just as the tide flows and ebbs, so in England did interest in learning rise and fall during the Middle Ages. Schools of all kinds had their good times and their bad times. Sometimes we find the thirst for learning being shown in one direction; then it almost died away for a time; revived again, and took another direction.
2. At first we see it going in the direction of making monks and priests and missionaries; then in making able men who could take part in the civil business of the manor, the town, and the country; and then, in the thirteenth century, it began again to take a turn towards learning for learning's sake.