This form of education was most potent in preserving knighthood for several centuries and was a powerful factor in shaping the destinies of Europe. It was faithfulness to the vow to defend Christianity that led finally to the overthrow of chivalry, as will appear in the study of the crusades.
Education of Women.—The girls remained at home and were taught the domestic arts, as well as the forms of etiquette which were practiced in this chivalric age, and which the peculiar homage paid to woman made necessary. They were also taught reading and writing, and were expected to be familiar with poetry. Daughters of the better families were sometimes collected in some castle, where a kind of school was organized, in which they were instructed in reading, writing, poetry, singing, and the use of stringed instruments, religion, and sometimes in French and Latin. Among no other class during the Middle Ages was such great attention paid to the education of women. It was the duty of mothers to see that their daughters were carefully prepared to sustain the peculiar dignity of feudal womanhood.
Criticism of Feudal Education.—1. It honored woman and gave her the highest position afforded by any system during the Middle Ages.
2. It gave the world a splendid example of chivalry, teaching manliness, courage, devotion to the right as it was understood, and the espousal of the cause of the weak.
3. It contributed to literature through the compositions of the Minnesingers.
4. It counteracted the ascetic tendencies of the monastics by encouraging an active participation in life's affairs.
5. It restricted its advantages to the privileged class.
6. It despised intellectual training, while laying great stress upon physical prowess.
7. It lacked the elements of progress.