Based on the study of over 500 surviving manuscript school books, this comprehensive study of the curriculum of school education in medieval and Renaissance Italy contains some surprising conclusions. Robert Black's analysis finds that continuity and conservatism, not innovation, characterize medieval and Renaissance teaching. The study of classical texts in medieval Italian schools reached its height in the twelfth century; this was followed by a collapse in the thirteenth century, an effect on school teaching of the growth of university education. This collapse was only gradually reversed in the two centuries that followed: it was not until the later 1400s that humanists began to have a significant impact on education. Scholars of European history, of Renaissance studies, and of the history of education will find that this deeply researched and broad-ranging book challenges much inherited wisdom about education, humanism and the history of ideas.
Based on the study of over 500 surviving manuscript school books, this comprehensive study of the curriculum of school education in medieval and Renaissance Italy contains some surprising conclusions. Robert Black's analysis finds that continuity and conservatism, not innovation, characterize medieval and Renaissance teaching. The study of classical texts in medieval Italian schools reached its height in the twelfth century; this was followed by a collapse in the thirteenth century, an effect on school teaching of the growth of university education. This collapse was only gradually reversed in the two centuries that followed: it was not until the later 1400s that humanists began to have a significant impact on education. Scholars of European history, of Renaissance studies, and of the history of education will find that this deeply researched and broad-ranging book challenges much inherited wisdom about education, humanism and the history of ideas.
Über den Autor
Robert Black is Reader in Renaissance History at the University of Leeds.
Zusammenfassung
The claim, central to many interpretations of the Renaissance, that humanists introduced a revolution in the classroom is refuted in Robert Black’s masterly study. He shows that the study of classical texts in schools reached its height in the twelfth century, followed by a collapse in the thirteenth as universities rose in influence. It was not until the later 1400s that humanism had a significant impact in the schoolroom, as Italian teaching, particularly at elementary levels, remained strongly traditional throughout the fifteenth century.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Editorial note regarding citations from manuscripts and publications; A note on chronological terminology; Introduction; 1. Italian Renaissance education: an historical perspective; 2. The elementary school curriculum in medieval and Renaissance Italy: traditional methods and developing texts; 3. The secondary grammar curriculum; 4. Latin authors in medieval and Renaissance Italian schools: the story of a canon; 5. Reading Latin authors in medieval and Renaissance Italian schools; 6. Rhetoric and style in the school grammar syllabus; Appendices; Bibliography; Index of manuscripts; General index.
