My Goal for week 3

Exploring the history of book in Europe during the early

middle ages (dark middle ages) till the beginning of the
Renaissance age.

My target questions:
How was the literacy and cultural life in Europe at that time?

How did the church manage the education as the only educational
institute ?

What was the affect of the literacy on the birth of printing machine
in Europe?

References

Olmert, Michael (1992) The Smithsonian book of books.- Washington, D.C :

the Smithsonian books. 319p.

Katz, Bill(1995)Dahl’s history of the book.-3 rd., English ed..- New Jersey.
309p.

The dark ages (2009) retrieved on 09/ 17/ 2009 from:

http://www.history.com/marquee.do?
content_type=Marquee_Generic&content_type_id=54711&display_order=1&
marquee_id=53127

History of education (2009) retrieved on 09/ 17/ 2009 from:

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?
refid=761561415&pn=2

Summary

The Dark Ages, otherwise known as the Early Middle Ages, was a period in
European history from the collapse of Roman political control in the West—
traditionally set in the 5th century—to about the late 11th century. The term
implied a suspension of time and, especially, a suspension of progress—a
period of cultural stagnation.

By the end of the 5th century the culmination of several long-term trends—
most notably a severe economic dislocation and the invasions and
settlement of the various Germanic tribes within the borders of the Western
Empire—had changed the face of Rome. For the next 300 years western
Europe remained essentially a primitive culture, even though one uniquely
superimposed on the complex, elaborate culture of the Roman Empire, which
was never entirely lost or forgotten.

The only universal European institution was the church, besides such
administrative measures, the cultural memory of Rome persisted. By the 9th
century, with the rise to power of the Carolingians, the beginnings of a new
European unity based on the Roman legacy may be found, for
Charlemagne's political power depended on educational reforms that used
materials, methods, and aims from the Roman past.

Cultural activity during the early middle ages consisted primarily in

appropriating and systematizing the knowledge of the past. At the center of
any learned activity stood the Bible, all secular learning was regarded as
mere preparation for understanding the holy text.

The majority of people in Europe were illiterates, they don’t read or write,
literary belonged to the upper classes, and the particular reason was the
high cost of books. Western society and education were heavily shaped by
Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. The Church operated
parish, chapel, and monastery schools at the elementary level. Schools in
monasteries and cathedrals offered secondary education. Much of the
teaching in these schools was directed at learning Latin, the old Roman
language used by the church in its ceremonies and teachings. The church
provided some limited opportunities for the education of women in religious
communities or convents. Convents had libraries and schools to help prepare
nuns to follow the religious rules of their communities. Merchant and craft
guilds also maintained some schools that provided basic education and
training in specific crafts. Knights received training in military tactics and the
code of chivalry. The rebirth of learning began in Europe in the 14th century
and reached its height in the 15th century. Scholars became more interested
in the humanist features—that is, the secular or worldly rather than the
religious aspects—of the Greek and Latin classics. Humanist educators found
their models of literary style in the classics, that revolution in education
change the history of book in Europe, the middle class attained a cultural
social and economic level that made it possible for them to own books,
theses books were different than the book collections in the churches, they
were written in national language of the country not in Latin, and they were
not religious books, but had different subjects ( law, medical and herb,
poetical literature, that revolution paved the road for the printing machine
to be invented for more copies of books to fulfill the saturate new readers’
wishes for more , and cheaper books to read.