What was the Role of the Medieval Church in Education

Role of the Medieval Church in Education:

(i) Monks and priests were the only literate people who imparted learning in Churches and monasteries, in the subjects of grammar, arithmetic, logic and theology.

(ii) Many universities were started in Italy, France, England (Oxford and Cambridge), where philosophy and theology were taught in Latin.

(iii) Learning was kept alive by hand-copied books and a few libraries.

Role of the Church in Preventing Advancement in Learning:

(i) Church education made students narrow-minded and fit to become only monks and priests.

(ii) Scientific reasoning was discouraged and belief in magic, superstition and witch-craft became common.

(iii) Any attempt to question the teachings of the Church brought severe punishment.

(iv) University students had no access to laboratories or well stocked libraries, thereby making learning expensive and tedious.

(v) Subjects like History, Literature and Science were ignored. Classical Latin language was only understood by the Churchmen.