Secondary Grammar Education in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The study of language and literature had a fundamental role in medieval education, being a major subject at all levels of education. This chapter deals with medieval language teaching in Western Christendom, focusing on the core of grammatical treatises, consisting of a systematic description of the parts of speech and their syntax. From the Carolingian reform on, grammar instruction continued to be influenced by logic, and the role of literature diminished. Grammar teaching became increasingly analytical, and Donatus’s standard textbook could no longer meet the requirements of language pedagogy in the High and Later Middle Ages. Its study began to be accompanied by other short treatises, which represented new doctrines, e.g. syntactical theory, and new forms of teaching, such as parsing grammars and grammars in verse.