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The Liberal Arts and Education in the Middle Ages

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The Liberal Arts and Education in the Middle Ages VII THE LIBERAL ARTS AND EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES The liberal arts held a prominent position in medieval education. They were referred to as the septennium (seven) which was divided into the trivium (three) and the quadrivium (four). The trivium included grammar, rhetoric and dialectics, and the quadrivium comprised arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Lessons in grammar enabled one to read and write, since grammar as ars recte loquendi supplied the rules for speaking and writing correctly. The material considered included orthography, vocabulary, and especially the structure of language (subject, predicate, noun, pronoun, etc.). It was commonly presupposed that the structure of language corresponded to that of being and understanding, a presupposition which was partly responsible for the so-called grammatica speculativa. In many respects medieval grammar is the precursor of modern linguistics. Rhetoric, the second or sometimes third of the trivium, primarily related to the style or manner of speaking. Beauty and ability to convince were of central importance to rhetoric as ars bene dicendi and ars persuadendi (the art of speaking well and convincingly), where rules were formulated for the wording of what one had to say. Although in the beginning this embellish­ ment was incidental, rhetoric largely coincided with what is now called literary science. Concept, judgment and reasoning were all in dialectics considered. Once again rhetoric often came up for discussion in the chapter on reasoning, which also dealt with sophistry, incomplete syllogisms and arguments which were not strictly rational. Truth, reason and insight were of paramount importance. Dialectics was roughly equivalent to what is now, especially since Kant, referred to as philosophy. In the Middle Ages the liberal arts were no longer a preparation for philosophy or philosophical wisdom but rather for theology, which reigned supreme over the libetal arts and held sway as the only real science and true S. Ijsseling, Rhetoric and Philosophy in Conflict © Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1976 LIBERAL ARTS AND EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 47 wisdom. The liberal arts (and philosophy) were regarded as auxiliary to theol­ ogy and as a mere preparatory phase towards the knowledge of divine things. The most important contribution towards the classification of the seven liberal arts and toward the establishment of this division is from a certain Martianus Capella, a non-Christian contemporary of Augustine, also from North-Africa. About 420 he wrote an allegorical and for modern readers rather bizarre book entitled De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury) which exerted considerable influence and was frequently commented upon in the Middle Ages. Through marriage to the god Mercury, Philology, the name for all man's knowledge, is raised to the divine realm. As a wedding present she receives seven bridesmaids, the seven liberal arts personified as women endowed with all sorts of attributes. Grammar is thus an old woman with a number of knives and files in an ivory box in order to apply the scalpel (as it were) to remove children's grammati­ cal errors. Rhetoric on the other hand is a beautiful and elegant young woman, wearing a robe adorned with the various rhetorical figures and supplied with weapons to attack her opponents. Beauty and persuasiveness belong to her. The other arts are also depicted in this manner, and medieval man was thoroughly acquainted with these allegorical figures, which are often portrayed on the porches of Gothic cathedrals (such as Notre Dame in Paris or the cathedral in Chartres). In the early Middle Ages various authors wrote about the liberal arts, rhetoric included. The most important authors are Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville, Bede the Venerable, Alcuin and Notker. Cassiodorus (490-583) wrote De artibus ac disciplinis liberalium litterarum (P.L., LXX, p. 1149-1220), in the second chapter of which he makes explicit mention of rhetoric, declaring his appreciation for profane literature, mundane authors and the wisdom of the world. According to him study of these is indispensable for the study of the bible. Rhetoric is especially necessary and honourable in civil affairs (p. 1151). A detailed outline of rhetoric is also included. Isidore of Seville wrote a lengthy work entitled Etymologiarum libri XX (P.L., LXXXII, p. 74-727), a kind of encyclopaedia of human knowledge, where he gives evidence of being extremely well-read. There are detailed expositions on nature and world history. The second book deals with rheto[]c and dialectics (p. 123-154). There is little original material in the works of Isidore and Cassiodorus both of whom are rather pedantic and principally concerned with preserving and passing on the heritage of classical antiquity. LIBERAL ARTS AND EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES Bede the Venerable (672-735) was author of a work on poetry de arte metrica which deals with rhythm, rhyme, metre, etc. In an introduction to a relatively short text De Schematibus et tropis sacrae scripturae (p.L., XC, p. 175-186), he claims that sacred Scripture is in no way inferior to any other text and in many aspects even superior: with regard to authority, it is a divine authority; as regards use, it points out the way to true and eternal life; as far as age is concerned, it is older than any other writings; finally it has a style surpassing all others. Bede then provides a list of schemata or figures of speech (17) and tropes (15), constantly giving a definition and several examples all derived from Scripture in order to show its superiority. Under schemata he includes a discussion of conjunction, subjunction, re­ petition and simile, while under tropes he considers catachesis, synecdoche, paraphrases, metaphor and metonymy. Metaphor is defined as rerum et verborum translatio (transference of words and things) and metonymy as transnominatio ab alia signijicatione ad aliam proximitatem trans/ata (the transference of the world from its own meaning to one closely associated with it). More has yet to be said about the superiority of the bible. Alcuin (730-804) wrote Dialogus de rhetorica et virtutibus (p.L., CI, p. 919-950), a fictional dialogue between Charlemagne and Alcuin in a most academic form of question and answer. There is an almost exclusive treat­ ment of the structure of juridical procedure: on legal debate and on legal eloquence. It is important to note the context of this work. On the continent of Europe barbarity and ignorance prevailed; while Charlemagne wanted to bring civilization to the Frankish realm. For this purpose he appealed to English monks, one of whom was Alcuin. All sorts of monastery schools were then established where instruction was given in grammar, rhetoric and dialectics. The ability to speak well was deemed highly important for proper juridical procedure. Notker Labeo (950-1022) or "Teutonicus" was principal of the monastery school of St. Gallen. He translated the work of Martianus Capella into Old German and also wrote an 'Arte rhetorica'. He exerted considerable in­ fluence on the formation of an autochthonous German literature. These writings of Cassiodorus, Isidore, Bede, Alcuin and Notker have a certain attraction owing to their rather naive simplicity and immediacy. At first sight there is little contribution towards a better insight into the conflict between rhetoric and philosophy. However, two problems which arose regularly in those texts are of importance to the conflict: juridical procedure which, as will be seen, later served as a model for the structure of education, and particularly the authority of Scripture. LIBERAL ARTS AND EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 49 The Bible was a text or a collection of texts, read with utter respect in the Middle Ages, thoroughly studied and solemnly recited in the liturgy, where rhetoric assumed exceeding importance. Biblical interpretation was closely connected with rhetorical analysis, while liturgical readings presupposed a rhetorical training. In all aspects, then, Scripture was superior. In the Middle Ages there was a clear hierarchy among all the texts which had been handed down. At the top was the Bible as the highest authority and criterion for the truth and value of all other texts, which although they had a certain authority were still subordinate; immediately after Scripture came Christian tradition with sacred and profane writings. Next in line was non-Christian tradition with its own classification. Any medieval conflict between philos­ ophy and theology, reason and faith, or worldly wisdom and divine wisdom is principally due to a conflict within the hierarchy of texts or the authority of different traditions. This is ultimately a rhetorical problem, for all argu­ ments based upon tradition or existing texts are in fact not 'philosophical' but 'rhetorical' arguments. Even what is said about rhetoric in the High Middle Ages yields little in­ sight regarding the conflict between philosophy and rhetoric. Neither can much significance have been attributed to Aristotle's tract on rhetoric when it became known in Europe at the end of the thirteenth century. No serious study was then devoted to this tract and, as far as can be ascertained, only Aegidius Romanus discusses the relation between philosophy (or rather ethics and politics) and rhetoric, clearly declaring himself in favour of philosophy. What is extremely important for the conflict between philos­ ophy and rhetoric however is the actual structure of education, but then not so much as regards rhetorical theory, but rather as regards rhetorical praxis. In the High Middle Ages the Scholastics, initially at least awarded a central position to the so-called lectio which consisted in reading and ex­ plaining a text recognized as having a certain authority, e.g. Scripture or the sentence of Peter Lombard. The exposition was basically a thorough analysis whereby all sorts of distinctions were introduced. Besides this, there was a number of questions formulated with arguments for and against.
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