Children of the Renaissance

“Renaissance,” French for “rebirth,” portrays the intellectual and economic changes that happened in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. During this era, Europe emerged from the economic stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced a time of financial growth. Also, and perhaps the most importantly, the Renaissance was an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turned in new directions (Annenberg/CPB).

Of all of the misconceptions of the Middle Ages, some of the most difficult to overcome involved life for children and their place in society. Our distorted view is understandable because evidence is scarce, and little work has been done on the topic by medievalists until recently. In addition, as is often the case with medieval studies, assumptions have been made by those who sought to hold up the modern age as “enlightened” in comparison to the “dark ages” that had gone before. It is these generally unfounded concepts that seem to be most common in people’s opinions of the time (Snell: Childbirth, Childhood, and…).

Because the primary purpose of marriage at any level of society during the medieval times was to produce children, the birth of a new baby was usually a cause of joy with a slight element of anxiety. Even though the childbirth mortality rate at the time was not as high as some people make it out to be, there were still the possibility of problems such as birth defects, breech birth, and the death of the mother, child, or both. Also, even under the best circumstances, there was no anesthetic to lessen the pain (Snell: Childbirth). Even so, families still often had a new child every year. (Iannuzzo). On that note, it is not surprising that it was common for people to have twelve to fifteen children (Marszalek).

“Childhood,” when a child was in the hands of domestic women, lasted until about the age of 7. At this point, an upper-class girl might be sent to a convent for schooling until she was either called home to marry a man she had never met or told to take the veil and save the family the expense of her dowry. An upper-class boy would be put in the hands of a “gouverneur” and may be sent to a “college” or tutored at home. There, he would learn public speaking, philosophy, Latin, etc. In a school, the hours were long, the discipline was harsh, the food was bad, and the heating was rare. All of this was thought to be good for one’s character (Iannuzzo).

Some cities, such as London, had schools that children of both genders attended during the day. Here, they learned to read and write, a skill that became a requirement for acceptance as an apprentice in many Guilds (Snell: Schooling). The school day began at seven o’clock a.m. in winter or six o’clock a.m. in summer. After prayers, they worked until about nine o’clock when they were permitted breakfast, then they worked until eleven o’clock. Dinner was from eleven o’clock to one o’clock. The school day ended at five o’clock or 5:30 p.m. It was understood that students must have their education beaten into them, like their manners and behavior (Ros: What Every Schoolboy…).

The most elementary level of schooling was called petty school. There, children learned to read and write in English and do basic arithmetic. The main concept of petty school, however, was to get the children into grammar school. The petty school was often run by a young wife who taught the local children in her home for a small fee. The primary study of a grammar school was Latin grammar, using Lily’s Grammar as the basic text, with Plautus, Terence, and Seneca as classical sources. Any history, literature, or drama was mainly a vehicle for illustrating the grammar. The function of the grammar school was to prepare the children for university, where courses were conducted in Latin, even after the Reformation. Music, modern languages, and science were irrelevant. Latin was also the language of international affairs, and men of affairs were expected to be able to communicate in it. Anyone who wanted to make his way in the world had to have at least an operational familiarity with Latin (Ros: What Every Schoolboy…).

A small percentage of peasant children managed to attend school in order to learn to read, write, and understand basic math. This instead, usually took place at a monastery. For this education, their parents had to pay the lord a fine and usually promise that the child would not take religious orders. When they grew up, these students would use what they had studied to keep the village or court records, or even to manage the lord’s property (Snell: Schooling).

Noble girls, and on occasion boys, were sometimes sent to live in nunneries in order to receive basic schooling. Nuns would teach them to read and make sure they knew their prayers. Girls were very likely taught