During the greater part of the Middle Ages the chief object of
education was to make men monks, and originally the schools
established at Oxford and Cambridge were exclusively for that
purpose. In their day they did excellent work; but a time came when
men ceased to found monasteries, and began to erect colleges and
hospitals instead.[1]
[1] In the twelfth century four hundred and eighteen monasteries were
founded in England; in the next century, only about a third as many;
in the fourteenth, only twenty-three; after that date their
establishment may be said to cease.
In the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries William of
Wykeham and King Henry VI built and endowed colleges which were
specially designed to fit their pupils to live in the world and serve
the state, instead of withdrawing from it to seek their own salvation.
These new institutions encouraged a broader range of studies, and in
Henry VI's time particular attention was given to the Latin classics,
hitherto but little known. The geographical discoveries of Henry
VII's reign, made by Columbus, Cabot, and others (S335), began to
stimulate scientific thought. It was evident that the day was not far
distant when questions about the earth and the stars would no longer
be settled by a text from Scripture which forbade further inquiry.
With the accession of Henry VIII education received a still further
impulse. A few zealous English scholars had just returned from Italy
to Oxford, full of ardor for a new study,--that of Greek. Among them
was a young clergyman named John Colet. He saw that by means of that
language, of which the alphabet was as yet hardly known in England,
men might put themselves in direct communication with the greatest
thinkers and writers of the past.
Better still, they might acquire the power of reading the Gospels and
the writings of St. Paul in the original, and thus reach their true
meaning and feel their full influence. Colet's intimate friend and
fellow worker, the Dutch scholar Erasmus, had the same enthusiasm.
When in sore need of everything, he wrote in one of his letters, "As
soon as I get some money I shall buy Greek books, and then I may buy
some clothes." The third young man, who, with Erasmus and Colet,
devoted himself to the study of Greek and to the advancement of
learning, was Thomas More, who later became Lord Chancellor (SS145,
351).
The three looked to King Henry for encouragement in the work they had
undertaken; nor did they look in vain. Colet, who had become a doctor
of divinity and a dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, encountered a
furious storm of opposition on account of his devotion to the "New
Learning," as it was sneeringly called. His attempts at educational
reform met the same resistance.
But Henry liked the man's resolute spirit, and said, "Let others have
what doctors they will; this is the doctor for me." The King also
took a lively interest in Erasmus, who was appointed professor of
Greek at Cambridge, where he began his great work of preparing an
edition of the Greek Testament with a Latin translation in parallel
columns.
Up to this time the Greek Testament had existed in scattered
manuscripts only. The publication of the work in printed form gave an
additional impetus to the study of the Scriptures, helped forward the
Reformation, and in a measure laid the foundation for a revised
English translation of the Bible far superior to Wycliffe's (S254).
In the same spirit of genuine love of learning Henry founded Trinity
College, Cambridge, and at a later date confirmed and extended
Cardinal Wolsey's endowment of Christ Church College, Oxford.