Start here
Medieval Education: A Study of the Art of Learning
An overview of medieval schooling: who learned what and where, from monastery and cathedral schools to the seven liberal arts, and how literacy varied widely.
Life and Learning
Learning and Science
Schools, universities, stars and maps.
Medieval Astrology: The Study of the Stars
How astrology shaped medieval medicine, politics and daily choices, how it related to astronomy, and where church writers drew the line on fate and free will.
Medieval Cartography: The Art of Mapping
How medieval maps were made and by whom, from scribes and monastic workshops to Mediterranean chart makers, with portolan charts and practical route maps explained.
Medieval Cartography: The Mapping of the World
What a mappa mundi was, why it put Jerusalem at the center and Eden at the edge, and how medieval world maps showed far lands, wonders and sacred history.
Medieval Education: The Rise of Universities
How the first universities, including Bologna, Paris and Oxford, grew from schools and guilds of masters and students, and how degrees came to be awarded.
Medieval Education: The Role of Monasteries
How medieval monasteries taught novices, copied and preserved books, and kept learning alive, with their limits and the question of who actually benefited.
Medieval Journeys and Travel: A Study of Exploration
An overview of medieval travel: pilgrims, merchants, envoys and friars on the road, how journeys worked, and what is known about long-distance exploration.
Medieval Medicine: The Rise of the University
A case overview of how early centers such as Salerno and Montpellier trained physicians, what they taught, and which details remain uncertain.
Medieval Medicine: The Rise of Universities
How medical teaching spread across medieval universities, with set texts, lectures and degrees, and what students actually learned about the body and treatment.
The Making of Medieval Maps: Cartography and Exploration
How portolan charts were drawn and used, how mapmakers turned sailors' and travelers' reports into maps, and why accuracy varied from sea to land.
The Medieval System of Education: A Look at Monasteries and Schools
How monastery and cathedral schools became the main places of teaching in the early Middle Ages, from the Carolingian revival to the schools of the twelfth century.
The Medieval System of Education: Schools and Learning
What medieval pupils studied, from the alphabet and Latin grammar to the seven liberal arts, and who could realistically go to school by class, sex and region.
The Medieval University: A Hub of Learning and Discovery
What daily university life was like for a medieval student: lectures, disputations, degrees, lodging, costs, and the tensions between townspeople and scholars.
Related topics
More in life and learning
Food and Drink What people ate and drank, from peasant pottage to noble feasts. Dress, Festivals and Folklore Clothing, holy days, customs and legends. Literature and Legends Poems, sagas and tales told across the Middle Ages. Music and Entertainment Songs, dance, jesters and court amusements. Science and Technology Alchemy, astronomy, ships and the tools that changed work. Women in Medieval Society Work, law, family and religious life for medieval women. Poets and Authors Writers of the medieval world and those who shaped how it is remembered. Medieval Lives Typical lives of a peasant, a knight and a monk. Courtly Love and Ideals Love, chastity and etiquette in noble circles. Elements, Humors and Senses Medieval theories of matter, the body and perception. Medieval Worldview How medieval people thought about time, seasons, life stages and fate. Universities, Oxford and Cambridge How universities arose and how Oxford and Cambridge took shape. Everyday Life Details Homes, hygiene, childhood, marriage and death in ordinary medieval lives.