In this book Nicholas Orme sets out to correct the common misperception that schools during the Medieval period were almost exclusively for clergy and that they were primitive institutions, where little thought or effort went into how they operated. As the subtitle states, this book focuses on England and covers the period from 43 to 1558.

There are two main aspects to this book (not in consecutive chapters). Part is a narrative where Orme discusses English schools in a general sense – where they were located, how they were created, how they found schoolmasters, whether they were endowed, if they taught students as training for the clergy or whether they took in students for a fee. While the period to 1100 is, not surprisingly, somewhat cursory due to a lack of sources, from that point on it becomes much fuller.

The last narrative portion, from 1509-1558 - from when Henry VIII took the throne to the beginning of Elizabeth I’s reign - is covered in even greater detail. These two chapters cover the impact of the Reformation on English schools, a time of relative turbulence. Orme details the impact of Henry’s dissolution of the monasteries and discusses how initially this was a negative but eventually led to greater interest by the government in schools, a greater standardization of teaching materials and a move toward learning in English rather than Latin. He walks through the various actions impacting schools which the government took, how these impacted the schools, and what the reaction was to them.

The other portion of the work is devoted to subject matter. One area which Orme covers in great detail is what was taught. He goes into considerable depth discussing the various levels of learning – reading, to sing in the choir, or grammar - what was taught at these levels and what texts were used to teach from.

Another area he covers is the schools themselves. How large were they, how many students would they serve, were they attached to a Church or Monastery and did they allow lay pupils are all discussed in depth. He also walks through the role of the schoolmaster and details how it evolved from a priest or monk who also had religious duties to paid lay clerics who devoted all their time to teaching – the beginnings of the profession of schoolmaster.

He also devotes an entire chapter to Religious Orders and Education. Quite frankly, this chapter felt out of place. As I read through it – and there’s plenty of good information – I wondered why it was included. There was a section from pages 283-287 titled, “Education for Outsiders” but other than that the entire chapter dealt with education by clerics strictly for those who intended to become clerics. This didn’t fit my idea of a school any more than accounts of a private tutor teaching the son of a noble would.

I have a mixed opinion of this book, hence my rating. Orme provides a tremendous amount of information about schools in England. He utilizes sources extensively and the work is well, if not properly (see my rant below) footnoted. It is well illustrated with 92 pictures, maps and diagrams. At the end of the work he provides a list of all independent or semi-independent schools open to the public as well as private schools in minsters and collegiate churches or run by parish clergy or laity which can be documented for the period covered in this book. He provides a very good bibliography. If you want to go somewhere for information on Medieval schools in England, this book has it – and Orme does a very nice job of supporting his goal of correcting the misconceptions related to Medieval Schools.

However English Medieval Schools are presented in a virtual vacuum. Orme presents almost no information on other aspects of education in England, which I find particularly troubling when it comes to the development of Universities. And he devotes nothing – zip, zero, zilch, nada – to any discussion of continental influences on English schools, or how English schools may have influenced the continent (beyond briefly mentioning the teaching of French). This provides a very misleading picture of the Medieval period, particularly when you consider that for a great deal of the period discussed much of France was under the same rule as England. Another area Orme ignores – completely – is the impact of schools on everyday life. An increase in literacy is well attested to over this period and can at least be somewhat attributed to schools, however Orme ignores it.

The net effect is that Orme has provided a book with a great deal of information – sound, quality information – about Medieval schools in England. However he fails to place this in any sort of context or demonstrate that it had any sort of impact on the Medieval, or post-Medieval world. I would caution someone considering this book to keep this in mind and consider picking up some works that also cover the development of literacy and its impacts, the impact of continental Europe on England and a discussion of overall education so schools can be placed in some sort of context. This work has a lot of value but to take advantage of it, you’ll need to consult others.

I have a peeve I’ll discuss here which is, I believe, addressed more to the publisher than the author. I have come to reluctantly accept endnotes rather than footnotes. I tuck a bookmark where the notes are and it isn't overly tedious to flip back to them. However, the use of abbreviated endnotes, as was done in this book, makes them next to useless. Now instead of simply flipping back to the notes I must then turn to either the bibliography or the list of abbreviations to figure out what’s being referred to – all while trying to keep my place in the narrative and remember what the heck I was just reading. Abbreviated footnotes are fine – if they are placed at the bottom of the page. Endnotes are acceptable, if they are full notes. Abbreviated endnotes are virtually useless and a University publisher such as Yale University Press should know better. I hope that an author or publisher will see this and think about avoiding these in the future. ( )