The First Universities.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 693.

XV. Read, translate and retell the text.

Before the 12^th century most people were illiterate. Reading and writing skills were not considered important or necessary. Monasteries were centers of education, and priests and monks were most educated people.

But with the development of such sciences as medicine and law, organizations of general study called universities appeared in Italy and France. A university had four faculties: Theology (the study of religion), Canon Law (church laws), Medicine and Art, which included Latin grammar, rhetoric (the art of making speeches), logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

In the middle of the 12^th century a group of professors from France came to Britain and founded schools in the town of Oxford in 1168. It was the beginning of the first English university. A second university was formed in 1209 in Cambridge. Towards the end of the 13^th century colleges appeared around the universities, where other subjects were studied.

Getting an education in those times was very difficult. Printing had not yet been invented, and all the books were hand-written. That's why books were rare and very expensive. Only the richest people could afford buying books. If a man had twenty or thirty books, people said that he had a great library. Special rules existed for handling books. You were not to touch books with dirty hands or put them on the table at meal times. In almost any monastery you could find one, two or more monks spending hours every day copying books.

Notes:

Theology –теология (богословие)

Canon Law- церковное право