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The medieval map gives a hint of 14th Century England as it was. The countryside was more deeply wooded than now. The rivers show prominently, probably because boats were more reliable transportation. Roads, more like wide tracks or paths, are marked on the map as the crow flies. Already London was the hub of communications with the main roads fanning out in all directions. Figuring 20 to 25 miles a day by small cart or horseback, the mileage shown between towns helped the pilgrim calculate how many days journey from London to Canterbury. Not seen on the map were the four million who populated England. Ninety percent were villagers and most were illiterate.

The language of the people was in transition during Wycliffe’s time. The wealthy generally spoke French from past Norman influence. They used the local English dialect only when they spoke with inferiors. But in 1362, English replaced French as the language of the courts. By 1385, English schoolboys were interpreting their Latin into English instead of French. Latin remained the language of the church, of the university, and of universal communication. Of the many English dialects, the Midland English eventually prevailed since it was spoken in London and Oxford. Also, Midland English was popularized by Chaucer and Wycliffe, both of whom wrote in this dialect.

Everyday life was so time-consuming and tiring that there was no time left for general education. Most lay people were small farmers, rural laborers, personal servants, staff members of great households, soldiers, and small craftsmen. Some might have gone to a small local ABC school as children but nothing after that. There is little evidence that girls went to school at all. By Wycliffe’s time, the people were slowly growing out of this illiteracy.

Grammar schools were run by parish churches, religious orders, and some private benefactors. Most students were there to learn Latin well enough to study at the University where it was the language of instruction. Children of upper classes often had private tutoring in their manors until seven when they would become a page in another great household to continue their education, especially in the manner of the court. At 14 many were ready for the university.

Because most medieval schools were run by the church, each university student became a “clerk in holy orders” because he had to take minor orders to become eligible to enroll. Usually his destination as a “clerk” was the teaching profession, not the priesthood.

A student would be assigned a college. For example, when William of Wykeham founded New College, Oxford in 1379 we are told he provided room “for a warden, three lay clerks, ten priests, sixteen choristers, and seventy scholars, who were to be 16 years of age at admission to the university.”

The student’s first years of university education included Grammar (including language), Rhetoric, and Logic or Dialectic, climaxing in a Bachelor’s degree. For his Master’s degree, he studied Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy. If he chose to study for a Doctorate, he could get it in law, medicine, music, or theology. Throughout was the study of philosophy—natural, moral and metaphysical.

Nothing dominated medieval life in Europe as much as the church. In behavior, there was one ethical code. In belief, there was one body of doctrines. In ritual, there was a common core of liturgical worship. In education, the church ran the schools, shaped the curriculum, taught the classes, and its graduates were the only educated persons available. In money and property, the church made its demands on all individuals and on all governments of Christian countries. In political power, the church tried to be the ruler of all Europe. In personal thought and behavior, the church tried to be ruler of all life. And to contradict the church was heresy.

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