THE GREAT DEATH AND THE PRIESTHOOD.

19

Dearth of priests in 1362.

Church were the dispensers of even the most elementary learning. In the Constitution of Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, published 1362 A.D. there is a complaint that "parish churches and chapels remain unofficiated, destitute of parochial chaplains" through the covetousness and love of ease of "modern priests." And in another and undated edition of the same constitution we find it stated that "the priests that now are, not considering that they have escaped the danger of the pestilence by divine providence, not for their own merits, but that they might exercise the ministry committed to them... have no regard to the cure of souls...so that...many churches, prebends, and chapels of our and your diocese, and of the whole province, will be destitute of priests to serve them1."

Now whether this abandonment of parishes was due to the covetousness and general debasement of the priesthood, as this extremely outspoken prelate suggests, or whether it was due, as we may well think, to the great mortality among the parish priests and the terror of the survivors, or to both causes, the fact remains that the grammar schools of England had lost their masters. The priests that now are -an ominous phrase suggesting the numbers that "now are not" as the result of the Great Plague-had abandoned their livings. Only those, tied we may conjecture to the spot by bonds of birthplace and home, who were peculiarly devoted to their parishes, remained to undertake the duty of the cure of souls. What may we infer from this neglect? We may, at least, infer that it was not the foreign priests, Norman or French by birth and instinct, that remained to minister to the flock: if any priest remained it was an English priest speaking the tongue of his people, writing and reading the language of his people, thinking their thoughts and knowing their aspirations. If this inference is true it explains the rapid spread of Lollardy and it explains the subsequent insulation and independent strength of England. But this

1 Johnson's Laws and Canons, vol. 11. pp. 421, 423–4.

20

FIRST USE OF ENGLISH IN SCHOOLS.

inference from reasonable probabilities is more than an inference; it happens to be also an historical fact. The English tongue as an educational agency was born immediately after the Great Death.

The Birth of English Edu

cation.

7. A remarkable passage from Higden's Polychronicon proves this. Higden writing about 1327 A.D. tells us that the children in the schools were at that date compelled to leave their own tongue and construe their lessons in French; while Trevisa, Higden's translator and editor, writing in 1385 A.D. tells us that all that was altered after the First Death (1349) and that English was thereafter taught in the schools. Reading the passage in direct connexion with Archbishop Islip's Constitution of 1362 the conclusion becomes irresistible that the Plague cleared the country of French priests and raised up the English tongue as a vehicle for literary expression.

Higden and Trevisa.

The text of the passage from the translation (with inserted notes) by John de Trevisa of Higden's Polychronicon1 runs as follows: This apayrynge of the burthe of the tunge is bycause of tweie thinges; oon is for children in scole agenst the usage and manere of alle othere naciouns beeth compelled for to leue hire owne langage, and for to construe hir lessouns and here thynges in Frensche, and so they haueth seth the Normans come first in to Engelond. Also gentil men children beeth i-taught to speke Frensche from the tyme that they beeth i-rokked in here cradel, and kunneth speke and playe with a childes broche; and vplondisshe men wil likne hym self to gentil men, and fondeth with great besynesse for to speke Frensce, for to be i-tolde of. [Treuisa. This manere was moche i-used to for firste deth, and is siththe sumdel i-chaunged; for John (Sir Johan) Cornwaile, a maister of grammer, chaunged the lore in gramer scole and construccioun of Frensche in to 1 Vol. I. pp. 159-161-Rolls Series.

2 Another reading: 'to fore the firste moreyn.'

DISADVANTAGES OF BI-LINGUAL EDUCATION.

21

Englische; and Richard Pencriche lerned the manere techynge of hym and of othere men of Pencrich; so that now, the yere of oure Lorde, a thowsand thre hundred and foure score and fyue, and of the secounde Richard after the conquest nyne, in alle the gramere scoles of Engelond, children leueth Frensche and construeth and lerneth an Englische, and haueth therby auauntage in oon side and disauauntage in another side; here auauntage is, that they lerneth her gramer in lasse tyme than children were i-woned to doo; disauauntage is that now children of gramer scole conneth na more Frensche than can hir lift heele, and that is harme for hem and they schulle passe the see and trauaille in straunge landes and in many other places. Also gentil men haueth now moche i-left for to teche here children Frensche]. Hit semeth a greet wonder how Englische (that is the burthe tonge of Englisshe) men and her owne langage and tonge, is so dyuerse of sown in this oon ilond, and the langage of Normandie is comlynge of another londe, and hath oon manere soun among alle men that speketh hit aright in Engelond. [Treuisa. Neuertheles there is as many dyuers manere Frensche in the reem of Fraunce as is dyuers manere Englische in the reem of Engelond.]"

The importance of this whole passage, and especially of John de Trevisa's interpolated notes in square brackets, can scarcely be over-rated. It contributes, both directly and by implication, facts of the highest value to the history of English education during a peculiarly obscure period. First a word must be said as to the men who initiated this movement which in reality revolutionised English education; for we must always remember that Anglo-Norman was a hard tongue to kill and lingered in active corrupt use in the Law Courts for centuries after it died as a tongue, and that it still officially exists in connexion with the legislation of the country. No Act of the Legislature can to-day become law save through the medium of that weird dialect'. However "Sir

1 See footnote to p. 33 infra.

22

JOHAN CORNWAILE, MASTER OF GRAMMAR.

Johan Cornwaile, a maister of grammer, chaunged the lore in gramer scole and construccioun of Frensche in to Englische; and Richard Pencriche lerned the manere techynge of hym and of othere men of Pencrich." Now no volume of biography tells us anything of John Cornwaile or of Richard of Pencriche or of the 'other men of Pencrich,' but still one may learn something of them all by a process of reasoning which is rather more than mere conjecture. The phrase of hym and of other men of Pencrich' shows that Cornwaile was a man of Pencrich and that Richard Pencriche was really Richard of Pencriche. Cornwaile by his name was certainly a westcountry man, though whether he belonged to the distinguished mediæval family of that name cannot be ascertained; he was master of grammar, he was an inhabitant of Pencrich. But where was Pencrich? It might be the Penkriche in Derbyshire where there was a Church in early times, but it appears sufficiently clear that he was of Pencriz or Penkridge (to use the modern spelling) in Staffordshire, within a few miles of the town of Stafford, and that to this county belongs the honour of having given to England the use of her own tongue in her own schools.

Penkridge Grammar

Of Penkriche in Derbyshire little can be ascertained, but the Staffordshire Penkridge is of great antiquarian importance. An ecclesiastical foundation existed School. there before the Conquest, and the Church became collegiate as early, it would seem, as the reign of Henry II. It was certainly collegiate in the 20th year of King Edward I. (1292). The advowson of the Church and of the manor were granted to the Archbishop of Dublin by one Hugh House, and the gift was confirmed by King John in the 17th year of his reign'. This collegiate church with four chapels must have had, in accordance with the best authorities on the subject of collegiate churches, a considerable school

1 See Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. vi. p. 1466, Sir H. Ellis's edition, 1846.

CONCLUSIONS FROM THE EVIDENCE OF HIGDEN. 23

attached to it, and we may conjecture that John Cornwaile was 'maister of grammer' in this school soon after the Plague in 1348-9, that he then introduced there the system of teaching lessons in English, that his plan was adopted by others in the neighbourhood and in particular by Richard of Pencriche, his possible successor in the mastership of the school, and that from this origin the practice spread over England till in 1385 it had become universal.

The classes attending

school.

8. This passage from Higden introduced incidentally in a discussion on the evolution of the English language as a tongue from its constituents, is as has been said important both directly and by implication. It was, according to Higden, the practice for school children from the year 1066 to the year in which he wrote (1327), to construe their lessons and other school work in French. When Higden wrote the English language was the natural tongue of the class that attended grammar schools in the schools these children were compelled to leave their own language.' The class that attended these schools were not the children of gentle blood; this is shown by the form of words used both by Higden and his commentator. Higden tells us that the children in school were compelled to use French; "also gentil men children beeth i-taught to speke Frensche from the tyme that they beeth i-rokked in here cradel"; and Trevisa says "children of gramer scole conneth na more Frensche than can hir lift heele... Also gentil men haueth now moche i-left for to teche here children Frensche." This helps us to ascertain the class that attended the grammar schools. It seems impossible to doubt that the children of the upper classes were taught by tutors'. If we omit all persons of gentle blood, who were left? The burgage tenants in towns certainly attended the grammar school of the borough. These schools in some instances were under

1 Walter de Bibelesworth's treatise (see footnote p. 5) is additional evidence of this.