Comparing an "average student" in Alcuin's York to an "average student" at a university today is like comparing the wealth of an "average prince" in 800AD to that of an average teenager now. Not a reasonable comparison, and tbh I think the modern students still come out on top.
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Replying to @davidfickling @johnpauldickson
I like the point you're making that we tend to underestimate the pockets of learning that existed in the "dark ages" but let's not over-egg it.
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Replying to @davidfickling @johnpauldickson
I've seen estimates that Alcuin's library had 140 books in it. My Kindle has 180 books on it!
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Replying to @davidfickling @johnpauldickson
I mean, English *kings* were considered learned if they were *literate* until after the Norman conquest. And these were not average people.
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Replying to @davidfickling
Alcuin alone provides evidence of over 70 classical authors, not including the vast works of Augustine, Jerome, and other Christian authors—studied in his school. Your estimates seem off. I doubt the average student today has read 50 books. And schools were not ONLY for elites!
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Replying to @johnpauldickson @davidfickling
This is just embarassing. Students by the age of 18 have absolutely read more than 50 books.
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Also, in any school/monastery people weren’t sitting around reading books. People read sections or copied out sections but I can guarantee that not everyone read through the libraries at monasteries.
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And to that point, it is unlikely that they all knew Latin AND Greek. Usually only a few learned Greek and it was considered a well-respected skill but not widespread among those who were educated.
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If the knowledge of Greek was so widespread, the Medicis would not have had to seek out refugee scholars from the just-fallen Byzantium to teach it to their kids/translate ancient sources for them. And that was in the 1400s, mind, not the 800s.
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There were very few people who would know Greek, it was not something everyone learned. It happened, but it was considered a specialist skill. As was medieval astronomy. Not everyone was good at computus (which was what it was called).
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Those who were, were highly praised for their knowledge.
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