course of study continued to be divided into the elementary trivium and the
more advanced quadrivium; the trivium, however, was altered to include a
heavier emphasis on the study of literature. Rhetoric no longer dealt exclu-
sively with the means of persuasion but now included the study of law. More
striking is that the trivium no longer was limited to elementary education; in-
stead, it was expanded greatly, encompassing elementary, secondary, and col-
lege education. Completion of the trivium entitled students to a bachelor of arts
degree. The quadrivium still included arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, but
geography and natural history, as well as astrology, were added to the curricu-
lum. Music study, on the other hand, was reduced almost completely to signing
and composing hymns. When students finished the quadrivium, they were
awarded a master of arts degree. The seven arts of the Roman period became the
“seven liberal arts,” a phrase that eventually was reduced simply to the “liberal
arts,” which form the basis of our undergraduate education today.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the study of grammar maintained its impor-
tant place in education. R. W. Hunt (1980) stated that, during the 11thand 12th
centuries, “everyone had to study grammar, and it was regarded as the ‘founda-
tion and root’ of all teaching” (p. 1).
It is easy to understand why. When a language has no native speakers, nu-
ances of expression and structure are easily lost and difficult (if not impossible)
to retrieve. Consequently, students and teachers during the Middle Ages had to
rely on the Latin grammars produced by Donatus and Priscian to understand
the form and function of the language. Written in the 4thand 6thcenturies, re-
spectively, these grammars were comprehensive and authoritative but difficult
to understand because they were written for native speakers of Latin and were
not intended to teach Latin as asecond language.Consequently, teachers and
students alike faced a dual challenge: mastering Latin grammar and also trying
to understand exactly what Donatus and Priscian meant. Scholars during this
period did not write new grammar books—rather they wrote glosses, or explan-
atory commentaries, on Donatus and Priscian in an effort to understand the
nuances of the language (R. W. Hunt, 1980).
These commentaries usually referred to classical literary texts to illustrate
difficult points. The approach to instruction was similar in many respects to the
grammar-translation method still used today in some schools to teach foreign
languages. Students would study Latin grammar and vocabulary and then ap-
ply their knowledge to translating (and in some cases explaining) the text of an
ancient author, such as Cicero.
By the end of the 13thcentury, the curriculum began to change. Throughout
the Greek and Roman periods and during the early Middle Ages, grammar and
logic were distinct areas of study. This distinction started to disappear toward
8 CHAPTER 1