Humanism and Education in Medieval and Renaissance Italy

The claim central to many interpretations of the Renaissance that humanists introduced a revolution in the classroom is refuted in Robert Black''s masterly survey based on over 500 manuscript school books. He shows that the study of classical texts in schools reached a high point in the twelfth century followed by a collapse in the thirteenth as universities rose in influence. It was not until the later 1400s that humanism had a significant impact in the schoolroom as Italian teaching particularly at elementary levels remained strongly traditional throughout the fifteenth century.