Free Grammar Schools were schools which usually operated under the jurisdiction of the church in
pre-modern England. Education had long been associated with religious institutions since a Cathedral grammar school was established at
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
under the authority of
St Augustine's church and
King Ethelbert at the end of the sixth century. The religious reforms of
Henry VIII and the influence of
renaissance philosophy
The designation "Renaissance philosophy" is used by scholars of intellectual history to refer to the thought of the period running in Europe roughly between 1400 and 1600 (the dates shift forward for central and northern Europe and for areas such ...
resulted in an increased educational drive and a broadening of
curriculum
In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
, but perhaps the most significant change of this period was that many new
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
s were private institutions 'supervised in variable degree by church and state'.
[Raymond Williams, ''The Long Revolution'', (London, Chatto and Windass, 1976), p. 132] From the sixteenth century, there was much lively debate over curriculum, arguments about the original intentions of original benefactors and administrative detail. Due to the religious influence of Free Grammar School benefactors, these disputes or disciplinary concerns were often fought in
church courts
An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...
, and the consequent records offer rich detail of these concerns.
References
{{reflist
History of education in England