ABSTRACT
Traditionally, learning was associated with the Church, as is clearly shown by the fact that the term 'clerk', denoting someone who had been ordained, came to be applied more or less indiscriminately to any literate person. Institutions fell into two broad divisions, reading and song schools, which provided a basic elementary education, and grammar schools, which concentrated on the study of Latin. The study of Latin grammar, the basis of secondary education, was equally related to the needs of the Church. Some schools certainly provided instruction in business skills; in the late fifteenth century accounts as well as writing were included in the curriculum of elementary schools at Acaster Selby and Rotherham. At the highest level of education, the universities, the period saw various organizational developments, although for much of the time little intellectual vigour. The greatest problem in assessing how many schools were available in the late Middle Ages is the absence of direct evidence.
