IX
The Book-Makers of the Middle Ages.
With that of the boke losende were the claspis:
The margent was illumynid all with golded railles
And byse, empicturid with gressoppes and waspis,
With butterflyis and freshe pecocke taylis,
Enflorid with flowris and slymy snaylis;
Enuyuid picturis well towchid and quikly;
It wolde haue made a man hole that had be ryght sekely,
To beholde how it was garnyschyd and bounde,
Encouerde ouer with gold of tisseu fyne;
The claspis and bullyons were worth a thousande pounde;
With balassis and charbuncles the borders did shyne;
With aurum mosaicum every other lyne
Was wrytin.
Skelton.
From the sixth to the thirteenth century, the ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic church held all the keys of scholastic knowledge. They wrote the books, kept the libraries, and taught the schools. During this period there was no literature worthy of the name that was not in the dead language Latin, and but little of any kind that did not treat of theology. A liberal education was of no value to any one who did not propose to be a monk or priest. Science, as we