Excerpt pertaining to the development of Cathedral Schools in Medieval Europe. 

From pages 18-19 of The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages, by Edward Grant.

   " For various reasons - including civil strife over the imperial succession that resulted in an empire slpit into western and eastern halves, economic deterioration because of waning trade and crushing taxes, and the massive migrations and invasions of Germanic and Celtic peoples into Europe were in serious decline from approximately the fourth to the ninth centuries, a period that embraces the late Roman Empire and early Middle Ages. With the decline of the city, education and learning retreated to a considerable extent into the great and small monastaries that blossomed in the rural areas of Europe. Nevertheless, bishops in the various towns and cities had to educate their clergy, and, for this purpose, some established schools under their own jurisdiction. In the late eighth century, Charlemagne (Charles the Great), who ruled from 768 to 814, mandated that all cathedrals and monastaries establish schools to educate the clergy, a difficult assignment as long as Scandinavian and other invaders continued to wreak havoc over much of the continent during the ninth and tenth centuries. 

    With the barbarian invasions finally over by the eleventh century - the Vikings were the last - a new Europe was emerging with new institutions, technologies, ideas. Significant improvements in agriculture allowed for the feeding of a much greater population and, along with a dramatic increase in trade, led to a revival of urban life. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the cathedral schools in many European cities - Paris, Orleans, Toledo, Chartres, Cologne, and so on - became intellectual centers that attracted students and teaching masters. In these schools, future clergy learned Latin, the language of the Church. They also learned enough arithmetic to perform calculations with Roman numerals and to cope with calendrical problems, both secular and religious. To some degree, they were taught the rudiments of the seven liberal arts, and they even studied classical Latin literature through which they were exposed to a broader cultural history. From the tenth to the twelfth centuries some great teaching masters emerged, who attracted students from all over Europe and trained other teaching masters. Among the most famous were Gerbert of Aurillac (ca. 946 - 1003), who became Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), Adalberon of Laon, John of Auxerre, Thierry of Chartres, Fulbert of Chartres, Peter Abelard, William of Conches, Clarenbald of Arras, and John of Salisbury. "