Paul Monroe

Thomas Platter and the Educational Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century Paul Monroe

This book is a classic in the field of the history of education. It contains the autobiography of Thomas Platter (the memoirs of a shepherd turned academic 1499-1582) and a discussion of his life and times. Written in 1572 but not published until the eighteenth century, it furnishes the best known account of the life of the wandering student of the later middle ages. To quote from Platter: "In the school of St. Elizabeth, indeed, at one time, nine Baccalaureates read at the same hour, in the same room. The Greek language was not yet anywhere in the land. Similarly, no one yet had printed books; the preceptor alone had a printed Terence. What one read must first be dictated, then defined, then construed, and then only could he explain it; so that the bacchants had to carry home great, miserable books when they went away."