Medieval Education

Not very many people new how to read and write. Monks would teach the children from noble families how to read and write.

Children were taught how to farm at a very young age and some children were taught a craft. Boys began learning a craft when they were seven years old. They were sent to live with masters of a craft or trade. Some girls and women learned crafts from their fathers or husbands and worked with them. The children worked for free for their masters for four to fourteen years. They were called apprentices. Once they were old enough they became journeymen and were paid to work. To become a master the journeyman had to create a work that other masters judged good enough to be a master piece. Some of the crafts included wood work, stone work, and metal work.

Some boys from noble families learned how to become knights. He was sent to a lord's house to train as a page. He learned how to hunt, ride a horse and use a sword. Children trained with wooden swords so that they did not get hurt. When he becomes a page he learns how to help his knight and care for his armour. He gets to learn how to wear his own armour too.