In the later Middle Ages, there was a plethora of authorities involved in the administration and organization of elementary and grammar schools. In France, as in other places in Western Europe, there were generally four different types of authority that sought some level of control over the lower levels of academic instruction. These were the Church (both secular and monastic institutions), territorial lords, civic governments, and universities and colleges. These groups and individuals frequently came into conflict with each other over the supervision of such schools, especially with regard to the appointment of teachers. Occasionally, these authorities existed side by side in the same geographic area. This situation sometimes led to the development of a symbiotic and sometimes competitive ‘system’ of schools and teachers, some of whom were directly managed by their respective authority while others were patronized and protected in more indirect ways. The first part of this chapter, therefore, will discuss the nature of the administration of elementary and grammar schools in France in order to provide a context for what occurred in Lyon. Lyon in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries saw the emergence of a ‘system’ where both the cathedral chapter of Saint-Jean and the municipal council occupied themselves with the provision of elementary and grammar education. This chapter will explore this state of affairs, and seek to recreate the complicated and sometimes strained relationship between the cathedral and the council and the schools and teachers that they supposedly oversaw. The time and money that medieval authorities invested in the provision of elementary and grammar instruction demonstrated their interest in education. Such investment was the practical manifestation of the growing intellectual concern with education in the late Middle Ages.

The Church

The Church traditionally took a substantial interest in education. In France, this began in earnest with the Carolingian renovatio of the eighth and ninth centuries, and continued in monasteries and in cathedral chapters. By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, all the branches of the Church participated in providing education, especially elementary and grammar instruction. Monasteries, which had taken the pedagogical lead in the earlier period, gave way to the cathedral, the collegial chapter, and the parish.