The greatest single contribution to the history of the grammar schools of medieval England, including the famous public schools of Winchester and Eton, was made between 1890 and 1915 by Arthur Francis Leach (1851-1915). A graduate of Winchester and All Souls College, Oxford and a member of the Middle Temple, Leach was appointed under Prime Minister Gladstone to the Charity Commission where he was involved in the implementation of the Endowed Schools Act of 1869.

A sequel to Nicholas Orme's widely praised study, Medieval Children Children have gone to school in England since Roman times. By the end of the middle ages there were hundreds of schools, supporting a highly literate society. This book traces their history from the Romans to the Renaissance, showing how they developed, what they taught, how they were run, and who attended them. Every kind of school is covered, from reading schools in churches and town grammar schools to schools in monasteries and nunneries, business schools, and theological schools. The author also shows how they fitted into a constantly changing world, ending with the impacts of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Medieval schools anticipated nearly all the ideas, practices, and institutions of schooling today. Their remarkable successes in linguistic and literary work, organizational development, teaching large numbers of people shaped the societies that they served. Only by understanding what schools achieved can we fathom the nature of the middle ages.

This book is a study of all the known schools in the six counties of the West of England, from the Conquest to the Reformation. Most are described for the very first time or in greater detail than ever before. 120 schools are included: those of principal cities, smaller towns and villages, the new endowed schools and chantry schools of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the educational institutions of the monasteries and religious houses. The account of each school covers (as far as possible) its origins, constitution, endowment and history up to the middle of the sixteenth century. Biographies are included of more than 100 founders, benefactors and schoolmasters. A full introduction explains the background of medieval school history and draws attention to points of special interest in the West of England. There are also ten maps and genealogies. The study covers a wide range of topics. As well as making a valuable contribution to the history of education, it casts a new light on the history of the Church and of lay society in the Middle Ages. Medieval people emerge as far more involved with education and learning than is generally thought. There is much in the text of interest to local historians concerned with local towns and villages.