EPISTOLA

...youth in every kind of literature and good character until they reached maturity. These referring to schools or monastic institutions have now become dismal prisons. In them, young minds are forced through laws, violence, and beatings toward idolatry, impiety, superstition, and the contempt and blasphemy of God.

}He also explains the studies of the monks. These consisted of the constant and fervent reading of the Holy Bible. To this, they added the study of other liberal arts. He writes that Widukind of Corvey Widukind (c. 925–973) was a Saxon chronicler and monk famous for his history of the Saxons., who was prominent under Otto I around the year 950 AD, was drawn by the great reputation of Meginrad the Schoolmaster Scholasticus: the head of a cathedral or monastic school of Hirsau. Widukind came there and saw a great passion for learning, especially in sacred literature. Indeed, he found so many learned men there that he was filled with admiration. He praised Meginrad as a second Jerome Saint Jerome (c. 347–420) was the primary translator of the Vulgate Bible and a symbol of monastic erudition. and a man equal to any of the ancients in learning.

}Furthermore, he testifies in many places that the monks studied languages. He writes that in the monasteries, monks were learned in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Latin. He laments that their excellent works were lost because of the laziness of those who followed them. In their place, barbaric writings remained.

}He testifies at length with these words that there were public schools not just in one monastery, but in all those of his order: "Monks from various monasteries of our order throughout Germany were sent to Hirsau to gain knowledge of the scriptures. This custom was maintained in our order at that time. If any monks seemed fit, they were sent to various monasteries for fuller education and instruction. In all the abbeys of our order, especially in Germany and Gaul modern-day France, there were schoolmasters chosen from the monks. These men instructed the younger monks and those with talent in the foundational sciences of literature. Later, those found capable were sent to higher studies. In only the most famous abbeys, which had more wealth and a larger number of monks, the most learned monks were appointed to teach. These men were educated in both divine and secular literature. To them, monks were sent from the lower-ranking abbeys to be instructed in the higher disciplines. Whoever acquired a reputation for great learning in the order had many students sent to him. Among the monasteries maintaining this custom of study, the most prominent were: the Monastery of Fulda, Saint Gall, Reichenau Latin: Augiense, Hersfeld, our own Hirsau, Saint Alban of Mainz, Corvey, Prüm, Mettlach, Saint Denis of Paris, Saint Maximin of Trier, Reims, Auxerre, Tours, Stavelot, and Wissembourg. In all of these, there were many monks who were very studious."