Editing Middle Ages (section)

=== Scholars, intellectuals, and exploration ===
{{See also|Europeans in Medieval China}}
During the Later Middle Ages, theologians such as [[John Duns Scotus]] (d. 1308) and [[William of Ockham]] (d. c. 1348)<ref name=MASchol /> led a reaction against intellectualist scholasticism, objecting to the application of reason to faith. Their efforts undermined the prevailing [[Platonic idealism|Platonic]] idea of universals. Ockham's insistence that reason operates independently of faith allowed science to be separated from theology and philosophy.<ref name=Davies433>Davies ''Europe'' pp. 433–434</ref> Legal studies were marked by the steady advance of Roman law into areas of jurisprudence previously governed by [[customary law]]. England was the lone exception to this trend, where the [[common law]] remained pre-eminent. Other countries codified their laws; legal codes were promulgated in Castile, Poland, and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]].<ref name=Davies438>Davies ''Europe'' pp. 438–439</ref>

[[File:Studying astronomy and geometry.jpg|thumb|Clerics studying [[astronomy]] and [[geometry]], French, early 15th century]]

Education remained mostly focused on the training of future clergy. The basic learning of the letters and numbers remained the province of the family or a village priest, but the secondary subjects of the [[trivium]]—grammar, rhetoric, logic—were studied in cathedral schools or schools provided by cities. Commercial secondary schools spread, and some Italian towns had more than one such enterprise. Universities also spread throughout Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. Lay literacy rates rose but were still low; one estimate gave a literacy rate of 10 percent of males and 1 percent of females in 1500.<ref name=Singman224>Singman ''Daily Life'' p. 224</ref>

[[File:Press -Bettman.jpg|thumb|[[Johannes Gutenberg|Gutenberg]] initiated the [[Global spread of the printing press|spread of printing]] from [[Mainz]], Germany]]

The publication of vernacular literature increased, with [[Dante]] (d. 1321), [[Petrarch]] (d. 1374) and [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] (d. 1375) in 14th-century Italy, [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] (d. 1400) and [[William Langland]] (d. c. 1386) in England, and [[François Villon]] (d. 1464) and [[Christine de Pizan]] (d. c. 1430) in France. Much literature remained religious, and although a great deal of it continued to be written in Latin, a new demand developed for saints' lives and other devotional tracts in the vernacular languages.<ref name=Davies438 /> This was fed by the growth of the ''[[Devotio Moderna]]'' movement, most prominently in the formation of the [[Brethren of the Common Life]], but also in the works of [[German mystic]]s such as Meister Eckhart and [[Johannes Tauler]] (d. 1361).<ref name=Keen282>Keen ''Pelican History of Medieval Europe'' pp. 282–283</ref> Theatre also developed in the guise of [[miracle plays]] put on by the Church.<ref name=Davies438 /> At the end of the period, the development of the [[printing press]] by [[Johannes Gutenberg]] in about 1450 led to the establishment of publishing houses throughout Europe by 1500.<ref name=Davies445>Davies ''Europe'' p. 445</ref>

In the early 15th century, the countries of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] began to sponsor exploration beyond the boundaries of Europe. Prince [[Henry the Navigator]] of Portugal (d. 1460) sent expeditions that discovered the [[Canary Islands]], the [[Azores]], and [[Cape Verde]] during his lifetime. After his death, exploration continued; [[Bartolomeu Dias]] (d. 1500) went around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in 1486, and [[Vasco da Gama]] (d. 1524) sailed around Africa to India in 1498.<ref name=Davies451>Davies ''Europe'' p. 451</ref> The combined Spanish monarchies of Castile and Aragon sponsored the voyage of exploration by [[Christopher Columbus]] (d. 1506) in 1492 that [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|discovered the Americas]].<ref name=Davies454>Davies ''Europe'' pp. 454–455</ref> The English crown under [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] sponsored the voyage of [[John Cabot]] (d. 1498) in 1497, which landed on [[Cape Breton Island]].<ref name=Davies511>Davies ''Europe'' p. 511</ref>

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