issue of the struggle for freedom waged by Gregory VII. and his
successors, reached the zenith of its glory in the thirteenth century.
Scholasticism, as expounded by men like Alexander of Hales, Albert the
Great, Roger Bacon, St. Bonaventure, and St. Thomas, and illustrated
by a wealth of material drawn alike from the Scriptures, the writings
of the Fathers, the wisdom of Pagan philosophers, and the conclusions
of natural science, was alone deemed worthy of serious attention.
Classical studies either were neglected entirely even in the centres
of learning, or were followed merely for the assistance they might
render in the solution of the philosophical and theological problems,
that engaged men's minds in an age when Christian faith reigned
supreme.

The Catholic Church, indeed, had never been hostile to classical
studies, nor unmindful of their value, as a means of developing the
powers of the human mind, and of securing both breadth of view and
beauty of expression. Some few teachers here and there, alarmed by the
danger of corrupting Christian youth by bringing it into contact with
Pagan ideals, raised their voices in protest, but the majority of the
early Fathers disregarded these warnings as harmful and unnecessary.
Origen, St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Gregory of Nazianzen, St.
Basil, and St. Jerome, while not ignoring the dangers of such studies,
recommended them warmly to their students, and in the spirit of these
great leaders the Catholic Church strove always to combine classical
culture and Christian education.

With the fall of the Empire, consequent upon its invasion by the
barbarian hordes, classical studies were banished to some extent to
the Western Isles, Ireland and Britain, from which they were
transplanted to the Continent principally during the Carlovingian