Mittelalterliches Schulwesen

Medieval Schools, initially developed on the territory of present-day Austria in the 7^th /8^th centuries in monasteries built in order to engage in missionary work, for training novices, some of whom entered the monasteries in early childhood (pueri oblati). As well as these monastic schools, cathedral schools were set up in bishoprics, among which Salzburg (after 774) was of special importance in the early and high Middle Ages. Teaching was in Latin up to modern times. As well as "interior" schools (schola interior) for future monks, major monasteries also had "exterior" schools (schola exterior) accessible to the nobility and burghers against payment. From the 12^th century on, major parishes also had educational institutions, mainly to train for work in churches and for secular clergymen. Among them the parish (or citizens') school of St. Stephen's enjoyed particularly high esteem. - Convents, which existed in great numbers, offered education for girls, also admitting "exterior" female pupils.

In the late Middle Ages general studies were established in Vienna monasteries (Augustinian hermits, Dominicans and Carmelites); In 1365 the Habsburg duke Rudolf IV founded the University of Vienna. Moreover, self-confident burghers tried to use parish schools to provide the necessary competences for their trades and established municipal Latin schools. In the 15^th century a new school type serving the burghers' interests developed, where instruction was given in reading and writing in German, calculating, and on the units of coins, weights and measures. This "deutsche Schule" (for boys and girls) was run on a commercial basis, often by individuals in need of a second income. By the end of the Middle Ages, Austria had institutions of learning from the elementary to the highest levels of education.