A. F. LEACH ON THE REFORMATION: I.

This article focuses on the educational philosophy of A.F. Leach, the historian of medieval schools and author of the book "English Schools at the Reformation." According to the article author, there is no subject so confidently dealt with by historians as the Chantries Act of 1547, the chief instrument of that policy. It is unequivocally stated that it led to the disappearance of elementary education, the destruction of many grammar schools and the crippling of many more in Great Britain. The authority cited in support of these views is Leach. But it was precisely Leach's methods of investigation and findings that A.F. Pollard, the leading authority on the Reformation period, was challenging when he underlined the need for further research. He did not establish his point, and Leach's conclusions have since been accepted by most historians of the period, as well as by those specifically concerned with the history of education. The author argues that Leach set the scene for his discussion of the documents with an enthusiastic account of the organization of mediaeval education; emphasizing, in particular, the importance of schools attached to secular cathedrals and collegiate churches. His arguments are not convincing, if only because they rest on formal evidence and fail to take into account the decline of the Church in the later Middle Ages.