The ancient period witnessed the remarkable transformation of Christianity from a persecuted minority sect into the dominant political and cultural force in the Mediterranean world. One aspect of this development was the formation of a set of discourses and practices regarding sexual, marital and familial life. If imperial legislation showed only modest influence from Christian teaching, the efforts of ecclesiastical authorities were more ambitious. Through preaching and the imposition of penitential discipline, the bishops of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries scrutinised and attempted to regulate the sexual lives of their congregations with rigorous precision. Over time, the sexual lives of married Christians were circumscribed by numerous prescriptions. Only in the fourth century do we see the beginnings of specifically Christian liturgical practices for marriage, initially within the context of ceremonies in the family home. As marriage rituals in antiquity were notably boisterous affairs, clergy were hesitant at first to participate.

This chapter focuses on the structured, formal patterns of teaching and learning, which impinged less closely on the lives of the many than of the few. The schools and their supporting institutions owed much to lay patrons, at least before the 'Gregorian reform'. In both monastic and non-monastic schools the curriculum of study had a common foundation. Central to monastic studies were the Bible and supporting aids including the liberal arts and biblical glosses, and these were approached in a context of regular prayer, meditation and liturgical practice. The growth in numbers of students in urban schools during the eleventh and twelfth centuries reflects the rise of career expectations. However, explaining the changing fortunes of particular schools is difficult, as is the task of explaining why or to what extent some schools gained a particularly high reputation in certain subjects.