In this book the reader will find the dramatic story of how the early Roman Church sought to end the general education of the public and how knowledge struggled to survive the Dark Ages. During the Renaissance new forces, including the Crusades and the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle and others, coincided with the birth of the modern universities and secular thought began a long contest with the Church. Only with the Enlightenment of the seventeenth century could education begin to look at man and his world free of dogma. This book will give the reader a new perspective for judging education in our time.