Gladly Would They Teach but Would They as Gladly Learn? : Didactic Literature for Children in 15th Century England

Literature for children in this period consists mainly of courtesy books reflective of the tastes and aspirations of an increasingly powerful middle class. Their goals are adult ones: concern for money, proper choice of a spouse, moral and religious observances, sobriety, industry, and the conduct of children who serve meals. Those written by pedagogues reinforce this overbearing parental guidance. Only a few surviving riddles, charms, gnomes, and poems lighten this double load with fantasy and delight in word play. Thrift and upward mobility were the lessons parents wished to teach children in 15th century England.