Quadrivium

The quadrivium comprised the four subjects taught in medieval universities after the trivium. The word is Latin, meaning "the four ways" or "the four roads," the completion of the Liberal arts.

In medieval educational theory the trivium consisted of grammar, rhetoric, and logic. These were considered preparatory fields for the quadrivium, made up of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In turn, the quadrivium was considered preparatory work for the serious study of philosophy and theology.

The quadrivium could be considered as the study of number: arithmetic was pure number, geometry was number in space, music number in time, and astronomy number in space and time.

This schema is sometimes referred to as classical education, but it is more accurately a development of the 12th and 13th centuries rather than an organic growth from the educational systems of antiquity.

See also : Andreas Capellanus