INFLUENCE OF PROMINENT PERSONALITIES OF WESTERN EUROPE OF THE IV–VIII CENTURIES ON THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

This article examines the processes of origin and formation of education in Western Europe during the IV–VIII centuries. First, the reasons and consequences of the connections between early medieval philosophy (which then included the entire complex of academic disciplines) and theology were substantiated. Then, 4 constituent components were determined, the impact of which was decisive on the improvement of the level of Western European education. After that, brief biographical ІСТОРИЧНІ НАУКИ Historical sciences essays of 9 figures are presented in chronological order, which, according to the authors, had the greatest influence on the formation and development of educational processes in the era of the Early Middle Ages. Special attention is paid to thinkers of the VI–VII centuries: Severinus Boethius (480–524), Cassiodorus Senator (487–578) and Isidore of Seville (570–636). Works written by them, as well as by their predecessors (Hieronim of Strydon (347–420) and Augustine of Hippo (354–430)), contemporaries (Benedict of Nursia (480–547) and Gregory the Great (540–604)) and successors (Beda Venerabilis (673–736) and Alcuin of York (735–804)), significantly expanded the horizons of scientific knowledge and created the foundation for their further development in the era of the High Middle Ages (1050–1300), which was marked by a rapid increase in the population of Western Europe and serious changes in social, political, economic and other fields of life.