For this age of growing literacy (and growing importance of literacy), I have a stack of solid references about Latin schools for boys and even a few mentions of rural parish schools. When it comes to daughters of the urban gentry, however, I see mostly unsupported--and contradictory--assertions and assumptions. Were girls mostly learning vernacular reading and other basic skills at home from their mothers (or not at all, as the experience of some Devotio moderna houses would suggest)? Were convent schools a significant force in girls' learning, or was their reach still limited before the sixteenth century?
I'd be very grateful for references either to primary sources (beyond the brief mention of a beguine school in Beatrijs of Nazareth's vita or Morgan le Fey being put to school in a nunnery) or, probably more likely, to secondary work that collates archival and other materials.
I'm interested in cities in the Holy Roman Empire (C14-15) in particular, but would welcome insight about anywhere in Europe or the Mediterranean world because it's all fascinating in the end.
Education at this point in time was rare. You either belonged to a class of nobles, merchants, or clergy in order to be provided education. These key areas were predominantly male. Education for females however were taught by their respective domains: most likely within the family, often trade routes/secrets, or under private tutelage. Education was a very expensive commodity, and often education was often substituted with common knowledge. Illiteracy rates improving on the global scale is a recent modern phenomena.