Final answer:
During the Middle Ages, monasteries and the Church had a virtual monopoly on learning, preserving and copying texts after the fall of the Roman Empire and later giving rise to cathedral schools and universities.
Step-by-step explanation:
A virtual monopoly on learning during the Middle Ages was held by religious institutions, particularly monasteries and the Church. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Europe saw a significant decline in organized learning and literacy. This allowed the Church to become the primary, if not sole, institution supporting scholarship across Western Europe. Monks took on the vital role of hand-copying texts, preserving not only Christian theology but also classical Greek and Roman literature. However, it was during the High Middle Ages that there was a shift of learning from monasteries to cathedral schools, and eventually to the first universities. Despite the limited educational outreach beyond the clergy and aristocracy, these developments laid the groundwork for the intellectual revitalization of the Renaissance era.