Dunce

1. One backward in book learning; a child or other person dull or weak in intellect; a dullard; a dolt.
   

The schoolmen were often called, after their great leader Duns Scotus, Dunsmen or Duncemen. In the revival of learning they were violently opposed to classical studies; hence, the name of Dunce was applied with scorn and contempt to an opposer of learning, or to one slow at learning, a dullard.