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  1. Home
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  3. The Uses of Literacy in Early Mediaeval Europe
  • Cited by 73
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2009
Print publication year:
1990
Online ISBN:
9780511584008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584008
Subjects:
Social and Population History, Area Studies, European History 1000-1450, History, European Studies
Information

Book description

This book investigates the ways in which literacy was important in early mediaeval Europe, and examines the context of literacy, its uses, levels, and distribution, in a number of different early mediaeval societies between c. 400 and c. 1000. The studies, by leading scholars in the field, set out to provide the factual basis from which assessments of the significance of literacy in the early mediaeval world can be made, as well as analysing the significance of literacy, its implications, and its consequences for the societies in which we observe it. In all cases, the studies represent recent research and bring evidence such as the recent archaeological discoveries at San Vincenzo al Volturno to the subject. They provide fascinating insight into the attitudes of early mediaeval societies towards the written word and the degree to which these attitudes were formed. This period is shown as fundamental for the subsequent uses of literacy in mediaeval and modern Europe.

Reviews

"Each of the contributions to The Uses of Literacy is strong and offers much to the reader...The final sentence of her conclusion merits repeating: 'Literacy's importance and relevance throughout the early middle ages is, on the evidence presented in our essays, as a major force in the most crucial and formative period in the development of European civilization." The Catholic Historical Review

"Overall, this collection of articles constitutes an important and welcome contribution to our understanding of a period in which literacy has traditionally either been ignored or associated with decline." History

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