This book was conceived from the start as a collaborative venture. Each author was asked to address the central theme from the perspective of her or his specialized knowledge: we met to discuss the different aspects of the topic in July 1987, and subsequently circulated drafts of our papers among ourselves. Nevertheless, each author maintained the individuality of her or his particular area, for we were anxious to stress the enormous divergences, as well as the similarities, in the uses and emphases of literacy in different parts of Europe in the early mediaeval period. We offer the book in the hope that it will stimulate further research and thought on the uses and consequences of literacy in the early middle ages. We are all too well aware of the number of avenues left unexplored, quite apart from regions of Europe and particular periods ignored, but this in itself is an indication of the richness of the field.

The Editor wishes to thank, most warmly, all her contributors for their labours, their patience and for the enthusiasm so manifest in their contributions. She and all the authors, moreover, are indebted to the staff of Cambridge University Press, and especially to William Davies, for the interest and assistance rendered in seeing the book through the press. Acknowledgements for information and help received are recorded in the individual contributions, but the Editor wishes to record here her particular debt to Elizabeth Meyer of the University of Virginia for her timely and stimulating criticism and comments.