Humphrey was not only a reader but a writer, and a confident one at that. There can have been few aspects of his life that did not involve making a written record. As previous chapters have revealed, Humphrey placed a great deal of trust in written documents, while recognising the issues of forgery and mistakes. Debt repayments, the selling of sheep, a new medical recipe or a snippet of local history were all reasons to take up the pen and make a note. While this was not a rare action in late medieval society, it was far from common among the general population. Humphrey had grown up at a time when writing was still considered a specialised skill, usually taught separately from reading. Not everyone would have bothered or needed to write on a daily basis. It was hardly necessary to the labourer in the field, and the nobility could pay to have the onerous task executed for them. The use of secretaries was widespread among the landed classes, letters were dictated, and oral testimony still valued.

Nevertheless, a growing need to write can be found among tradespeople, in the expanding bureaucracies of England, and within the houses of the gentry. Alison Truelove's work points to the increasing likelihood of gentlemen writing their own letters in the fifteenth century. How many of the gentry could or chose to write is difficult to gauge, and it is impossible to generalise on the degrees of competence or the regularity with which the skill was used.