This pioneering book studies the function and status of the written word in Carolingian society in France and Germany in the eighth and ninth centuries. It demonstrates that literacy was by no means confined to a clerical élite, but was dispersed in lay society and used for government and administration, as well as for ordinary legal transactions among the peoples of the Frankish kingdom. While employing a huge range of primary material, the author does not confine herself to a functional analysis of the written word in Carolingian northern Europe but goes on to assess the consequences and implications of literacy for the Franks themselves and for the subsequent development of European society after 1000.
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"Scholars will find this book an essential reference book for questions of medieval European literacy. It is invaluable in its wealth of information about manuscripts, scribes, monastic patrons, Carolingian nobility, and lay owners of books." Marsha L. Dutton, Hanover College, in The Library Quarterly
"McKitterick has written an important book which more than repays careful study. She has opened areas for examination which will be expanded, and those topics which she has neglected -- inscriptions are a good example, which she notes -- will be developed. Her fine manuscript index is very helpful.... McKitterick's work makes a contribution to current historical debate far in excess of its intended compass." Bernard S. Bachrach, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"McKitterick has written an important book which more than repays careful study. She has opened areas for examination which will be expanded, and those topics which she has neglected -- inscriptions are a good example, which she notes -- will be developed. Her fine manuscript index is very helpful.... McKitterick's work makes a contribution to current historical debate far in excess of its intended compass." Bernard S. Bachrach, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
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Functional analysis of the written word in eight and ninth century Carolingian European society demonstrates that literacy was not confined to a clerical elite, but dispersed in lay society and used administratively as well.
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First Sentence:
Literacy and the use of the written word in the early middle ages have hitherto been thought to have been confined to a clerical elite, while society at large conducted its affairs orally. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
charter redaction, charter minuscule, leges scriptorium, insular grammars, minuscule book hand, capitulary collection, libris recipiendis, cursive elements, charter production, precarial grants, charter material, aristocratic libraries, tironian notes, local scribes, caroline minuscule, pragmatic literacy, non recipiendis, literate skills, bibliographical handbooks, literate modes, lay ownership, charter evidence, monastic scribes, surviving charters, viris illustribus Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Charles the Bald, Louis the Pious, Leges Sal, Gregory the Great, Bernhard Bischoff, Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, New York, Lake Constance, Hraban Maur, France Law, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge, Old High German, Eberhard of Friuli, Louis the Younger, Lex Bai, Lake Zurich, Leges Germ, Breviary of Alaric, Institutiones Book, Lex Alamannorum, Anglo-Saxon England, Frankish Gaul, Hincmar of Rheims, Hofe Ludwigs des Deutschen New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Literacy and the use of the written word in the early middle ages have hitherto been thought to have been confined to a clerical elite, while society at large conducted its affairs orally. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
charter redaction, charter minuscule, leges scriptorium, insular grammars, minuscule book hand, capitulary collection, libris recipiendis, cursive elements, charter production, precarial grants, charter material, aristocratic libraries, tironian notes, local scribes, caroline minuscule, pragmatic literacy, non recipiendis, literate skills, bibliographical handbooks, literate modes, lay ownership, charter evidence, monastic scribes, surviving charters, viris illustribus Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Charles the Bald, Louis the Pious, Leges Sal, Gregory the Great, Bernhard Bischoff, Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, New York, Lake Constance, Hraban Maur, France Law, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge, Old High German, Eberhard of Friuli, Louis the Younger, Lex Bai, Lake Zurich, Leges Germ, Breviary of Alaric, Institutiones Book, Lex Alamannorum, Anglo-Saxon England, Frankish Gaul, Hincmar of Rheims, Hofe Ludwigs des Deutschen New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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- Charles the Bald (Medieval World) by Janet L. Nelson on 4 pages
- The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society (Studies in Literacy, the Family, Culture and the State) by Jack Goody on page 6, and page 64
- The Life of Charlemagne (Ann Arbor Paperbacks) by Einhard on page 47, and page 180
- The Implications of Literacy by Brian Stock on page 1, and page 56
- Gregory of Tours: History and Society in the Sixth Century by Martin Heinzelmann on page 214, and page 243
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- State and Society in the Early Middle Ages: The Middle Rhine Valley, 400-1000 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series) by Matthew Innes on 8 pages
- Politics and Power in Early Medieval Europe: Alsace and the Frankish Realm, 600-1000 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series) by Hans J. Hummer on 5 pages
- Shifting Landmarks: Property, Proof, and Dispute in Catalonia Around the Year 1000 (Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past) by Jeffrey A. Bowman on 5 pages
- Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire (The Middle Ages Series) by Bernard S. Bachrach on 5 pages
- Double Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England (Middle Ages) by Clare A. Lees in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
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