Literacy in the Medieval period

Access to books and information in our modern times has become almost overwhelming. With smart phones, watches, and computers available at nearly all social levels communication has become instantaneous and information is at our fingertips. Even children are now given their own smart devices for learning and entertainment. This has only been possible in the last couple of decades. Prior to the industrial revolution the fastest form of travel or communication was by horse or boat.

When Victorian scholars dubbed the term Dark Ages, they did so because after the fall of Rome most of Europe fell prey to violence and a lot of knowledge was lost during the fighting. Libraries burned, scholars died or were enslaved, it was a time when most were struggling to merely survive with little thought to teaching the next generation to read and write. There were fortunate places of protection where learning did thrive in spite of the violence and once the fighting ebbed and the power vacuum was filled, they were able to spread once more. During this early period literacy rates dropped, although it was not to the total extent that many have believed. It is difficult to determine any sort of percentage or estimate due to the lack of census data, but documentation of wills bequeathing libraries and surviving letters written between nobles give evidence that the clergy were not the only literate people.

What exactly is literacy? Today it means reading and writing proficiency, usually in your native language. For the middle ages it mean reading and writing Latin. Latin was the only language that was universal and was the language of the Church and for most the law courts as well. It was not until the later middle ages that English and German grammar rules became consistent enough to use for official purposes. French quickly became the official court language for much of Europe due to the Norman invasions, and the earlier Carolingian reign which preceded both the Holy Roman Empire in Germany and the Frankish Kingdom in France. For medieval scholars and writers though, literacy during this time meant a basic understanding of Latin. All other languages were considered to be not as important.

As historians and writers, you must look at the time period you are researching and view it not through the lenses of modern life. If one were to look at the Catholic Church today, many would say that it is an ancient institution that needs a major overhaul to bring it into the 21st century. In fact the current Pope, Francis, seems to be doing just that. However if you look at it from the perspective of a 1st century European things would be very different. The word Catholic means universal and for a Europe divided by violence and power struggles it was the one unifying force. The Church also became the place where learning was centered. Cathedral schools, monasteries, even the first universities were all centered around Church funding and support. Many of the Roman schools became incorporated into these Church schools after the fall of Rome and continued to educate wealthy children well into the middle ages.

The crusades to the Holy Land in the Middle East sparked a renewed interest in exploration and ancient texts. The unfortunate by product to this increased travel was the Black Plague brought from China which struck Europe and killed over 25 million people. Although the records of the time were not as well maintained as they are today to give a proper estimate, we do know that it was devastating to the population. There was however a somewhat positive impact that occurred as it brought about unexpected growth and change. In some ways the plague was an equalizing force that allowed ambitious men and women the opportunity to create a middle class society were there wasn't one before. With so many nobles dead along side the lower classes there was a gap in trade, politics and landowning that needed to be filled and the upper lower class decided to seize the opportunity and fill it.

As this middle class grows, so does literacy. This new class of people have money and desire to show their status in a public way so many of them sponsor artists, scholars, and the church. Illuminated manuscripts are hand written and decorated books. During this time period they are mainly bibles, choral books for cathedrals and monasteries, transcribed texts for scholars, and miniature prayer books better know as books of hours. It is these book of hours that gain popularity among the middle and upper class during the crusades and plague eras. Each day was divided by the church into canonical hours of prayer that monks were required to stop and pray certain prayers at. To accommodate the rise in religious fervor they adapted the prayers into shortened segments for the lay person to participate in during the course of their own day. The artists in charge of creating these miniature books that could be carried with ease also made them as decorative as any painting.

As was the habit with the upper class to send children to the church for education, so too the middle class sent their children. They also sent them to be apprentices with tradesmen, to Universities to be scholars and artists, and abroad to explore and broaden their horizons. One such innovation was brought in from China in the form of block printing and the printing press, but carving solid wood blocks was time consuming and the blocks did not last long. Soon metal smiths became involved and the durability problems were resolved, but it was not until Johannes Gutenberg devised the movable metal type that the process began to really speed up production, and the cost of printing decreased to the point that even poor scholars could own many books. Other improvements printing made are the decrease in errors caused by hand copying, the clarity of the text with standardization of font style, and the increase in the use of vernacular in scholarly texts versus Latin.

Once the industrial revolution begins the historical chapter closes on the middle ages. This vast span of history covers several centuries of very different culturally significant events and peoples. To discuss the time period in generalities does not do justice to the rich variety that it contains. If you wish to learn more about this subject there is an entire series by the Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy that covers a variety of literacy subjects. There are many other resources I can recommend as well. I welcome questions and comments about anything  I have written as well as suggestions for future topics. Happy writing!