IMC 2018: Sessions
Session 219: Urban Literacy in Medieval Denmark
Monday 2 July 2018, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Urban Literacy Research Network, Danish Research Council / Danish Centre for Urban History |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Jeppe B. Netterstrøm, Institut for Kultur og Samfund, Aarhus Universitet |
| Moderator/Chair: | Jeppe B. Netterstrøm, Institut for Kultur og Samfund, Aarhus Universitet |
| Paper 219-a | Runic Writing in Medieval Denmark (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Epigraphy, Literacy and Orality |
| Paper 219-b | Urban Literacy in the Archaeological Record (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Epigraphy, Literacy and Orality |
| Paper 219-c | Urban Vernacular Literacy in Denmark before 1400: A Marker of Ethnicity? (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Literacy and Orality |
| Abstract | In recent decades, the previously held assumption that the population of medieval Denmark was generally illiterate has been challenged. A growing number of archaeological finds of runic inscriptions as well as studies in common people's use of the Roman alphabet indicate that literacy was relatively widespread. Based on the hypothesis that this was especially the case in urban contexts, and that urbanity played a decisive role in the spread of literacy, this session presents novel perspectives on the interaction of runic and Roman writing, traces of literacy in the archaeological record, and vernacular texts as a marker of ethnicity in Danish towns c. 1000-1500. |