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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 522: Peasants, Parchment, and Paper: Late Medieval Countryside Literacy and the Role of Scribes

Tuesday 6 July 2021, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Mark Vermeer, Departement Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht
Moderator/Chair:Marco Mostert, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht
Paper 522-aScribal Networks in Late Medieval Brabant
(Language: English)
Mark Vermeer, Departement Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht
Index terms: Archives and Sources, Charters and Diplomatics, Literacy and Orality
Paper 522-bWriting Margins: Professional and Non-Professional scripteurs in Medieval Normandy
(Language: English)
Isabelle Bretthauer, Centre de Recherches Archéologiques et Historiques Anciennes et Médiévales (CRAHAM), Université de Caen Basse-Normandie
Index terms: Archives and Sources, Literacy and Orality, Women's Studies
Paper 522-cScribes of Village Records in Late Medieval Poland
(Language: English)
Agnieszka Bartoszewicz, Uniwersytet Warszawski
Index terms: Archives and Sources, Charters and Diplomatics, Literacy and Orality
Abstract

Countryside literacy is as of yet a understudied subject. Nonetheless, the peasants formed the majority of the medieval population, and during the 13-16th centuries their attitudes towards written forms of communication developed just as much as those of towndwellers. This session provides a new view on the interaction between peasant communities and the written word by presenting case studies from France, Poland, and the Low Countries, and aims at showing that in the less urbanized regions of Europe literacy too prevailed and was adapted pragmatically to suit the peasants' needs.