1.
Introduction
This paper
addresses the question as to what extent England was a literate society in the
Anglo-Saxon period (ca. 500-1100). It
will present brief historical and linguistic backgrounds, and discuss some of
the surviving documents. It will look at what being literate meant
historically, and compare briefly contemporary and historic views on literacy.
It will also consider what texts were produced, and what influences these had
on society.
First this paper addresses
Anglo-Saxon history, how Anglo-Saxon tribes came to Britain, and what
consequence it had on the development of both written and spoken language in
the whole period. The paper goes on to look at what documents actually survive,
and whether they can determine if the society was literate. Then this paper
considers the impact and importance of the runic system as a separate alphabet,
and as a parallel to the Roman alphabet. The Roman alphabet, and text
production in both Latin and Old English will be examined. As will Anglo-Saxon
England as a literate society, talking about literacy from a modern and
Anglo-Saxon perspective. This takes the discussion to the importance of the
church and religious literacy. Next the emergence of pragmatic and cultivated
literacy in the vernacular will be explored. Lastly, this paper discusses King
Alfred and the significance of his translating campaign.
Whatever modern assumptions we have
on literacy, it is important not to apply them to circumstances of earlier
cultures (Clanchy 1993:8). Written records provide historians with material to
study, and in this historic light literacy emerge as a measure of progress. In a
modern perspective, literacy is such an important aspect that it is difficult
to not see it as a civilising force. Having said that, Clanchy (1993:7) says
that observing third world societies literacy in itself behaves like a
technology. He further identifies literacy as the technology of the intellect.
Discussing literacy in this time
period is based on a lot of educated guesswork and assumptions. The material
available from Anglo-Norman England, make it easier to map the degree of
literacy. This is not so with Anglo-Saxon England where the information is
sparse. However, enough evidence survives making the following discussion
possible.
2.
Historical background: The Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxon
period is usually defined as starting with the coming of Anglo-Saxon tribes,
and concluding with the Norman invasion in 1066. According to Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English
People, written in 731) Germanic speaking groups settled in different parts
of the country from the middle of the fifth century onwards (Barber, Biel and
Shaw 2009:105). This was a lengthy process, as Anglo-Saxon domination in
England was not assured until late in the sixth century (Barber, Biel, and Shaw
2009:105).
For the Romans, England was always a
colonial outpost, but it was also of high value with important resources and
fertile land. The Roman and the British societies (Britons, consisting of the
Celtic populations) were, according to Amodio (2014:4) two separate cultures
that did not mix. However when the Anglo-Saxons arrived they replaced these
cultures with what eventually became a united Anglo-Saxon culture with a
Germanic language.
To begin with, the Anglo-Saxons did not absorb the Latin culture at all.
The Latin influence on language and literacy came at a later stage, with the
arrival of Latin speaking missionaries at the end of the sixth century (Amodio
2014:11). Latin was then re-introduced as a mainly written and ritual language
by the Church. Even though the Anglo-Saxons had a native writing system, the
runes, there is little evidence of literacy before the Christianisation of the
previously pagan Anglo-Saxon society.
The Anglo-Saxon period lasted for almost 600 years. It is
exceptional in a European perspective, as English became an early example of a
written vernacular able to express both knowledge and culture. When writing was
introduced with Christianity, it was in Latin. However, the written Germanic vernacular
developed alongside Latin literacy. Accordingly, two languages, in which
written records were produced, existed side by side.
Even though Latin was the more common written language at the time,
the very existence of Anglo-Saxon texts from this time period is unique to
England (Amodio 2014: Preface xi). Both original Old English texts, as well as
translations of Latin texts, have survived. King Alfred (r.871-899), also known
as ‘the great’, is understood to have commissioned the first Old English
translation of parts of the Bible, as well as several other Latin works (see
section 4.4).
3.
The evidence of literacy in Anglo-Saxon England
Written records in
Old English do not start to appear until the eighth century, and then in larger
quantities in the tenth century. The earliest records represent two different
writing systems, the runes (see section 3.1.) and the Roman alphabet. Anglo-Saxon
literacy is the result of a complex history, where both Anglo-Latin and
Anglo-Saxon prose and poetry were produced by the Anglo-Saxons (Amodio
2014:24).
The evidence that remains today,
such as Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of
the English People, King Alfred’s translations of various important texts,
his prefaces, and epic poetry like Beowulf,
are the texts that make investigations of literacy in Anglo-Saxon England
possible. However, the majority of the people who lived in this time were not
literate, and whatever dealings they had with texts, it was through aural
tradition rather than by audio (Amodio 2014:28).
The vernacular literacy is modelled
on the Latin traditions (Amodio 2014:24). It is not fully understood as to why
and how the vernacular gained respect, both in terms of ecclesiastical and
secular literacy, when the rest of medieval Europe employed Latin for such
discourse (Amodio 2014:26).
The sub categories will provide a
deeper look at the evidence of literacy from the Anglo-Saxon period.
3.1.
Runes and writing systems
The Anglo-Saxon
tribes that settled in England, as mentioned above, brought with them the
alphabetic writing system known as runes. The earliest settlers left behind a
small corpus of runic inscriptions (Kelly 1998:36). Runes had been in use by
Germanic and Scandinavian tribes from at least the third century, and was to
compose shorter texts of various kinds. They were carved, scratched or
chiselled into a flat surface, such as wood, stone or metalwork.
The alphabet was known as the
Futhorc from its first six letters.
The runic alphabet and the Roman
alphabet existed side by side for a while, and some of the runic letters, þ, ð, and ƿ were assimilated into the Roman alphabet, as they represented
sounds the Roman alphabet did not have, and that the Old English vernacular
needed. Words like ða (it) and þæt (that) needed the extra voiced and
unvoiced fricative represented in the runic alphabet. The wyn ƿ would evolve into the ‘w’. Ð, æ and ƿ disappeared out of the Roman alphabet
by the thirteenth century, but þ
remained in the written language a long time after Anglo-Saxon reign was over.
The fact that these
non-Latin letters found their way into the Roman alphabet is, according to
Kelly (1998:37) an indication that some of the Anglo-Saxon scribes and clerics
were literate in runes. Kelly (1998:38) continues to suggest that the Roman
alphabet was introduced to the Anglo-Saxon parts of Britain late in the sixth
century.
The two writing systems did not
only represent two different systems, but also two different languages. The
Roman alphabet would represent Latin, and the runes would represent Old English
(Graddol 2002:48).
The runes are
connected to mysticism and magic, but to the Anglo-Saxons they were simply a
writing system. Even though the word ‘rune’ could mean ‘mystery’ or ‘secret’,
and some inscriptions were thought to have magical powers, according to Barber,
Beal, and Shaw (2009:113), they were used interchangeably with the Roman
alphabet, even in Christian literacy as well. Documents can be found with a
Latin main text, a translation in Old English, and then lastly a translation
into runes.
The English version
of the runic alphabet contained almost doubly as many characters as its
Scandinavian equivalent. Page (2003:4) confirms that the Anglo-Saxons used
runes before the Roman alphabet took over.
The shape of the
runes made them ideal to use on inscriptions in stone and wood. Wood is a
material that does not endure time as well as for example stone would, and this
is most likely the reason why so few runic inscriptions from the Anglo-Saxon
period survive to this day.
Some Anglo-Saxon
relics and remains have runic inscriptions on them, and these reflect dialectic
differences and variations, as Graddol (1996:46) points out. The longest
surviving inscription is on the Ruthwell Cross, a massive stone cross from the
Scottish borderland. Its inscription dates from 700 AD and is in both Latin and
Old English. The inscription is an Anglo-Saxon poem known as ‘The Dream of the
Rood’. This specific inscription represents one of the very few longer runic
inscriptions from this period (Kelly 1998:36).
3.2.
Taking over the Roman alphabet:
text production in Latin and English
There are no surviving written records of the Anglo-Saxons until after
their conversion to Christianity. This introduced them to the Roman alphabet,
making it possible to write considerable texts, Barber, Beal, and Shaw (2009:112)
say. However, when using scribe methods, ink and parchment or vellum for
example, the runes could be, and would be applied for longer texts. Writing was
a process normally handled by the clerics, and the Christian content was at the
base of the written evidence (Barber, Beal, and Shaw 2009:112).
David Graddol
(1996:50) describes the process of book production in the Anglo-Saxon period.
It was a task that fell to both nuns and monks, where they worked as scribes in
their respective monasteries. Becoming a nun was most likely one of very few
ways for a woman to seek out literacy in this time. Women of a higher social
standing were in a position to be taught to read and write, but this was the
exception rather than the rule. Not even kings needed to know how to read and
write according to Clanchy (2003:8). They would surround themselves with
learned members of society, and writing would be provided if needed.
Latin represented power and the church. Yet, despite this, Latin
documents gradually made way for Old English because of the use of the
vernacular, as seen by the ruling elite.
In the late eighth century Viking
raiders began to attack the monasteries throughout England, destroying existing
religious literature and reducing the continuation of text production. The
scholar traditions were no longer exclusively maintained in a religious
setting, and moved closer to population centres. As a result, the use of Latin
was reduced because of the Viking influx, and this may have aided the
development of Old English literacy (Amodio 2014:24:25).
One of the most important
duties in monasteries was book production and copying of texts. The process of
making sheets of parchment into a leather bound book was complicated and
time-consuming, and it involved a considerable number of people in different,
and specialised positions.
The concept of copying books and manuscripts in Anglo-Saxon
monasteries is far removed from our twenty first century concept of copying.
Today we would take it as read that perfect similes would be produced.
Copyright laws, which began to be put into statute from the late 17th
century, now create legal repercussions for any unregulated or erroneous
duplications. In the Anglo-Saxon period,
a patron would commission an author, possibly in the form of a King or
nobleman. This patron would pay the author a set sum to complete the work. The
author would then have no further claim to ownership of the text. Copies would
be made to order. More beautiful and elaborate versions could be created but
would incur a higher fee. The produced document would be unique, made directly
to the customer’s specification or to fit their price range.
Work produced at monasteries, the most exemplary examples being
those from the monastery at Lindisfarne in the north-east of England, would
include the transcriber’s colophons
or ‘footnotes’. In these, the copier would both identify themselves and
communicate directly to the reader. A result of this division of labour was
that notable and important changes to each exclusive copy are apparent, causing
the text to alter significantly over the years with each newly commissioned
piece of work.
It would often be the case that originals of the text were
unavailable so copies would have to be made of copies. Because of this, it is a
complicated process to determine the original text. Each piece of work would be
presented as a perfect, often leather bound, luxurious edition.
It was not until sometime after this paper’s time period that the
fledgling universities created what is called the pecia system. A student, for example, would lend a part of a text,
copy it down, then take the ‘original’ back in an unaltered state. This way the
copies came from the same source.
4.
Anglo-Saxon England as a
literate society
The noun ‘literacy’ is formed from the Latin litera, meaning ‘letter’, or ‘being lettered’. It means the quality
or state of being literate. In its literate meaning it is pointing to the
ability to read and write. Metaphorically, in a contemporary understanding, it
is also pointing to being in possession of knowledge, in a separate field, or
knowledge in general. Clanchy (2003:8) argues that ‘Literacy has become the
shibboleth of modern societies because the individual demonstrates through it
his acceptance of, and success in, the industrialised schooling process.’ The
modern society has long since accepted that literacy, meaning knowledge, is
probably the deepest foundation of modern development. With this perspective it
is not fair to compare literacy between now and older cultures.
In the Anglo-Saxon period,
reading and writing was not just about being able to produce or make use of
literature, it was as much a question of power. The people who were literate
were mostly connected to the church or the monasteries.
Clanchy (2003:7)
says, as mentioned above, that literacy today can be viewed as a technology,
further that it is not the defining force behind a civilised society. Today
there is a clear link between literacy and how to be a part of, and climb
socially in, the society. However, in the Anglo-Saxon period, the most
substantial parts of the populations, those who did not rule or go to war,
would not stop ploughing the fields or feeding their families just because they
did not know how to read or write. They would be bound to one place where
traditions and deeply anchored customs governed their lives far more than the
potentially unstable government.
To be literate means,
in a very general understanding, to be able to read and write. But literacy
embodies something more. A literate society is a society that makes use of
reading and writing in all parts of its structure, it is likely to assume that
it is the foundation of any modern, democratic social grouping. According to
Clanchy (2003:8), the degree if literacy is today a measure of success.
In the Anglo-Saxon
period to be literate was to be able to read and write Latin. But the majority,
who were in a position to learn, only learned how to speak Latin. As Clanchy
(2003:8) said, people in power did not need to be literate. They would sign a
document with a cross, as the cross was representing something holy and
unbreakable, making the documents legitimate. The cross was a symbol of
Christian truth, and it was not until after the Reformation that the cross
became a symbol of illiteracy when used as a signature (Clanchy 2003:8).
Anglo-Saxon England
was in a special position because it had an official and a vernacular language.
The official Language was Latin. And with Alfred the many texts would be made
available in the vernacular (see section 4.4.).
According to Parkes
(1973:555), there were three types of literacy in the Anglo-Saxon period, the
professional, the cultivated and the pragmatic. Below all of these types will
be discussed in turn.
The professional
reader was a man of letters (Parkes 1973:555). In the early days of the
Anglo-Saxon period, the professional reader was a man who was connected to the
monasteries. This changed, as discussed above, with time, and Viking invasions.
The professional reader could be found in other parts of the society, connected
to for example the kingly courts, or in other legal capacities (Parkes
1973:555).
The cultivated
readers were the ones connected to recreation. It is in this classification the
poets are found. And it is in recreational reading the great epic poems emerge,
such as for example Beowulf (Parkes 1973:555).
The pragmatic reader
is he who read and writes in the course of business (Parkes 1973:555)
4.1.
Religious literacy
Throughout the Middle Ages literacy was closely connected to the
religious institutions. According to Amodio (2014:16) there is not much
evidence, if any, to indicate that any but ecclesiasts and their students had
access to the technology of literacy. In time the educated parts of the
population would include members of the laity as well as the clerical class. As
mentioned before, scribes and clerics would familiarise themselves with other
writing systems, such as runes. They would educate themselves in contemporary,
secular writings such as poems and romances.
The literacy evolution,
not just in England, but in Europe as well, shared a defining fact: Most of the
writing was handled by this certain group of religiously trained scribes and
clerics, in the form of monks and priests. It is obvious that they had an
agenda spreading the word of the Gospel (Barber, Beal, and Shaw 2009:112).
It was possible to
speak and understand Latin without being able to write it. Clanchy (1993:186)
talks about literatus. The literatus could read and write Latin,
for example a priest. But a person would not be considered literatus if he only knew how to read and write Old English, then
he would be considered illiteratus.
However, Clanchy (1993:186) says that ‘to be literatus meant to know Latin and
not specifically to have the ability to read and write’, which can be
confusing. Literatus is Latin for
literate, and to be literate would indicate having the ability to read and
write. So the discussion is concerning Latin, to learn the language by ear was
not the same as being able to read and write it.
4.2.
Pragmatic literacy
Pragmatic literacy is one of the classifications of the different
types of literacy in the Anglo-Saxon period, a classification made from a
modern perspective. As briefly mentioned above, Parkes (1973:555) argues that
literacy could be divided into three different groups: the professional reader,
the cultivated reader, and the pragmatic reader. To find evidence for pragmatic
literacy has not been the easiest of tasks Parkes (1973:558) says, but by the
time the Normans invaded, the pragmatic literacy was increasing in the literate
society. The general reader starts with the birth of the pragmatic reader. Even
though the general reader will not become a reality until the thirteenth
century (Parkes 1973:572), it started when humans realised that reading and
writing could have another purpose than just to preach the word of God.
Reading and writing
was not available to everyone, as this paper has shown. But with various
reforms, such as the one King Alfred implemented (see section 4.4.),
Anglo-Saxon England saw the advent of a better-educated clergy, according to
Parkes (1973:555).
In a European
perspective, the largest collection of pragmatic records survives in England;
this shows the start of a rising legal profession (Parkes 1973:558). In the
legal profession there was an early need to document by writing, agreements and
terms. Necessity here produced a profession outside of the church. And when the
monasteries on the east coast were ransacked and destroyed, the scribes would
venture into other spaces in society where their talents were of use.
When discussing literacy in
Anglo-Saxon England it is impossible not to mention charters, writs and wills,
as they make up most of the remaining documentation from the period. Clanchy
(1993:85) describes charters as public letters issued by a donor. They can
refer to property, for example, and are serving as a kind of open testimonial.
The surviving wills
is another element to add to the pragmatic literacy. The wills could have been
penned by anyone from a Kentish reeve from around 840, to kings (Alfred and
Eadred), to queens, to various men of literacy wanting to make sure their
wishes are obeyed in the events of theirs passing. Kelly (1998:48) says that
the society, as well as the single individual, gradually acknowledged and
recognised the value of recording this kind of information. And this was a
pivotal step towards the ‘general reader’, as Parkes (1973:572) mentioned.
A writ was, according
to Clanchy (1993:67) a standardised command issued by a legal administration to
automate and depersonalise the legal process; To justify the ways of God to
men. A writ could be sealed, and eventually this caused the royal seal to have
the same power as what was written on the inside, maybe even higher.
A charter is a legal
document providing proof of ownership, for example concerning land. The
document would only be significant in the beginning of the process. Once the
deal had been made, the written charter was no longer as important (Parkes
1973:558). Kelly (1998:43) says about the Anglo-Saxon charter that it is
reflecting the church’s wish to have proof, in addition to someone’s word. But
a written document in a mostly illiterate society could represent conflicts.
This lead to a compromise: a charter was valid with recognition of the written
word by the laity, a group of people agreeing orally to what was written in the
document. Some of the documents were written in two stages where the list of
witnesses was added afterwards (Kelly 1998:44).
We can account for
less than 2000 charters and writs from the Anglo-Saxon period, and many of
these are copies of originals that have been lost in. But they are the best way
of keeping account of literacy in this period as they were widely distributed.
With only less than 2000 charters and writs surviving, it is easy to assume
that a substantial amount was lost, and also that this time was a more literate
society than one might have thought.
The most accessible
proof of Anglo-Saxon literacy, a proof of their interaction with the written
word, is the Latin land-charter, and other vernacular documents concerning land
and property (Kelly 1998:39).
It has been a
challenging process determining the authenticity of the various documents that
survives from the Anglo-Saxon period. One point that could decide whether or
not a document, or a charter, was authentic, was if it was written in Old
English. The Latin texts had often been altered or falsified completely, Kelly
(1998:39) says. The charters that did survive are evidence of how the
Anglo-Saxon society gradually acquired the ecclesiastical writing skills in
pragmatic writing (Kelly 1998:40).
4.3.
Cultivated literacy
Literature is something we can understand and relate to on a daily
basis today, as it is a fairly modern concept. The kinds of literature produced
were in many ways different from today. Literature as art is a modern concept. Poetry
and stories often had an underlying purpose of validating power and the church,
Allan (2008:1) argues.
The oral traditions
in poetry in the early medieval times are present in the written poetry in
terms of style and presentation. The stories of heroic poetry from the Old
Norse tradition can also be found in the Anglo-Saxon poetry.
The cultivated laity
relied on the scop (‘poet’) to read
out the vernacular recreational literature. A professional ‘singer’ transmitted
this orally, and according to Parkes (1973:556) the ‘singers’ were probably
illiterate.
Anglo-Saxon England’s
relation to recreational literature was complicated. Monks would take an
interest in poetry and make poetic records for their libraries. Manuscripts
such as the Exeter Book of Old English
Poetry survived in monastic libraries (Parkes 1973:556).
In Anglo-Norman times the nobility served as inspiration
when it came to reading and what was read. People of lower classes tried to
make use of recreational literature as their betters. This is a practice that
started in the Anglo-Saxon period with reading for other reasons than praising
God and proving ownership (Parkes 1973:557).
4.4.
King Alfred’s campaign and its
significance
King Alfred the
Great (849-899 AD) was probably the most important force behind the vernacular
development in Anglo-Saxon England. Because of him the country experienced
relative military and political stability, though he never really stopped
fighting. But along with the famous burning of cakes, and the defeating of the
Danes, his focus on Old English literacy in his time makes him a pillar of
society. Culture and literature will flourish in times of political stability.
In his mission to spread the
vernacular in England, Alfred invited scholars from abroad to help revive
learning in his country. King Alfred is supposed to be behind translations of
religious and philosophical texts. It is likely that he has been given a more heroic
status than he actually had, or that reflects what he actually did. But he
focused on a stronger Old English, and in doing so he also opened the way for scholars
in the vernacular. He normalised the language that up until Alfred had been
viewed, in literacy connections, as less important. And when a person in power
puts a political focus on a matter such as literacy in the vernacular, then it
will be both noticed and inspiring. Historians agree that he definitely made
some of the translations himself (Amodio 2014:25-26, and 35-36).
King Alfred said, in the Preface to the Translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, that:
…So complete was learning’s decay among the English people that
there were very few this side of the Humber that could understand their
services in English, or even translate a letter from Latin into English; …
Therefore it seems better to me, if it seems so to you, that we also should
translate certain books which are most necessary for all men to know into the
language that we can all understand, and also arrange it, as with God’s help we
very easily can if we have peace, so that all the young freeborn men now among
the English people, who have the means to be able to devote themselves to it, may
set to study for as long as they are of no other use, until the time they are
able to read English writing well. …
(Cited from Treharne 2010: 15)
From this it is
possible to understand that is a Christian duty to pass on knowledge. All the
books in the world have little value if no one can understand what they say,
and this is a point to follow even today. The written word needs a reader; book
and reader exist in a symbiotic relationship.
Alfred also said that the churches
in England had enormous collections of books, but after various invaders destroyed
these collections, they fell into distant memory. But this comment is a strong
indication that the numbers of documents that existed in the Anglo-Saxon period
was a considerably larger number than the few documents that survived through
time.
He was also concerned with all the
books and texts that were only available to those who could read and write
Latin. The fact that he wanted to make important texts available in the
vernacular is what made him special in a time when knowledge was an element of
power and control. He was looking to history, and to the bible and found
passages that could support his thoughts on translations. In a historic
perspective texts were first translated from Hebrew, to Greek, to Latin. There
was no good reason for letting Latin be the final resting place for a text: it
had to be translated into Old English as well. He knew many of his subjects
could read Old English texts, and this was another strong indication that
literature in Old English existed in far greater numbers than what remains
today.
5.
Discussion
Was Anglo-Saxon a
literate society? When looking at literacy from a modern perspective, where
reading and writing governs most people’s days, Anglo-Saxon England was not a
literate society. Reading and writing was for some privileged few, and never
really reached the ordinary man. The mentality towards it was also different
from now. Today a person is an outsider if this person is illiterate, because
knowledge is mostly acquired through reading. First a child learns how to read
and write; then the child reads and writes to learn. Was this how the society
as a whole developed, in terms of literacy? First it had to learn to master the
literacy, and then apply it to new tasks in society?
This paper has tried to show that
Anglo-Saxon England indeed was a literate society, but within the boundaries of
the contemporary educational system, if any, and with a deep connection to
traditions and beliefs. The extent to which Anglo-Saxon England was literate
increased throughout the period. To begin with it was a society with
conflicting interests, both in terms of religion and in terms of who was
leading the country. It was a society that had to withstand numerous invasions,
and groups of settlers, from most of Northern Europe, Scandinavian and Germanic
countries in particular. And in retrospect the invasions were not simply a
subduing power that overtook the country and its people, it was a part of a
cultural evolution, literacy fully incorporated in this evolutional process.
Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England
started with the runes, and then missionaries introduced the Roman alphabet,
and the merging of two writing systems made way for the Old English vernacular
in a society where Latin texts made up the main parts of what survives.
This paper has discussed some of the
important documents that has made any kind of analysis of the period possible,
such as Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, and some
of the texts penned by King Alfred The Great, to mention a few. It has also
looked at different types of literacy, as well as different types of documents
that still are available. The stretch of time since the Anglo-Saxon period, and
indeed the length of the period itself, makes it guesswork, as well as
inconclusive, to piece together the information, making it possible to form an
opinion. There were massive changes from the beginning of the period to the
Norman invasion (that marks the end of Anglo-Saxon England), such changes that
affected all parts of society, one of which was the end of the monastic period.
The educated members of society that used to be placed in monasteries handling
texts of Christian content, in Latin, would now be filling the more pragmatic
parts of text production, handling and developing the everyday, pragmatic
literacy.
In the last part of this paper, the
discussion entered into Alfred The Great’s campaign to increase literacy in
England. Alfred could see how education would be useful to all free men, and
that the texts that already existed in Latin needed to be translated into Old
English, so that they would make sense to people untrained in the Latin
language. For someone, even though he was a king, to claim that a vernacular
text production is of great importance, actually made a massive difference, and
probably sped up the process of making Anglo-Saxon England a literate society.
And it was a contributing factor to the kind of literacy that already existed
when the Normans invaded in 1066.
Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England was much
more than text production in the monasteries. Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England
was legal charters and writs, and wills; it was a growing appreciation for
recreational texts, such as epic poems and mapping of historic events; it was a
place to nurture an early feeling of nationality and identity through a unified
language; literacy in Anglo-Saxon England was the starting point of one of
literacy in one the most widespread languages in the world.
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