num_pages: 308
description: 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.
language: English
title: The Carolingians and the Written Word
titlecomplete: The Carolingians and the Written Word
genres: Medieval History, History, Medieval, European History, Academic
ratings_count: 39
places: Carolingian Empire
publisher: Cambridge University Press