Manuscript culture

The term literacy (from the Latin littera - "letter" ) is related to English literacy (translated as " reading and writing skills " or " training " ), and is used as a foreign word in the German language with that meaning. The counterpart, the illiteracy, is translated from the English either " illiteracy " or " without education".

In the technical language of the media Genealogy Literacy refers to a stage of development of literacy, which is characterized by a literal manuscript and inscriptions culture, so the handwritten storage and dissemination of cultural content in textually fixed form (literature, liturgy, legal documents, history, etc.). However, it is also generally taken in the course of studying oral literature, the literature including competence.

The terminological contrast and the mediengenealogischen precursor forms orality ( oral ), connecting the Typographeum or the Gutenberg Galaxy. The era of literacy lasted up to and including the medieval Skriptographeums.

Marshall McLuhan called the Literacy also literal manuscript and inscription culture, it meant the handwritten storage and thus the literal transfer of cultural content in textually fixed form. Writing, writing and arithmetic form the basis of tradition, culture and education. The literacy still meant no hard fraction of the spoken speech, as manuscripts were read aloud, but the literacy meant an increasing dominance of visual stimuli, which provide more than other sensory perceptions as a basis for the identification of rules and laws, what an advance made ​​for causal relationships and mathematical thinking. The literal manuscript culture was characterized by scriptoria, whereby the information collection was highly centralized, as it was bound to libraries and monasteries.

Studies on literacy, among others originate of Milman Parry, Eric A. Havelock, and Walter Jackson Ong Jan Assmann and Jack Goody and Ian Watt.

Theory of a literal society

After anthropologists Jack Goody the invention of writing had an unprecedented impact on the human mind; he speaks in The Domestication of the Savage Mind (1977 ), where he studied the effects of the graphical representation of language on cognitive processes, of a written induced " domestication of the spirit":

" The transcript of some of the essential elements of the cultural tradition in Greece made ​​two things deliberately: the difference between past and present and the internal contradictions in the picture of life, which was to the individual by the cultural tradition, so far as it was recorded in writing conveys. We may assume that these two effects of the widespread alphabetic writing persisted and - have amplified many " - especially since the invention of printing.

Havelock has, however, already in Preface to Plato (1963 ) and especially in Origins of Western Literacy (1976 ) and The Literate Revolution in Greece and Its Cultural Consequences (1982 ) point out that is not the font itself the crucial stage of development, but rather, the alphabet, and thus the literacy of Scripture; this then leads him to his thesis of the "birth of philosophy from the spirit of the Bible ." The essential characteristic of the Greek alphabet font sets to Havelock whose abstractness is: She was undiminished reproduce fully and fluently as only capable of oral speech.

After Goody and Watt was therefore Greece " the first company, which can be described as a whole rightly regarded as literal".

This modern appreciation of the achievements of the Greek alphabet font may be surprising, since the social assessment of writing and of writing in Ancient Greece was far from positive: Plato's Phaedrus and the Seventh verdicts in the letter are as devastating as that of Aristotle; you looked at the writing over the language as something external, and thus of truth and virtue still more distant than the language. Nevertheless, the Greek literary culture for example, enabled in the period around 500 BC to 450 BC in Gortyn 's oldest city charter in Europe.

There is disagreement, however, the assessment of the hitherto undeciphered Phaistos Disc from the kretominoischen culture, which is dated to the 17th century BC, comes from an era that is almost a millennium before the development of Greek script.

In The logic of writing and the organization of society Jack Goody examines the "long -term effects of the writing on the organization of society":

"The past of the past thus depends on a historical sensibility which is able to develop without permanent written records hardly. A font but in turn, causes changes in the tradition of other elements of cultural heritage. The extent of these changes depends on the nature and social distribution of the font from, that is, the efficiency of the writing as a means of communication and social restrictions to which it is subject, ie the degree to which the use of writing prevalent in the society is. "

History of Literacy

The Middle Ages

The Christian Middle Ages was a verbally dominated world. The writing was understood as a continuation of the language, literacy therefore could not exist without orality.

The font

Although the medieval West was mainly an oral world, are the surviving sources - medievalists working with them today - written nature. The partly copied, partly original documents originate in most cases from the layer of the clergy, so only a small and exclusive part of the medieval society. The writing was from the perspective of the clergy soon as something Privileged and was an instrument of power ecclesiastical policy. The monks saw their writing and copying work as worship and therefore the writing competence should only be entitled to. It was only in the late Middle Ages, this one-sided development changed: The font was pragmatic and everyday commodity. In the 13th century the technique of writing was used, for example, to record a unified judicial system. The customary law of a given area was recorded in this popular language. Eike von Repgow wrote the Mirror of Saxony, one of the better known early medieval legal writings.

The predominant literary language in the Middle Ages was Latin. It was only in the late Middle Ages, the " living language " was written and book capable. Lay people were able to read and read and wrote readily, even in their native language, even if a merchant books, trade files, certificates and city chronicles were written mainly in Latin until the late 14th century. Lay and hacks that were organized in guilds, made ​​the " monastic book market " tough competition. The resulting works were more intended for lay people. Within the universities, however, Latin remained the language of science in the West. Theses even had to be written in Latin until the 18th century.

The book

The writing medium of the book tended to be overlooked by the system within a specific cult and domination medium, as it was in the beginning of the Middle Ages, through to system-wide secular cultural and educational medium for all. At the beginning of the Middle Ages books were only storage media and served mainly as a reminder. Orally transmitted stories were recorded in writing and existing books were copied or transcribed. The resulting works were read subsequently and memorized, but not interpreted. The book, therefore, had primarily a ritual and only within the sacred space, it was of importance; Therefore, books can not be construed as culturally relevant communication media in the Middle Ages.

With the founding of the mendicant orders and universities, the book was " demoted " from cult object to implement. It became the carriers of the new formation, the central preserving memories for instrumental knowledge stock and served as an individual everyday work equipment. No longer only monks, nuns or clerics were readers and users, but increasingly professors and students. Later aristocrats and eventually even commoners were added. The book as part of a large library should be to generally accessible source of knowledge for "everyone".

Finally, it was published to media change and the first incunabula. The printing press was subsequently the leading medium. Some scholars see the success of the printed book relevant to the epochal exchange between the late Middle Ages and early modern times.

The library

Already in the late Carolingian period was the library circulation " international". Over the centuries, began a lively copy and exchange traffic between individual monasteries. Of the six Benedictine monasteries Lüneburg from the 12th century is known for example, that books were exchanged for copying each other. Only in the course of the development of cities in the Middle Ages, in conjunction with the cathedrals, the church libraries were again relevant for the dissemination of the medium book. A parish library in the country had at best 20 to 30 books, but was occasionally augmented by donations and foundations. The figures vary greatly and are often not reliable. The Cathedral Library in Cologne, for example, is at least 115 works have contained in 175 volumes in the year 833, the Cathedral in Durham in the 12th Century 241 Books, the Cathedral of Rochester in 1202 also 241 books Christchurch Canterbury even around 1300. The Library Boniface ( abbey Fulda) was around 747 from 40 to 50 volumes, and formed a kind of foundation German monastery libraries. This rarely had more than 100 books. That, for example, in the Bavarian monastery Niederaltaich the library's stock in the years 821 and 822 already comprised 415 volumes, was one of the few exceptions. However, a very well equipped monastery library was later able to have between 500 and 600 volumes. As the largest monastery library in the High Middle Ages is considered St. Gallen. You should have included in the 12th century around 1000 volumes.

The first detailed library catalog comes from the Reichenau around the year 821 After this catalog, the library comprises at that time more than 400 volumes that are registered by authors or content groups. In addition to the spiritual literature ( Bible works, patristic, ecclesiastical writers, liturgy, Scholastiktexte ), even pagan authors were represented ( classic antiquity as Ovid, Caesar, Virgil, etc.). In addition, there was still textbooks (especially to the September Liberal Arts ) and more specific literature (eg to law, medicine or horticulture).

In other catalogs and encyclopedias were found. In the Middle Ages created content were grouped according to the September Liberal Arts. The only alphabetical encyclopedia in the Middle Ages can be found in Byzantium ( Suda ).

The scriptorium

The crucial multiplication mechanism for the writing medium of the book was the medieval scriptorium. Geoffroy Sainte -Barbe -en-Auge formulated in 1170 to very fitting: " claustrum sine armario est quasi castrum sine armamentario " ( a monastery without writing chamber is like a castle without an armory ). The scribes in the scriptoria had not read necessarily, or even of Latin be powerful. It was enough for an imitative copying of the letters. On average, a monk wrote a book per year. When writing material papyrus was replaced by the more durable parchment. The material was partially made in -house operation of the monasteries: Parchment is made from animal skins. Requires were also writing instruments ( bird feather, pumice stone, wooden tablets, wax, etc. ) and ink. The raw materials, the monks needed in the course of book production, were very expensive. Therefore, many texts were scraped off with a pumice stone and file is overwritten. The newly created directory is called palimpsest. Books were also bound in the scriptoria. Often, several works have been a tied if they complemented each other thematically.

Important events

After the fall of the Roman Empire and the spiritual heritage of the West threatened to sink. Reading and writing skills went back and illiteracy spread throughout Europe. The writing was by the advent of feudalism and by the regression of the common law no longer necessary good. However, there were three stages of development in the early Middle Ages, which was offset by a total oral world: Benedict of Nursia is considered the founder of Christian monasticism, whose protagonists were the main carrier of the medieval knowledge. In addition, Benedict decreed that each monastery should have its own library. Flavius ​​Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus 554 founded the monastery of Vivarium and awakened the first scriptorium to life. In this orderly room not only Christian, but also pagan or secular manuscripts were written off. Only in this way could survive the ancient literature and are handed down. The third major step was the Carolingian educational program - also known as the Carolingian Renaissance - under the leadership of Charles the Great. He had 789 in his " Admonitio generalis ", among other things, that each monastery next to a library should also have a school. It is largely thanks to these people that the cultural heritage of antiquity was preserved in Western Europe.

As a model for contemporary forms of science the advent of universities considered in the late Middle Ages. The aspiring Paris in 1150 went ahead as a model and was followed by numerous start-ups. Between 1030 and 1500, there were over 70 university foundations. The educational foundation for all medieval universities were the September Liberal Arts. For the exercise of any science and also for the understanding and interpretation of each academic text reading and writing skills were essential.

Carrier of Scripture

Although in this period the proportion of font support in relation to the laity was vanishingly small, shows the growing number of sources from the early to the late Middle Ages, a constant increase of literacy. Besides monks and nobles and commoners were continuously bearers of Scripture.

Clergy

Literati were the men of the church and the monastery, which also write the whole work of the firms was transferred and left of the princes in general. The majority of medieval writers were monks. However, most of them had only a minimum level of writing and knowledge of Latin. In the early monastic rule of Pachomius states: " Omnis qui nomen vult monachi Vindicare, Litteras an ignorare non liceat " (who wants to apply as a monk must not be illiterate ). In truth, however, were to be found even among the monks en masse illiterate.

Canon law, anybody who was an illiterate, should not be a cleric. Under illiteracy was understood at that time the sole ability of reading texts. 1291 could write in Alsace, not a single monk in the monastery Murbach. In the monastery of St. Georgen in the Black Forest could not even write the abbot to 1313. Even in Monte Cassino did not speak of the 30 monks belonging to 6 of writing. Even in the medieval bishops is now known that many were schreibunkundig. Read Between and learn to write a distinction was very strong. From the 14th century, finally, more and more clerics acquired the ability of writing.

Nobility

The laity to the highest nobility were mostly illiterate or Idiotae ( ignorant people ). Reading and writing skills were not very widespread even among the most influential personalities of the early Middle Ages. Exceptions were rulers who first smashing a spiritual career, before they had to unexpectedly take over the crown. Although noble families had their own written traditions and forms of education, but they were only exceptionally capable reading; most likely still the aristocratic women.

Most medieval rulers, even kings and emperors, so could neither read nor write. Also a few dominated Latin or even proper grammar due to the variety of dialects, which brought the peoples walk with him. Theodoric the Great, for example, had not even a handwritten signature. In the Western Roman antiquity, the independent Signing was still widespread; In the Middle Ages, however, required the laity auxiliary tool. Theodoric used a template with the content " legitimate " ( I 've read ). The house Meier Carloman signed his documents with a cross, his brother Pippin with a completion bar. The general emergency measure soon became the seal. It was the expression of a illiterate time.

Nevertheless, in the early Middle Ages to find rulers who continue formed: the Merovingian Childeric III. listed different dialects and tried new sound signs in his language to introduce. Although Charlemagne could not read and write, but was of Latin powerful. His son, Louis the Pious could sign. From his successor again ( Louis the German ) a signature is obtained (see right). The Ottos were able to read at least. Henry II was one of the first kings who could read and write. Frederick Barbarossa has learned to read only in advanced age. His successor, Frederick II promoted the science and was even very literate. He lived in Sicily, at the interface between Christian and Islamic culture. According to him, there was another unwritten period for the Kaiser and kingship. Only by Charles IV, the situation improved again. The Roman- German Emperor was an educated ruler and enjoyed his education in Paris. He also wrote an autobiography itself. Friedrich III. even led his own notebook. His son Maximilian I. - also wrote an autobiography - said that he had learned to read and write their own accord.

The following modern times, it was to be able to take for granted the nobility, read and write.

Knighthood

In connection with the medieval history of the myth of the sealing Knight has always been present. Ulrich von Lichtenstein stylized in his minstrel biography as someone who could not read. He tells ( with ironic intent? ) That he wore 10 days a letter from his mistress with him, without knowing its content, since no reading expert writer was in his environment. Wolfram von Eschenbach claims to possess no knowledge of book culture, although he fell back more than other courtly poets on written sources. At least Hartmann von Aue and Gottfried of Strasbourg were the exception: both could read, probably not only German, but also French and Latin texts.

Women

Young girls have liked to send to the monastery for the training of their families, so there was also a lot of literate women in the Middle Ages. Among the nobility, they were probably more educated than the men because they simply had more time for education. Influential however, were few. An exception was, for example, Christine de Pizan. She had with her books even economic success.

Jewry

As a rule, Jewish documents are signed. Even the simplest Jews could read and write Hebrew.