I'm not wearing any pants. Film at 11.
Posted on 07/06/2007 9:10:23 AM PDT by blam
06 July 2007
From Rags to Riches, Or How Undergarments Improved Medieval Literacy
Thought the invention of the printing press led to an upsurge in literacy rates in the later Middle Ages? Wrong, according to some historians of communication, who believe that paper was more important than printing.
“The development of literacy was certainly helped by the introduction of paper, which was made from rags,” says Dr Marco Mostert, a historian at the Centre for Medieval Studies, Utrecht University and one of the organisers of this year’s International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds.
“These rags came from discarded clothes, which cost much less than the very expensive parchment which was previously used for books. In the 13th century, so it is thought, as more people moved into urban centres, the use of underwear increased – which caused an increase in the number of rags available for paper-making.”
Speaking at this year’s IMC, which runs from 9 to 12 July, Dr Mostert said that literacy was more common in the Middle Ages than is popularly thought. “Although the aim of producing a 100% literate population didn’t occur before the 19th century, after about 1100 the need for literacy grew steadily, and from about 1200 onwards the number of literates increased dramatically along with the number of schools in urban areas.”
Yet even in countries where there were few or no towns and, therefore, schools, such as Iceland, the literacy rate continued to grow rapidly. “Many people learnt to read at home, usually from their mothers,” says Dr Mostert. “The role of female literacy in the home has been underestimated until quite recently.”
So what would have made it onto a medieval bestsellers’ list? The Bible and parts of the Bible, such as Psalters, as well as prayer books and religious poetry, consistently topped the charts. History was popular, too: the stories about Roman emperors collected by Valerius Maximus still survive in around 400 copies. Geoffrey Monmouth’s history of the kings of Britain can be found in 200 remaining copies.
Writers were as desperate to get their work published in medieval times as they are now. As books were exclusively hand-written until the invention of the printing press around the middle of the 15th century, publication sometimes meant reading your text aloud to a public that was lavishly entertained - at your expense. “Gerald of Wales had his Topography of Ireland read out in Oxford during three days,” laughs Dr Mostert. “He spent a fortune, and still didn’t make the top ten.”
Discarded or outdated editions of books were put to good use. They were made into binding materials for new books, or, after Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the 16th century, into kites or covers for jars.
Urban literacy is just one of the topics being covered at this year’s IMC, which has as its focus medieval cities in Europe and neighbouring territories to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the borough of Leeds.
Axel Muller, director of the IMC, comments: “The field of medieval studies is thriving around the globe. Many of the successes and problems we encounter in modern society have their counterparts in the medieval world, and we believe that studying that world can cast a light on many present-day dilemmas: how to treat the elderly and the sick, how to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour, surviving in dysfunctional families, living harmoniously with people of different cultures and religions, even coping with unconventional looks. Where the human condition is concerned, nothing really changes!”
GGG Ping.
Well, duh! Who doesn’t read better while wearing underwear?
Did medieval writers resort to cheap "hooks" involving underwear in order to make their work more eye-catching?
Not sure... but Roman writers certainly did.
I remember reading from a Roman writer in high school Latin (don’t remember which one) who went into great detail about seeing a lady’s ankle at the Coliseum — it was apparently quite lurid at the time.
This pretty much discounts that story about it being torture to put underwear on the captured terrorists’ heads.
They were just given something to read.
I don’t know about that, but our research has indicated that online gamers play better without pants.
This explains why the pages of old books are yellow and or brown and smell.
There’s a great PBS series called “Connections” where a very witty professor from Stanford(?) traces the connections between ordinary and some extra-ordinary inventions that cause a leap forward in our technological future.
One of the things he mentions is rags being available for papermaking—but he posits that the surplus of rags came from the die-offs in the middle ages to plague rather than new fashion in underwear.
I suppose that would be a deathly rags to literary riches story.
Ok, can we posit a correlation between more literate societies and ones that wear underwear?
And the first person that makes a crack about the Scots is out.
I’ve found much of literature to be a pantload.
Thanks, blam, this stuff is faskinating, as Popeye would say.
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Why on earth would someone “suddenly” want to wear underwear?
“as more people moved into urban centres, the use of underwear increased – which caused an increase in the number of rags available for paper-making.”
I wonder what books/newspapers were printed from the Clintons’ discarded undewear (you recall that they deducted it from their taxes).
No, no, no! It was the Chinese who invented paper and printing and underwear! The Chinese invented everything good, including Western Civilization.
LOL One word....."I"
I know better than to make nasty cracks about nasty cracks.
Ovid gives advice about one way to get a glimpse of a lady’s leg in the first book of Ars Amatoria. He doesn’t mention the Colosseum, which wasn’t built for another 100 years.
As for what was considered lurid at the time, the answer is Not Much. The Romans weren’t puritans, you know.
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