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The Carolingians and the Written Word book cover
The Carolingians and the Written Word
1989
First Published
4.09
Average Rating
308
Number of Pages
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.
Avg Rating
4.09
Number of Ratings
47
5 STARS
34%
4 STARS
45%
3 STARS
19%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
2%
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Author

Rosamond McKitterick
Rosamond McKitterick
Author · 9 books

Rosamond Deborah McKitterick is one of Britain's foremost medieval historians. Since 1999, she has been Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge where she is a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. Much of her work focuses on the Frankish kingdoms in the 8th and 9th centuries and uses palaeographical and manuscript studies to illuminate aspects of the political, cultural, intellectual, religious and social history of the early Middle Ages. From 1951 to 1956 McKitterick lived in Cambridge, England, where her father had a position at Magdalene College. In 1956 she moved with her family to Western Australia where she completed primary and secondary school and completed an honours degree at the University of Western Australia. She holds the degrees of M.A., Ph.D., and Litt.D. In 1971 she returned to Cambridge University to pursue her career. She was a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge and then became a Professorial Fellow of Sidney Sussex. She is also on the Editorial Board of the journal 'Networks and Neighbours'. She married David John McKitterick, Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, and they have one daughter.

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