Publisher's Synopsis
This book explores the complex relations between the written word and medieval society by focusing on the proliferation of administrative and business documents during the so-called 'long thirteenth century'. It deals with northern France and the area covered by the historic Low Countries, but places these regions in a broader European context and in the general history of literacy. this book presents the reader with a large sample of documentary sources. But it also presents important hypotheses regarding literacy and the sociological dimensions of writing in the Middle Ages.
