The Uses of Literacy in Early Mediaeval Europe

• List of illustrations; Contributors; Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction Rosamond McKitterick; 1. Literacy in Ireland: the evidence of the Patrick dossier in the Book of Armagh Jane Stevenson; 2. Anglo-Saxon lay society and the written word Susan Kelly; 3. Administration, law and culture in Merovingian Gaul Ian Wood; 4. Literacy and the papal government in late antiquity and the early middle ages Thomas F. X. Noble; 5. Literacy and the laity in early mediaeval Spain Roger Collins; 6. Aspects of mediaeval Jewish literacy Stefan C. Reif; 7. Writing in early mediaeval Byzantium Margaret Mullet; 8. Literacy displayed: the use of inscriptions at the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno in the early ninth century John Mitchell; 9. Royal government and the written word in late Anglo-Saxon England Simon Keynes; 10. Literacy in Carolingian government Janet L. Nelson; 11. Text and image in the Carolingian world Rosamond McKitterick; Conclusion Rosamond McKitterick; Index.

"Each of the contributions to The Uses of Literacy is strong and offers much to the reader...The final sentence of her conclusion merits repeating: 'Literacy's importance and relevance throughout the early middle ages is, on the evidence presented in our essays, as a major force in the most crucial and formative period in the development of European civilization." The Catholic Historical Review