Urban literacy in late medieval Poland / Agnieszka Bartoszewicz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bartoszewicz, Agnieszka, 1966- author.

Contributor:

Adamska, Anna, translator.

Series:

Utrecht studies in medieval literacy ; 39.

Utrecht studies in medieval literacy (USML), 2034-9416 ; 39

Standardized Title:

Piśmienność mieszczańska w późnośreniowiecznej Polsce. English

Language:

English

Polish

Subjects (All):

Literacy--Poland--History--To 1500.

Literacy.

Literacy--Social aspects--Poland--History--To 1500.

City and town life--Poland--History--To 1500.

City and town life.

Cities and towns, Medieval--Poland--Intellectual life.

Cities and towns, Medieval.

Middle class--Education--Poland--History.

Middle class.

City dwellers.

Middle class--Education.

Writing.

History.

Intellectual life.

Literacy--Social aspects.

Poland.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 484 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2017]

Language Note:

Translated from the Polish.

Summary:

This book surveys the development of the literacy of Polish burghers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, revealing socio-economic and cultural processes that changed the life of Polish urban society. Polish urban literacy is examined according to the reception of Western European urban culture more generally. Town networks in medieval Poland are explained, and the literacy skills of the producers and users of the written word are discussed. Literacy skills differed greatly from one social group to another, it is shown, due to the variety of town dwellers (clerics and lay people, professionals of the written word, occasional users of writing, and illiterates). Other issues that are discussed include the cooperation between agents of lay and church literacy, the relationship between literacy and orality, and the difference between developing literacies in Latin and in the vernacular languages.

Contents:

1 The Urban Network in Late Medieval Poland 23

The Origins of 'German' Law in the Polish Lands 23

The Dynamics of Urban locatio in the Polish Lands during the Fourteenth Century 29

The Development of the Urban Network in the Kingdom of Poland after 1385 30

The locatio-Movement in Mazovia until the End of the Fifteenth Century 32

The Stabilised Town Network in the Kingdom of Poland at the End of the Fifteenth Century 34

The Attitudes of the Rulers towards the Towns 38

2 The Topography of Urban Literacy 43

Estimates of Alphabetisation in Towns 43

Factors Encouraging Urban Literacy: State and Church 48

The State's Administration and its Influence on Urban Literacy 48

The Church and Urban Literacy 51

The gens de savoir in Polish Towns 57

Levels of Education 59

Educational Opportunities in Town 60

The University 65

Cracow as the Intellectual Centre of Medieval Poland 68

Town and Gown in the Fifteenth Century 73

Education and Literacy Skills as an Instrument of Social Advancement and Prestige 82

3 The Polish Municipal Chanceries and Their Heritage 89

Stages in the Emergence of Urban Chanceries 89

Charters and Letters 93

Matters Treated in Charters and Letters 97

The Earliest Town Books 108

The Registers of the Bench 118

Legal Matters Treated in the Bench Books 122

Fluctuation of the Number of Cases Registered in the Bench Books 127

Joint Registers of the Bench and the Advocatus, and the Advocatus' Books 130

Registers of the Municipal Council 132

Legal Matters Treated in the Council Books 134

Fluctuation of the Number of Cases Registered in the Council Books 141

Account Books 142

Registers of New Citizens 146

Criminal Records 147

Registers of Wills and Testaments 148

Sources of Law: Legal Reference Works Produced and Preserved in Urban Chanceries 149

Law Codices, Collections of Legal Advice (Urteile) and of Urban Privileges 149

Urban Statutes (Willküren) 154

Documentation of Urban Guilds 158

Historical Writing in the Municipal Chancery 163

4 From Vernacular Memory to Written Record: Literate Behaviour and Legal Procedures 175

Gestures and their Meaning coram iudicio According to Normative Texts 177

Legal Culture 179

Notes in Bench Registers as Evidence for Oral Legal Procedures 183

Interaction between Script and Speech in Judicial Procedures 185

Transfer of Property Rights 191

The Frame of Ritual of the Activities of the Municipal Council 193

Wills and Testaments - A Field of Tension between Orality and Literacy 196

The Relationship between Latin and the Vernacular Languages 200

German Language in the Records of Urban Chanceries in the Polish Kingdom 204

Polish Language in the Records of Municipal Chanceries 216

5 Municipal Clerks 223

The Oldest Evidence about the Office of the Municipal Clerk 227

The Assistant Municipal Clerk 230

The Scribe of the Bench 232

The Clerk of the advocatus 233

Familiares notarii 235

The Position of the Municipal Clerk in the Urban Hierarchy 236

Duties and Qualifications 236

Wages in the Municipal Chancery 246

Other Employments and Sources of Income of Municipal Clerks 252

The Financial Status of Municipal Clerks 258

The Position of Municipal Clerks on the Urban Social Ladder 261

Municipal Clerks as a Professional Community 264

Clergymen in the Municipal Chanceries 266

Laymen in the Municipal Chanceries 272

Later Developments 282

Intellectual Municipal Scribes? 285

In Conclusion 287

6 Other Professionals of the Written Word in Polish Towns 293

The ministerialis civitatis 297

Prolocutores 302

Translators 307

Employees of the Chanceries of Tribunals for Noblemen 309

Public Notaries and Employees of Ecclesiastical Chanceries 315

Teachers of Parish Schools and Parish Priests 322

Makers of Manuscripts 327

Pauperes litterati 330

Notarii privati 330

Private Teachers 334

Scholares and students 335

The Economic Status of the pauperes litterati 337

The Numbers of pauperes litterati and Their Social Origins 339

The Position of the pauperes litterati in the Urban Community 340

7 The Written Word in the Life of Polish Town Dwellers 349

Business Registers 350

Commercial Letters and Documents 358

Wills and Testaments 362

The Functions of Written Records 366

Manuscript Books in Town 373

Women and the Written Word 383.

Notes:

"This book is a through reworking of the original Polish version, Piśmienność mieszczańska w późnośreniowiecznej Polsce"--Preface.

Translated into English by Anna Adamska.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 419-467) and index.

ISBN:

9782503565118

2503565115

OCLC:

1023613522

Publisher Number:

9782503565118