Abstract

With reference to medieval England M. T. Clanchy argues that “the growth in the uses of literacy [between 1066 and 1307] is indicated by, and was perhaps primarily a consequence of, the production and retention of records on an unprecedented scale.” That is, rather than view literacy as a step on the road to literature, to learning and high culture, Clanchy stresses the interrelationship between literacy and administrative practice. Writing creates the possibility of documentation; documentation brings more people into contact with the written word ; and, in time, as documentation becomes accepted as necessary, as mental habits adjust to it, as reliance upon it increases, so it in turn stimulates further expansion in the uses of literacy