From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307

by M.T. Clanchy

The second edition of Michael Clanchy's widely-acclaimed study of the history of the written word in the Middle Ages is now, after a much lamented absence, republished in an entirely new and revised edition. The text of the original has been revised throughout to take account of the enormous amount of new research following publication of the first edition. The introduction discusses the history of literacy up to the present day; the guide to further reading brings together over 300 new titles up to 1992. In this second edition there are substantially new sections on bureaucracy, sacred books, writing materials, the art of memory, ways of reading (particularly for women), the writing of French, and the relationship of script, imagery and seals.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Medieval History, British Literature, Academic, Books About Books

426 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1979

About the author

Michael T. Clanchy is a Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He has also taught at the University of Glasgow, and is well known for his books, such as From Memory to Written Record (1979; revised and expanded editions 1993 and 2013: a study of the triumph of literacy in medieval England), England and its Rulers 1066-1272 (1983; revised editions 1998 and 2006) and Abelard: A Medieval Life (1997). His interests are primarily in law and government in the 12th and 13th centuries. He is Patron of the London Medieval Society.[

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

This was a book that changed my thinking. It's not a beginners book, the reader could struggle without some background knowledge of the period from Domesday Book to Quo warranto. Luckily the author also has conveniently written England and its Rulers that could serve as a general introduction to the period.

From Memory to Written Record is an exploration of the shift in culture during that part of the middle ages in England from a reliance on memory to an increasing use of written records. It takes in language (ie languages of record and writing as opposed to spoken languages), the court system, government and administration.

The details about the technical side of writing are also fascinating, the preparation of writing materials ( the scraping of vellum, the stitching of threads across the page to act as guidelines), how books were written, the spread of the use of seals and of course forgeries.

There are two points that I'll make about forgeries. The first is that the shift in patterns of thinking obliged or made forgery attractive. By the end of the period for instance grants of property were invariably written down and recorded, just as they would be today - this was not however true of earlier times. To the pre-literate mind, Clanchy argues the written record was not required. The important point was the witnessing of the act of transfer which might be symbolised by the transfer of an object from the giver to the receiver - this might be symbolically or literally re-enacted for example when rent was paid, a tradition that survives in some peppercorn rent situations. This left the owner in later times in the increasingly awkward position of not being able to document their ownership of property. The only logical course of action in the face of the change of mentalities was forgery and as a result a good half of the known charters attributed to Edward the Confessor are forgeries.

The other point is about data recall and capture. The practise of forging Papal documents was not unknown - but the medieval Papacy had no bureaucratic means of assessing the authenticity of any document that purported to be a genuine Papal Bull. Each document had to be assessed and judged to see if it appeared to be genuine. And if it appeared to be sufficiently genuine it could be accepted as such. There was no means, or it simply did not occur to anybody to maintain or check against a register of issued documents. Instead the apparently distinctive but forgable lead seal or Bulla (hence papal Bull in English) would be scrutinised along with the Latin used - the Papal chancellery developed an ornate and baroque literary style in an attempt to to make the almost incomprehensible language a mark of authenticity!

The other side of literacy is then bureaucracy - the recoverability and accessibility of written records.

This leads to things that we accept as entirely natural but which at one time were exciting innovations - like alphabetical listings. The Domesday book, as you will have noticed if you've tried to look up an entry in it, is not laid out alphabetically. Finding something in it would have been a labour of love, or extreme frustration.

Personally Clanchy's book was a revelation to me because of the way he used sources. For instance his use of the in any case fascinating Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds to look at issues of languages and literacy. At a sudden I was aware for the first time of translation as an issue in English political life - see for example Gerald of Wales in The Journey through Wales or Bartlett's The Hanged Man A story of Miracle Memory and colonialism in the Middle Ages. Nor was this an issue restricted to Wales, as Clanchy makes clear this was a basic fact of English life. The social elite spoke French, the third estate spoke English, or Welsh, or Flemish, but the language of record was invariably Latin. One is almost never then confronted by someone's actual words in the sources, its almost always mediated through translation and the decisions of the translator. Possibly at several removes for example from English to French to Latin.

England was a slightly unusual case as an English literate culture had existed prior to 1066, this was not the case for much of Europe where Latin dominated. Although as far as can be told from the last surviving versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the literary Old English based on a West Saxon dialect seems to have been diverging from other varieties of English by the end of the Saxon period. With the conquest some of this heritage was junked. What we now know as The Exeter Book of Riddles was broken up and used as the binding for a later Latin text and only rediscovered when the book was taken apart for restoration.

This is a a great book, highly recommended, although I will note here that I have only read the second edition and can't vouch for any others, it is a fantastic point for exploring issues of literacy and oral cultures but also for seeing the medieval mindset in action. Both the monks who saw forging Papal documents as the best and finest service to their saint and monastery and the Earl de Warrene who lacking a written charter for the lands his ancestors held since the conquest instead produced an antique sword saying 'this is my warrant' ie referring to his ancestors role in the conquest of England, the sword proving victory in that trial of combat, indeed the monks of Battle Abbey were to make a similar argument - that the physical existence of their abbey on the battlefield was proof of the donations of land and freedom from control by Bishops made to them by William I - in the legal system of the day this was felt to be a winning argument, my Lords I rest my case(or words to that effect in French but written in Latin) in a gesture meaningful and acceptable in an oral culture but bizarre to a written one fill the pages of this of fascinating book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really nerdy book, in the best way possible. It examines the transition from a culture that was predominantly oral (with the modern idea of literacy being reserved to a small class of intellectual elite that viewed it as a predominantly theological pursuit) to a culture that was increasingly based on written documentation and practical literacy for a growing proportion of the populace. The gist of the argument suggests that as the English government came to increasingly utilize written documentation to rule - Clanchy suggests documentation increased tenfold during the 12th and 13th centuries - it became in the practical interest of an increasingly big circle of people to become familiar with written culture. Clanchy looks into issues like types of documents, the changing of scripts, the use of seals, the lingering of oral traditions, the early attempts at creating governmental archives, and what exactly it meant to be literate in the Middle Ages.

Another nice thing is Clanchy's reminder that literacy isn't necessarily a mark of cultural superiority or improvement in education. There are loads of ways to be educated without the ability to read or write texts, and lots of medieval people who could write weren't considered to be particularly educated. And as written records came to predominate in England they seemed to cause as many problems as they alleviated. Practical literacy for the all people was not really a thing until the 1800s or so, but it's become so entrenched in the way that we think about things and about the way we define what makes an educated individual that reading this book is a really fascinating and eye-opening experience.

It can be a bit dry in places, but it's also filled with some great anecdotes and Clanchy is a good writer. The sections on types of documents and the technology of writing is also a great primer for anyone who plans to work with medieval documents at any point.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clanchy explores how people think when they live in a time when the technology completely changes. From a tradition of trusting the memories of sage witnesses (as well as physical signs and seals) to a new world of having proof of property be dependent on pieces of paper was as complex and transformative as our modern shift from written record to internet technology.

A terrific study for those interested in the 12th century and eye-opening for those engrossed by contemporary communication.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I know I've read a lot of books on the history of the book, I was surprised to come to the realization of how little I've read about the move to written records. Note that I read the older edition and don't know where his conclusions have changed. I thought this was really interesting and easy to read with two provisos--read with a good dictionary since he often references archaic words without defining them and keep a timeline of monarchs near you since he uses reigns as time references. Clanchy covers the rise of public documents, reviews the different types of early documents, discusses the "technology" of writing (handwriting, ink, parchment, etc.) and the rise of awareness of the need for preservation. In the second half of the book, he explains the different use-contexts of the three main languages (French, English and Latin) and explained with "literate" and "illiterate" meant during the time. He explores the differences between "seeing" and "hearing" texts historically and discusses the issue of trust as it relates to this. Overall and excellent and readable discussion.

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did it! The February-August length of time is mostly due to a lot of procrastinating where I let it sit in my "currently reading" making me feel guilty until I picked it up and actually started over in late July.

A fascinating book, if sometimes a bit dense and other times repetitive (not within a chapter, but one chapter may repeat the same ideas as another). I especially like the way it challenges the preconceptions of a society (ours) that thinks literacy is required for civilization.

There's too much to really sum up, but this book is rich and multifaceted and I'm glad that I finally sat myself down to read it all.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1377 by M.T. Clanchy was originally published in 1979 though Clanchy revised and republished the piece in 1993 to take into consideration the research advancements since his first edition. Although I have not read the first edition, Clanchy informs the reader within the preface that the revised edition includes the historic field up to 1992 and adds new sections on topics such as sacred books, writing materials, memory as an art, and women’s involvement. His revision thus encapsulated the field of study while his contribution to the historiography includes three major points. Firstly, Clanchy argues that the history of literacy has not received enough attention from scholars and differentiates this book from those that have studied it by avoiding prejudice in favor of literacy. The second is the continuation of this as he aimed to shift the perspective of the field as he states that,
“Indeed the title From Memory to Written Record is open to misunderstanding because it suggests a single and inevitable line of progress from illiteracy to literacy and, by implication, from barbarism to civilization. The concentration on written records, rather than literate people, suggests likewise that literacy is primarily a technology of which records are the end-product. Combining the idea of progress with that of technology leads to technological determinism of a utilitarian and mechanistic kind. The fundamental problem here is that modern literates, including the author and his readers, are conditioned by their own schooling to believe that literacy is the measure of progress and that those who use documents less are less civilized.”

The final point of his contribution is that historians tend to be experts in the specific types of writing that they use for research, thus will not find new information on them within the book, but rather they will find a new mindset for thinking about the relationship between their specific texts and the development of the literate mentality.
His thesis can be summarized by stating that there was a connection in medieval England between growing bureaucracy and growing literacy; a more detailed though it includes two main arguments. First, the “growth in the uses of literacy (between 1066 and 1307) is indicated by, and was perhaps a consequence of, the production and retention of records on an unprecedented scale" as "lay literacy grew out of bureaucracy, rather than from any abstract desire for education or literature." The second overarching theme of the book is "the development of literacy from and for practical purposes of day-to-day business, rather than creative literature.” Throughout the book, he ensured a strong structure of evidence; this structure falls into two parts. The first part describes the spread of record making and the development of familiarity and trust in documents while the second describes the growth of “the literate mentality” and the psychological aspects that went with the spread addressed in part one through the usage of literacy conceptions/meanings, the functions of records, dating, signing, and forging documents, and the different languages used. In general, Clanchy’s evidence to support these arguments looked at types of documents, the changing of scripts, the use of seals, and the "technology" of writing (handwriting, ink, parchment, etc.). The way that he used his sources was of particular importance and positive attribute to me such as his consideration of languages and literacy as the sources often had to undergo several mediations and translations such as the example of having to go from English to French to Latin. A particularly compelling section of evidence is the topic of how people came to trust records, as Clanchy states, "People had to be persuaded - and it was difficult to do - that documentary proof was a sufficient improvement on existing methods to merit the extra expense and novel techniques which it demanded." The other attribute of his usage of evidence worth noting specifically is his detailing of the technical side of writing and record making, for example, the scraping of vellum, the stitching of threads across the page to act as guidelines, the cost and construction of parchment, and the script used.
Overall, although the writing can be dry and repetitive in some places, the book is filled with great anecdotes, evidence, and compelling arguments. The main audience that I would recommend this book to are those planning to work with medieval texts due to his excellent information and contextualization of the entire process from writing and creation to reading and usage. The manner in which he challenges the readers’ biases and perspectives would lead me to also recommend this book to anyone interested in the studies of archives, memory, and communication.

[penny shima glanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first edition of this book as the second edition is out from the Uni library and I didn’t know if I really cared enough to wait for the second edition. Wow. Wow. Wow. I wish I could use better words to talk about it. It is fascinating, covering the rise of writing as historical record, the technology of writing (so so fascinating). I will be looking for the second edition as it is apparently almost a complete rewrite of the text and includes (according to Amazon) such fascinating topics as “writing materials, the art of memory, ways of reading (particularly for women), the writing of French, and the relationship of script, imagery and seals”. Wow!! THIS is what I find fascinating. Along with how different this article would be and the difference in impression and conveyance of meaning if I had written it by hand as opposed to typing (perhaps the whole thing would have been clearer, who knows?). This fascination stems from my musical background and the depth and breath of meaning and emotion that one attempts to portray by the written note. (Much is missing from the page, trust me on that). I am fascinated by the cantilation marks in Hebrew as well, much for the same reason. (prev posted at penguingirl.com)

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful and an insightful work on medieval literacy in England (using a huge amount of sources that are both famous and unknown). Reads almost like a manual. My only criticism: Clanchy doesn't address (sufficiently) the role of women in the development of literacy, and goes so far as to discredit studies on monastic female literacy.

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book itself was super interesting! but grad school was a mistake

[Krys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clanchy's book abounds with the sorts of explanations and challenges to contemporary assumptions about literacy in the middle ages that make for a fascinating read. The evidence of extant records have truly helped me rethink my conception of that era on Europe (specifically England, which is the focus of the book). And though the book is very dry and labyrinthine (certainly not a casual read), it is illuminative for anyone wishing to delve deeply into a specific historical period and unpack one specific and transformative element of that time.

My only qualms with this text come from the writing itself. From Memory to Written Record is clearly academic, and as such, tends to follow the overstuffed, seemingly intentionally convoluted way of talking about something that one finds in dissertations. As a former teacher and lazy academic, I've never understood the reluctance to speak plainly when more complex syntax isn't called for (and it almost never is). To compound the problem, several chapters spend pages repeating the same details over and over, sometimes repeating a particular thesis statement (thankfully at least paraphrased) when each new supporting example is produced. It gave me the impression that Clanchy doesn't trust the reader to recall what was written just five pages before (which may indicate at least a subconscious awareness on Clanchy's part of the often confusing structure of, not just the sentences, but the arrangement of the arguments).

But if you let this slide, if you just accept it, the book is full of fabulous details such as the sorts of objects that passed for evidence before records and seals; like the fact that even though literate (in a modern sense) people of the middle ages still read the records out loud because it was believed it could be absorbed better than from simply reading silently to one's self. The complexities of the battle for supremacy between English, French, and Latin is particularly informative section about both WHAT was recorded and the how the languages were shaped because of the new habit of record.

[Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strap on your big-person boots when you tackle this intense, scholarly book. But stay the course: your work will be richly rewarded if you have even the slightest interest in the history of England in the two centuries after William the Bastard (his common name on the street then) shipped over from Normandy and overwhelmed his Anglo-Saxon adversaries at Battle Abbey in the year 1066. This entire book is an absorbing read throughout!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

About the transition from an oral to a written culture in England. It's beena while since I read it, but I remember telling Ben how awesome it was, so it must have been. I do remember that the literacy rates he gave for the non-nobility were suprisingly high. Given the lack of detail in this review, perhaps it is time for me to reread this book.

[AskHistorians]

A seminal work on mediaeval written documents in the context of the development of literacy in mediaeval England. This extremely influential work is foundational for the current understanding of the role of writing in mediaeval western Europe.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting chronicle of English society and the transition of information into written form from oral.

[Paul Callister · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a wonder of scholarship illustrating the English transition from an oral society to a documented.

[Sarah Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Packed with facts. However, I found it extremely hard to get through with very dry writing. Sometimes relied to heavily on pure statistics based on survival of records.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating study of how oral traditions in literacy and law shifted toward faith in the power and authority of the written word.