The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture

by Mary Carruthers, Patrick Boyde (Editor), Alastair J. Minnis (Editor)

The Book of Memory is a magisterial and beautifully illustrated account of the workings and function of memory in medieval society. Memory was the psychological faculty valued above all others in the period stretching from late antiquity through the Renaissance. The prominence given to memory has profound implications for the contemporary understanding of all creative activity, and the social role of literature and art. Drawing on a range of fascinating examples from Dante, Chaucer, and Aquinas to the symbolism of illuminated manuscripts, this unusually wide-ranging book offers new insights into the medieval world.

Genres: History, Medieval, Nonfiction, Psychology, Philosophy, Medieval History, European History

407 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Lancelot Schaubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

On GOODREADS, this seems to be one of the few books everyone on here could agree on and enjoy: a book about the nature of reading, the nature of books, and the nature of reviewing them.

Perhaps if everyone knew how radically the nature of reading, textuality, writing, and — specifically — memorizing has changed right along with culture, they wouldn't say ignorant things like "memory is unreliable" or "oral tradition forces us to lose things" or "people couldn't read before Gutenberg."

This book amends basically everything you ever thought a book, a memory, or the nature of reading both was and is. It's a brilliant monograph by Carruthers, meticulously researched out of Cambridge, and imminently readable. (Being a book on books and a memory on memories, I'd hope that's the case).

It's hard to articulate how centrifugal this piece is for my thesis.

Pick up a copy. Slog through.

Blow your mind.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Changes the way I will consider manuscript illustrations and also the way I imagine the way people thought...it's definitely more interesting now to think of a great scholar not just thinking but sweating it out in thought. That is, I'm surprised at how physical thinking was, but also...it makes sense! From now on when I memorize anything I will not be able to keep myself from inscribing words on my mental wax tablet so that I might be able to simply sift through the library of my memory (the container) and actively retrieve the information I need. Sounds nice, but it's a far from our norms today. However, there is a distinction Carruthers illustrates in that this was not just simple memorization but a process of breathing life into words and thought with the individuals meaning-making process. I think I could go on and on...

[Dan Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a most informative, delightful book have read. It uncovers, explains and offers the methods of ancient and medieval scholars for reading, memorizing and creating literature. It uses insights from neurology, anthropology, semiotics, linguistics, theology and literary criticism to demonstrate how a relatively small group of people in each generation archived, preserved and transmitted the gains of civilization from the likes of Plato, Isaiah and Augustine until the invention of the printing press. My life would have been much poorer without this book.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The details made my brain hurt, but argues that medieval intellectual culture remained a memorial one, even with increased literacy. Memory and memorization held a particular social and cultural meaning for medieval people -- authoritative knowledge was held in memory, not in texts, and the rise in literacy over the course of the middle ages was only slow to erode this tradition.

[Lisette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense and filled with fascinating information, The Book of Memory is a fascinating examination of memory and memory techniques. I'm definitely revisiting this book often because there's so much within the covers. Carruthers does tend to repeat herself but since repetition is one of the memory techniques she talks about, I realized she was employing methods that strengthen the memory.

[R. G. Nairam]

I've read a lot of scholarly work on the Middle Ages but this is an entirely new level of dense. May return to it someday.

[N Perrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently one editor at Cambridge University Press remarked that Carruthers' Book of Memory is their best selling work of their history. After reading such a magisterial study, it is no wonder why.

This is truly a paradigmmatic piece of scholarship, a masterpiece of erudition and truly original analysis that belongs alongside works like Taylor's Sources of the Self. There are some books you can't put down because you're so excited to see what comes next, but in this case I couldn't stop putting the book down and going on Google because I kept wanting to explore these fresh ideas and readings Carruthers unearths wherever she looks. I will never be able to read Augustine or any medieval writer the same way again.

One of the main assertions of this work is that memory should not be tied to oral culture (in opposition to written, literate cultures). Rather, memory was constitutive of all medieval learning. Carruthers' careful sifting through of primary texts and manuscripts illustrates the cognitive and pedagogical methods medieval thinkers employed so they could not only memorize a vast volume of books, but so that they could also compose all their writings from memory (think Aquinas or Ockham). Carruthers' level of detail in explicating classical and medieval mnemotechnique is truly fascinating.

(One of my research breaks involved going onto the website Art of Memory to see how contemporary mnemopraxis aligns with the medievals. It's truly amazing how so many of the methods and strategies taught on their forums had already been developed so many centuries before. More than that though, some of the theory debates on the forum (which draw upon neuroscience, psychology, etc.) had already been answered and solved ages ago through the medieval understanding of memory. And this is only something I could have known because of Carruthers' careful explanations.)

This study lies at the nexus of so many scholarly fields. It contributes to medieval studies, cognitive psychology, the history of emotions, the history of the book, mnemotechnique, medieval ethics, history of education, history of scholarship and the university, and history of anthropologies. She even briefly touches upon how medieval thought could very easily dissolve modern debates about objectivity and deconstructionism through the scholarly/literary tradition.

While (unlike many of my peers) I do not have a particularly high view of the medieval period, this book has convinced me how much they got right in terms of creating a beautiful system for educating readers both technically and morally as well as how their memorial reserves could generate such incredible feats of scholarship. Digital scholarship pales in comparison.

[Lloyd Earickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1974, Loftus and Palmer published a paper in the Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior titled “Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory.”  It details one of psychology’s most famous experiments, purporting to demonstrate thitherto unexplored memory mutability, specifically with respect to eyewitness testimony, and Loftus parlayed the paper into a career examining how human memory is unreliable, with significant implications for the criminal justice system.  Modern research increasingly seeks to portray memory as flawed in comparison to our intuited ideal of how it is “supposed” to function; the Hidden Brain podcast published multiple episodes in recent years on the topic, including “Are Your Memories Real,” “Remember More, Forget Less,” and “Did That Really Happen.”  That intuited ideal is a comparison to our experience of computer memory and videographic recording technology, which replicate what they “recall” with exactitude each and every time, but advances in modern psychology and neuroscience are revealing that human memory simply doesn’t work that way.

It is something the ancients already knew.  A presocratic work on memory reveals a more nuanced understanding of the nature of human remembrance, and a subtler use of language to describe that reality, than modern science kens, and that understanding was carried through centuries to form a keystone of metacognition in the Middle Ages.  Carruthers’ titanic text recovers what the ancients understood about memory for today’s reader.  Although it is described as “a study of memory in medieval culture,” The Book of Memory is not merely a history book, but a compelling case for the present relevance of medieval memory wisdom.

Our misunderstanding of memory today arises from the media with which we surround ourselves and the analogies which thereby arise.  We compare our memories to how computer memory functions, storing definitive information to be recalled in precisely the same form at the press of a button or the tap of an icon, and we are surrounded by technology with the ability to record, capture, and replay events which have passed.  The blinking of our eyes is supposed to be like the shutter of a camera, capturing static images we can stitch back together in perfect detail to recall what happened, recreating a scene just as we saw it, as if our senses recorded it like security footage.  Then, we’re surprised when we realize our memories don’t work that way, and the act of recollection can itself affect what we remember.

This differing perception of the role and nature of memory is sometimes ascribed to the differences between oral and literate cultures, but Carruthers makes a compelling argument that this emphasis on the impact of recording technologies is an artifact of our own, industrial preoccupations, and that the Middle Ages represent a literate, memorial culture.  Of course, Socrates himself is said to have lamented the tendency to write things down, claiming it stunts mental development by providing a kind of memorial crutch on which we become dependent; we hear the same sentiments echoed today, and not entirely illegitimately.  I have my own concerns that relying too much on the ready accessibility of knowledge on the internet or other medium can lead to that information not being sufficiently accessible for us to use, which I’ve written about in a couple of reflection posts on memory and innovation, but blaming literacy for this potential deterioration is like blaming the existence of hammers for someone using nails when they should have used screws.  Carruthers amply exposes Medieval culture as one that is both literate and memorial, in effect capturing both the advantages attendant to literacy and avoiding the crutch which Socrates feared literacy could become.

Medieval scholars had a wiser perspective not just on memory, but on what we might today call “knowledge work” as a whole.  In their view, simply reading a book was a useless exercise.  Rather, reading was the first step in a three-step process of acquiring knowledge, followed by meditation, which in this sense refers to a conscious, deliberate rumination over the material which was read, and a distillation of meaning or ideas.  While medieval scholars routinely demonstrated spectacular feats of rote memorization, committing lengthy works to memory and then reciting them forwards, backwards, and by page and passage, they considered this the least important part of “memorizing” a work.  Real memorization did not mean the ability to regurgitate a piece word-for-word, but a true, internal understanding of the meaning of those words, such that the idea is internalized and can be expressed by the memorizer in new words.  Only then could the knowledge be useful, and only then could the next step in knowledge be taken.  In other words, and recalling the way “creativity” and “imagination” are framed in The Discarded Image, invention was understood not as the creation of something new, but as the iteration of something already known.  Lacking modern notions of and preoccupations with intellectual property, medieval scholars considered what we would today call plagiarism part and parcel of intellectual work, and an essential component of innovation.

It’s true medieval scholars were better at memorizing, as we use the word today, than we are.  It was simply expected that students would memorize entire books of the Bible, and entire legal codes, word for word, because that was how the information could be made most accessible.  The act of composition was part and parcel of the act of memorization, because composition occurred mentally, in association with the meditative step of reading/knowledge acquisition/memorization.  These routine feats of regurgitation are distractions, though, from the real work of memorization which formed the core of a medieval education, and which was a medieval “knowledge worker’s” true work: to internalize and make one’s own the ideas present in the text, and to thereby contribute to the continuing conversation on the topic.

Doubtless you have discerned my enthusiasm for this subject, and I will probably write additional posts to explore some of these ideas more fully (for which I now have a medieval justification, as composition is part of the act of understanding).  They are not actually the reason Carruthers’ book ended up on my reading list – I thought I would be learning medieval memory techniques to improve my own ability to memorize in the modern sense.  I did that, though there aren’t really shortcuts or secrets, just systems which must be worked with and deliberately applied.  Maybe that’s how you’ll come to it, too, but The Book of Memory is about the much broader, medieval understanding of the term, not our more limited connotation.  In modern terms, we might better call it The Book of Learning, and if you read it, you will learn from it.  This is not the kind of book you read rapidly: it is dense, packed full of references, endnotes, and untranslated passages in Latin, French, and Old and Middle English, and despite what I consider a decent vocabulary, I kept a dictionary nearby while I read it.  It is well worth every effort.  The Book of Memory is one of the best books I’ve read recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes my top five list for 2026.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense, detailed and quite esoteric, but touches on some ideas that are applicable to other fields of study.

[Brent Pinkall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the most exciting academic book I've ever read. I read this after having already experimented with mnemonics for a few years, a journey first inspired by the Ad Herennium. So I was already excited about ancient mnemonics before encountering Carruthers. But Carruthers completely blew my mind. This book has rightly become THE go-to authority on mnemonics in the academic world, replacing Frances's Yates's The Art of Memory. The book is a probably bit unwieldy to those who have no experience with mnemonics, but it is a treasure trove of insight. Carruthers shows how deeply mnemonics influenced medieval culture, especially medieval "imagination." So many perplexing things about medieval culture make sense once you view it through the lense of mnemonics. One of the most exciting parts of the book for me was how mnemonics gave rise to illuminated Bibles. Another interesting insight addressed why bestiaries were so commonly found alongside Biblical texts in medieval monasteries (the bestiaries provided images of animals, which served as memory images that could be used to memorize the Scriptures and other texts). I wish I had the time to write a full review of this book, but I'm sure others have given it the attention it deserves. One important note: this is not a mnemonic "handbook." Although Carruthers summarizes the most common mnemonic techniques of the ancient world, this is not written with the practitioner in mind. But if you are a practitioner, it will greatly help you and inspire new methods to experiment with (which I have done and have thoroughly enjoyed). More importantly, though, it will transform the way you read and meditate. A brilliant, innovative, well-researched book that will not be surpassed for a long while.

[Scarlett Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10 - An incredible, fascinating study of memory in the medieval period. It gives a detailed overview of memory techniques, which I have stored away for future use, although admittedly the context for their use (a elite classics and religious based education system) has truly passed. I particularly enjoyed her exploration of the way memory was understood and thought to be structured, a process described through a series of metaphors, which themselves aid visualisation and organisation of the memory (for which I made up my own memory rhyme: birds, bees, libraries, but which also includes images of hunting or fishing for meaning and memory, store houses and thesaurus/treasure chest. What struck me most was the individual nature of developed memory, for which there was no shortcut, and why was far more dynamic and productive than our notion of rote memorisation. I also found myself thinking about how computers mirror the organised memory, which Carruthers notes explicitly and via the phrase ‘random access memory’. The arts of memory described here contrast with our own society (or perhaps just my own mind) which is information saturated, but perhaps unconstructively ordered.

She writes evocatively about this experience [from the medieval perspective]: “Without the sorting structure, there is no invention, no inventory, no experience, and therefore no knowledge - there is only a useless heap, what is sometimes called silva, a path less forest of chaotic material.” (p.39)

I read this for an essay on the Book of Kells, which is only discussed in detail in the final chapter, but I enjoyed reading the entire book, and will be reading its companion ‘The Craft of Thought’.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-researched and dense with numerous citations of many historical texts related to memory. But not at all approachable. This is good place to start if you need to understand specific aspects of memory's place in medieval history, but it's too dense to read cover to cover. There is also a lot of untranslated Latin here too so author seems to expect a familiarity with Latin that signals this book as more of an academic tool than an interesting book.

[KG · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderfully in-depth and well-researched work on medieval practices of nurturing meaning through mnemonic systems. its density is appreciated, and made up for by the text's readability, thoughtfulness, and cultural empathy. as esoteric as it is widely relevant.

[rixx]

By way of The Light Ages (bibliography)

[emilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be thinking about this for a while

[Deniz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down! Carruthers critically examines how deep seated the “art of memory” was during medieval times. She unveils the assumptions about memory behind the everyday language, metaphors and technical terms of this period. The assumptions are often startling, and change the way we see the book, reading, meditation and memory. A great read!

[Ganesh Ubuntu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Memory Book dives deep into the way memory was seen, used, and thought of in Europe back in medieval times. Various memorising techniques were an integral part of education and a literate person was expected to remember a good number of books and be able to access them from their memory at any time. It is amazing to learn how much more emphasis was placed into developing the inner abilities of people in the absence of cheap information or gadgets. More than that, memory wasn't seen as just a storage of factoids. Building one's memory repository was seen as building one's character and it was accepted that no sound decision can be made by a person with poor and untrained memory.

What brought me to the book was a search of the mnemotechniques people used back then. The Memory Book covers them in great details also exploring a lot of ground around them, and by that making the technique descriptions rather verbose for someone who is interested in their practical application today. Arming yourself with a notebook will help greatly in extracting a more succinct description of each approach.

There were a few moments through the book when I felt that the author is overemphasising the memory aspect of the practices she is describing. For example, she says that meditation, as practised in medieval times, was predominantly about training one's memory. Sure, memory would be an important aspect of meditation but not to the point of it being the sole purpose of it. This point in particular felt like someone found a hammer and now sees nails everywhere. It is fair enough though for someone who digs through obscure medieval sources to find any mention of what the long dead people thought about memory. It just requires one more degree of scrutiny to discount author's biases when reading.

Overall, after chewing through this book for a few months and sometimes wanting to throw it out of the window for being tough to read, it was more than worth the effort! I will certainly be revisiting it more than once.

[Brackman1066]

I'm rereading this after a twitter conversation with NITLE educator Bryan Alexander, in which I scoffed at the notion that our learning styles were still "pre-Guttenberg." Bryan invited me to say more, but I need to brush up first--I read this for my prelims, which was a long time ago and I was reading fast (see--bad memory--not pre-Guttenberg!) I'll update this as I read with anything I think might be relevant to thinking about learning, memory, and pedagogy in the digital age.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, both for people interested in insights into Medieval culture, and for those looking for a sympathetic examination of the value and methods of training one's memory.

[Maradox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this way better than the Yates.

[Mills College Library]

153.1209 C3199 2008

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent explanation of the construction, storage, and recollection of memory, as was believed in ages past.

[Becky Pliego · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dense but worth it.