Writing practice and its social influence in the medieval Europe

2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22720283
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUO Kayoko 大阪大学, 文学研究科, 招へい研究員 (40551924)
• Project Period (FY): 2010 – 2012
• Keywords: 中世史 / 文化史 / 西フランス / リテラシー / 教会文化 / 文字史料

Research Abstract

Conventum, composed around 1030, is a kind of fiction, even if it describesin detail real counts, viscounts and lords in Poitou. For their conflicts referred in this document, there is no corroboration from other writings of this time, while imaginary conflicts emphasize the importance of the traditional social order that the author approves. The diffusion of Conventum to the local society, which would be helped by its form suitable for the oral communication, should raise political situation of the author. Reconstruction of the past is therefore specific to the writing practice in the 11thand the 12thcentury society, where oral and written communication started to interact.