29 - Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England

Summary

In trying to define the extent of literacy in Anglo-Saxon England, we have to face the fact that there is virtually no explicit evidence on the subject from the period; comments on the subject are extremely rare, and the few we have are more rhetorical than informative. We have to try to assess the situation from the evidence of the forms of written text that were produced, who they appear to have been produced for, and how representative various literate or illiterate individuals or groups may have been.

Literacy in Latin

There were two languages in extensive use for writing and reading in England – Latin and English – and it is convenient to distinguish at the outset between literacy in Latin and literacy in English. At the time of the conversion, Latin was an entirely foreign language to the English, who had had relatively little contact with the Roman Empire or with Latin-speaking Britons. The language had to be learned at school, and however much pupils were taught to converse in Latin, especially in monastic schools, it was always primarily a written language in England. Those who could speak Latin or comprehend it when spoken or read aloud could almost certainly read it in a book, and many were no doubt more comfortable with written Latin than the spoken or recited form.