De verschriftelijking van middeleeuws Friesland - voorbeeld van een algemeen Europees patroon?

Samenvatting

The publication in 2004 of Hir is eskriven by Rolf H. Bremmer Jr. marks an important moment in the study of written culture in the Frisian lands in the Middle Ages. This article is an attempt to compare Frisian developments with developments in communication elsewhere in Europe during the ‘long thirteenth century’. It is suggested that Frisia fits the general European pattern, albeit with some striking differences. Whereas in the surrounding areas princes and towns seem to have been the main instigators of the acceleration of written culture, in the absence of either a strong central government or a developed urban culture, in Frisia the monasteries seem to have been far more important. It is as yet too soon to speculate on the reasons why written culture developed in Frisia when it in fact did.