In my
last blog post, I reviewed the reason I thought that people today read.
Recently, I had a chance to go with my classical traditions class to the
special collections section of the library where we were shown different books
and papers used in the middle ages. Times were very different, but people read
then two, although possibly with different motivations.
To Discover New Places
As the
bible was one of the most copied texts in Europe in the Middle Ages, people who
read (the monks and the nuns and the wealthy) definitely learned of new places
in the Middle East where Jesus and the prophets lived, the discover of places
they would never see and was likely not a priority, although any message
communicated by letter (in their nifty wax-filled boxes that could be wiped
clean and reused) was likely sent out to people far distance, so reading was
done to discover events outside their own home.
To Learn New Things
This
motivation, then and now, are very similar. People learned how to read so they
could read the Bible (and other Christian texts) which makes it easy to
conclude that people read to learn. It’s possible that reading could have been
completely done away with without the education in the church, so while we read
texts to learn, its likely they learned to read for the texts.
For a Different Perspective
In the
middle ages there was the church’s opinion and that basically was it. Most of the
stories and education was through the church, and everyone knows what happened
to heretics, so there wasn't a lot of new perspectives presented, unless you
count the contributions of Christian writers. Many people at that time couldn't
read anyways, and so the interpretations of the text by their church
authorities were all they had to go on and they couldn't double check to
interpret the text themselves.
To Keep up
Breaking news took a long time to arrive by letter, and
parchment was expensive, and so it’s likely that no one was really “keeping up”
with foreign affairs in the middle ages.
For entertainment
Given
the fact that Dante’s works exist, people definitely read to be entertained in
the middle ages, although it was likely more oral that anything. Stories,
especially biblical ones, where definitely told to entertain though.
Honestly many of the things we read today didn't exist in
the Middle Ages, due to limited education, technology, and the censorship of
the church. The church was the authority, and so nothing with immoral themes
(which are so popular today) were allowed, and information was obtained by
going to church, so the people idea, morals, and even behaviors to an extent
were produced by what the church deemed was okay.
