[Ansteorra] "Autocrat" (was: found keys at BG30)

[Stefan li Rous]

>> *We* may not speak Greek, but an educated person in the Middle Ages  
>> or Renaissance probably would (along with Latin and the language of  
>> their homeland.)
>
>        -Tivar Moondragon

Yes. When people are talking about literacy in our period and how it  
differed from today, and modern scholars do often get tripped up by  
this, it is necessary to keep in mind that "literacy" was defined as  
being able to speak/write Latin, not necessarily your local language.  
So often the numbers being quoted for the number of literate people in  
the Middle Ages are lower than they actual were if the modern  
definition of literacy is used.

More on period literacy can be found in these Florilegium files:

literacy-msg      (18K)  2/ 4/08  Literacy levels in the Middle Ages.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/EDUCATION/literacy-msg.html
per-literacy-art   (8K)  7/26/94    Would your persona have been  
literate?
http://www.florilegium.org/files/NICOLAA/per-literacy-art.html
per-latin-art      (6K)  7/16/94    Persona article on medieval latin.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/NICOLAA/per-latin-art.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****