Between 1150 and 1400 Sweden was transformed from a society which was predominantly reliant on oral communication into a society which increasingly deployed writing. Latin, the traditional language of government and records, was gradually replaced by vernacular Swedish. The watershed moment in this process was the drafting of national and town laws in the 1350s, an event which established Swedish as the language of the judiciary and judicial records. From this period written documentation was gradually integrated into legal procedure. 'Pragmatic Literacy' argues that the Crown, the expanding bureaucracy, the editing of the laws in Swedish, and the laws' demands for written documentation in everyday transactions were the main driving forces behind the development in medieval Sweden of lay literacy for practical purposes. The book demonstrates how the early use of writing by the royal administration and the writing of provincial laws in Swedish created centres of literacy from which literate ways of thinking and acting spread both geographically and socially. It further illustrates how literacy moved beyond the confines of the clerical elite, by exploring how different members of the laity adopted pragmatic literacy for private purposes. Pragmatic Literacy thus traces the history of pragmatic literacy in Sweden through the lens of the judicial and administrative archive.
Author(s): Inger Larsson
Series: Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, 16
Publisher: Brepols
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 264
City: Turnhout
Maps and Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xi
Preface xiii
Introduction 1
Part I: Actors and Literate Milieus
Chapter 1: Three Kings – Three Epochs 15
Knut Eriksson, King 1167-1195/6 23
Magnus Birgersson (Ladulås), King 1275-1290 30
Growth of the Administration 35
Magnus Eriksson, King of Sweden, Norway and Skåne 1316-†1374 43
New Legislation 47
Royal Administration and Government 54
Nils of Stång – the King’s Representative and Town Bailiff in Linköping 1339-†1370 57
Summary 60
Chapter 2: Laws and Official Service – Lawmen and District Chieftains 63
The Law Commissions as a Milieu for Promoting Literacy 67
King Magnus Eriksson’s National and Town Laws 71
Lars Ulfsson and Knut Jonsson – Two Lawmen 77
Chapter 3: Private Issuers of Charters 83
Women as Issuers, Sealers and Landowners 86
The Role of Witnesses, the Use of Seals and Personal Names 89
Chapter 4: Summary of Part I 10
Part II: Charters and Legal Transactions
Chapter 5: Charters, Charter Types and Designations 105
The Most Common Surviving Charter Types 107
Deeds of Sale and Purchase – 'køpobreff' 107
Deeds of Exchange – 'skiptis breff', 'bytis breff' 112
Deeds of Gift: Wills, Morning-Gifts and Dowries – 'gaffuo breff', 'gifftebreff', 'testamentz breff', 'morgongawe breff', 'medgaffuo breff' 115
Title Deeds – 'fasta breff', 'iorda breff', 'gardsbref', 'landda breff', 'tomtabref' 117
Letters of Attornment – 'maktbref', 'mäktabref' 126
Mortgage Deeds – 'pantabreff' 130
Boundary Deeds – 'rååbreff' 131
Other Types of Charters 132
Travel Permits – 'skiutha bref' 132
Safe-Conducts and Letters of Protection – 'leydha breff', 'dags breff' and 'friþz breff' 133
Letters of Judgement – 'dombref', 'ræfstabref' 135
Receipts – 'quitto breff' 136
Inheritance Distribution Documents – 'arffua breff' 138
Undesignated Charter Types 140
Charter Content and Required Competence 143
Chapter 6: Lingering Orality 149
Rituals 149
'Skötning' 151
'Umfærþ' 156
'Skaftfarning' 157
'Fæst' 160
Charter Formulas 161
'Allum þem mannum svm þetta bref høra ok sea...' 161
'Amen' and 'valete' 163
Chapter 7: Growing Written Standardisation 165
Normalisation of Content 165
Letter of Attornment – 'maktbref', 'mäktabref' 165
Title Deed – 'fasto bref' 167
Year, Date and Place 169
Charter Formularies and Written Models 174
Chapter 8: The Testimony of Terminology 183
Chapter 9: Summary of Part II 195
Conclusion 197
Appendix I: Timeline of Important Events 213
Appendix II: List of Swedish and English Terms 217
Bibliography 219
Plates 227
