New Approaches to Medieval Communication, ed. Marco Mostert (Turnhout, 1999: USML 1), viii+317 pp., ISBN 2-503-50814-6.

This volume is meant to serve as a textbook for studying the field of medieval communication, and as an introduction to current research. It is written in accessible language for non-specialists. The volume has three sections: introductions by Michal Clanchy and Marco Mostert; a series of essays by members of the Utrecht ‘Pionier Project’ which consider writing and written culture against the background of all forms of communication available to a given medieval society, both in western and east-central Europe; and a comprehensive bibliography on the subject, which will serve as a starting-point for work in this field.

Contents:

Part I

Michael Clanchy, “Introduction”

Marco Mostert, “New Approaches to Medieval Communication? Marco Mostert”

Part II

Wolfert S. van Egmond, “The Audience of Early Medieval Hagiographical Texts”

Mary Garrison, “‘Send More Socks’: On Mentality and the Preservation Context of Medieval Letters”

Karl Heidecker, “Communication by Written Texts in Court Cases: Some Charter Evidence (ca. 800-ca.1100)”

Mariëlle Hageman, “Between the Imperial and the Sacred: The Gesture of Coronation in Carolingian and Ottonian Images”

Anna Adamska, “The Introduction of Writing in Central Europe (Poland, Hungary and Bohemia)”

Part III

Marco Mostert, “A Bibliography of Works on Medieval Communication”