Middle-Class Writing in Late Medieval London.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (256 pages)
- The History of the Book Series .
- The History of the Book Series .
Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Tables -- Introduction: Pirates and Pens -- 1 London Middle-Class Writing: The Institutional Bases -- 2 'An Inextricable Labyrinth': The Major Genres of Civic Life -- 3 English Middle-Class Writing in the Earlier Fifteenth Century: The Vernacular Letters -- 4 Women's Letters and Men's Books -- Conclusions and Speculations -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index.
Richardson explores how a powerful culture of writing was created in late medieval London, even though initially few inhabitants could actually write themselves. Whilst previous studies have tended to focus on middle-class literary reading patterns, this study examines writing skills separately both from reading skills and from literature.