Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.57.05
Literacy in Central and Eastern Europe from the 6th to the End of the 13th Century (Summary)
Mirjana Matijević Sokol
Abstract
The peripheral areas of the Roman Empire faced the beginnings of a new written culture under varying circumstances after the collapse of the Empire. This development depended on the political forces with which the new peoples came into contact. The former Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Dacia became meeting grounds between the West – with its roots in the Latin heritage of the Roman Empire – and the East, which from the 6th and 7th centuries onward consolidated its Greek cultural foundations in the form of Byzantium, shaped by a Christian worldview. The peoples who emerged on the historical scene brought with them their pagan beliefs and, in some cases, only a symbolic form of written expression, in the form of “scratches and cuts,” as recorded by Crnorizac Hrabar.
Latin literacy played a dominant role in the evangelization of peoples entering the historical stage – especially in the western parts of Central and Eastern Europe, which were oriented toward the Roman Church. Until the 9th century, traces of Latin literacy in these regions were sporadic due to the decline of Roman civilization. Beginning in the 9th century, under the conditions of the Carolingian Renaissance and the formation of new political entities, a medieval Latin culture developed with its own norms. In this border region of the former Roman Empire, Slavic communities settled, and through the acceptance of Christianity – as well as through political and other ties with the Frankish Empire – the Latin language became the language of the Church and the official language of institutions.
Latin literacy took especially deep root in the Croatian territories through numerous epigraphic monuments, in royal chancelleries, and later expanded as a form as pragmatic literacy through notaries and “authentic places” (loci credibilia), owing to their importance and role in everyday life. It also became a medium for poetry and literature. Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland likewise adopted Latin literacy as the language of Christianity—first through liturgical books, and later in chancelleries. Hungary led the way in the use and development of Latin literacy, both in chancelleries and through the establishment of loci credibilia which performed multiple functions.
In the second half of the 9th century, in Great Moravia, the Slavic script later known as Glagolitic was introduced for political reasons – as a counterbalance to potential Germanization. Its lifespan in Moravia was short, but as a result of subsequent historical developments it spread and took root most significantly in the western parts of the Croatian territories. Traces of the Glagolitic script can also be found in the eastern regions – namely in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia – and sporadically in Kievan Rus’.
With the adoption of Christianity from Byzantine-Bulgarian centers, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Kievan Rus’ accepted a script later called Cyrillic, formed on the basis of the Greek alphabet, primarily for use in ecclesiastical books. Over time, however, Cyrillic became a marker of identity across these eastern regions.
From the 9th to the 12th centuries, noteworthy discoveries from the region of Novgorod include over a thousand so-called Novgorod birchbark documents (gramoty). Their content is diverse, offering numerous insights into the spiritual and material conditions of everyday life of Novgorod’s population across all social classes. They are also of great interest to linguists as evidence of the development of the Russian language, and among them are the earliest traces of the Finnish language. Some of these writings belong to the sphere of private or intimate life: a few were written by women, others include trade contracts, and some are even lascivious in character. Love messages between young people appear alongside a housewife’s orders to her husband. Certain texts reveal hints of conspiracies, while ethnologists find notes about folklore and local customs particularly intriguing.
Keywords
Latin literacy; Glagolitic; Cyrillic; Christianization; chancelleries; pragmatic literacy; authentic places; notariat
Hrčak ID:
352366
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2025.
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