Text and Textuality in Early Medieval Iberia: The Written and The World, 711-1031 (Oxford Historical Monographs)

Text and Textuality in Early Medieval Iberia is a study of the functions and conceptions of writing and reading, documentation and archives, and the role of literate authorities in the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian Peninsula between the Muslim conquest of 711 and the fall of the Islamic caliphate at Córdoba in 1031. Based on the first complete survey of the over 4,000 surviving Latin charters from the period, it is an essay in the archaeology and biography of text: part one concerns materiality, tracing the lifecycle of charters from initiation and composition to preservation and reuse, while part two addresses connectivity, delineating a network of texts through painstaking identification of more than 2,000 citations of other charters, secular and canon law, the Bible, liturgy, and monastic rules. Few may have been able to read or write, yet the extent of textuality was broad and deep, in the authority conferred upon text and the arrangements made to use it. Via charter and scribe, society and social arrangements came increasingly to be influenced by norms originating from a network of texts. By profiling the intersection and interaction of text with society and culture, Graham Barrett reconstructs textuality, how the authority of the written and the structures to access it framed and constrained actions and cultural norms, and proposes a new model of early medieval reading. As they cited other texts, charters circulated fragments of those texts; we must rethink the relationship of sources and audiences to reflect fragmentary transmission, in a textuality of imperfect knowledge. Cover 1 Text and Textuality in Early Medieval Iberia: The Written and The World, 711–1031 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Preface 8 Table of Contents 12 List of Figures 16 Introduction: Literacy as Textuality 20 The Case Study 29 PART I: THE LIFECYCLE 36 1: Archival Voices 38 The Corpus 39 Centre: Asturias 42 Cantabria 43 León 45 West: Galicia 49 Portugal 56 East: Aragón 58 Castilla 59 La Rioja 62 Navarra 64 Transmission 65 Chronology 71 Actors 77 Actions 83 Textual Memories 90 2: Creating 97 Agents 98 Scribes 109 Employers 117 Methods 126 Processes 134 Presentations 140 Contexts 153 Affirmations 159 Settings 163 Communities 174 Individuals 182 Audible Texts 190 3: Retaining 196 Extension 197 Confirmation 200 Augmentation 209 Preservation 215 Consolidation 218 Organisation 224 Portable Texts 232 PART II: THE NETWORK 238 4: Proving 240 Reference 243 Documenting 244 Emphasising 249 Evidence 253 Parchmentwork 254 Litigation 258 Integration 265 Manipulation 271 Textual Mentalities 274 5: Framing 278 Rhetoric 282 Legalities 284 Penalties 287 Practice 291 Families 292 Findings 297 Advantage 304 Treason 305 Adultery 311 Silence 319 Numbers 323 Customs 325 Practical Texts 327 6: Sacred Words 333 Scriptures 335 Inspiration 337 Malediction 344 Canons 351 Norms 354 Rules 362 Identities 366 Contracts 371 Malleable Texts 373 Conclusion: Imaginary Libraries 381 Two Questions 384 The Temple of Text 396 Appendices 400 Bibliography 428 Abbreviations: Primary Sources 428 Primary Sources 434 Abbreviations: Secondary Literature 442 Secondary Literature 444 Index 518