Author(s): Moisl HL
Abstract: There is a striking difference in the relative roles of vernacular literacy in early medieval England and Ireland. To judge from the distribution of texts that have survived from both areas Latin was, in England, the dominant language of literacy and written Old English had a circumscribed role, whereas in Ireland the vernacular became an increasingly important language of literacy across a wide range of applications from the later seventh century onwards. The language of religion and the language of the people were, therefore, broadly different in Anglo-Saxon England in the sense that the primary language if the Christian establishment was Latin, but in Ireland Latin had to share its status as the language of religion with the vernacular. The aim of this paper is to suggest how this situation came about, and to attempt to assess its implications for cultural development in these areas.
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Dr Hermann Moisl
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