This contribution examines the nexus between literacy and social mobility during the late medieval period. Proceeding from an analysis of autobiographical Italian primary sources, it concentrates on patterns of presentation and self-representation, particularly as they concern education, literacy and participation in literate activities as instruments for the creation of new social identities. The various source materials (e.g. diaries, libri di famiglia, treatises discussing the performance of literate practices, manuscript colophons and probate inventories), are then contextualised within a broader European perspective, specifically with reference to France and the Low Countries.
University of Groningen, Netherlands - ORCID: 0000-0003-4178-3622
Chapter Title
Reading and writing for success: literacy, knowledge and social mobility
Authors
Sabrina Corbellini
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0667-9.27
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
La mobilità sociale nelle società preindustriali: tendenze, cause ed effetti (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Social mobility in pre-industrial societies: tendencies, causes and effects (13th-18th centuries)
Editors
Angela Orlandi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
612
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0667-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0666-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0667-9
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0668-6
Series Title
Datini Studies in Economic History
Series ISSN
2975-1241
Series E-ISSN
2975-1195