Book Chapter

Reading and writing for success: literacy, knowledge and social mobility

  • Sabrina Corbellini

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.

  • Keywords:
  • social mobility,
  • literacy,
  • france,
  • low countries,
  • late middle ages,
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Sabrina Corbellini

University of Groningen, Netherlands - ORCID: 0000-0003-4178-3622

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  • Publication Year: 2025
  • Pages: 539-556
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
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  • Publication Year: 2025
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Chapter Information

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

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

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

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

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

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