Who were the readers of the Middle Ages?

Reading history

Corbellini came to this conclusion by exploring premodern Bible translations. ‘The question arose: who read these books, and how did they deal with the text? How did they read?’ This question underlies Corbellini’s professorship. ‘I do not research book history, but instead reading history. This revolves around the interaction between readers and their objects, be they handwritten or printed.’ Corbellini therefore researches traces that signify such interaction: dog-eared pages, underlined sentences, or notes in the margin. ‘Some diaries and egodocuments also describe reading experiences. And some books contain instructions telling the reader what is expected of them.’ Even the manner in which a book is compiled tells us a lot about the way in which a reader could approach it. Is the book divided into chapters, do the chapters have titles, are there references to other parts of the text? Corbellini: ‘A book with a table of contents can be read selectively. A book without a table of contents must be read from beginning to end. And take the format of a book, too: a small pocket book can be taken and read everywhere. A large book is made to read at a table, where you can more easily make notes.’

Hanseatic city of Deventer

Earlier this year, Corbellini featured in Het Verhaal van Nederland (‘The story of the Netherlands’), a popular TV series that sketched the history of the Netherlands in 10 episodes. ‘Her’ episode was set in Deventer. She knows the old Hanseatic city well. ‘Deventer is a very interesting city to study. Even back in the Middle Ages, it was a real “book city”. Manuscripts were produced here and, in the second half of the fifteenth century, a printing press was established. From early on, Deventer specialized in printing school books, for which it is still known. The Latin School of Deventer was also renowned from far and wide, and taught famous pupils like Thomas à Kempis and Erasmus.’ In the Middle Ages, Deventer was an important trading hub that needed people who could read and write in order to function well. ‘A city functions by virtue of its negotiations, by making agreements, by keeping on top of administration, and by maintaining an archive’, says Corbellini. In addition: ‘The ability to read, to be able to access texts and to discuss the knowledge obtained from them is essential to the functioning of society. This was the case in the Middle Ages, just as it is today.’

The Devotio Moderna

In the fourteenth century, Deventer was at the centre of a new religious movement: the Devotio Moderna, or Modern Devotion. ‘This was a highly influential religious movement that spread across the Netherlands and Europe, and which played an important role in the development of religious thought.’ Devotio Moderna followers attached great value to education. Corbellini: ‘Copies of books were produced and were made available in the community. And these were not only religious texts. One of the texts stemming from the start of the Devotio Moderna is about the importance of reading in the vernacular and actively promoting reading as a learning method.’

Disproving prejudices

Being able to read means being able to develop a critical attitude and to form your own opinion. These qualities are also—unjustly—not associated much with the Middle Ages. Corbellini sees it as a challenge to disprove the persistent prejudices about the time period of her study. ‘I am driven by the importance of gaining and sharing knowledge. I study the social circumstances that made the sharing of knowledge possible 600 years ago, and I myself would also like to share the knowledge that I have gained on this.’

Curious about the Deventer of the Middle Ages? The ‘Hidden Deventer’ walking tour, composed by Sabrina Corbellini, Margriet Hoogvliet, and Pieter Boonstra, guides you along a number of important places in this old ‘book city’. The route and information can be downloaded for free in the App Store or on Google Play.

About Sabrina Corbellini

Sabrina Corbellini studied Germanic Studies at the University of Bologna. She obtained her PhD from Leiden University for her research on fifteenth-century Dutch civil servant and writer Dirc Potter, and has stayed in the Netherlands ever since. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher, both in Literary Studies and in History, at various universities and also worked at the department of medieval manuscripts at Leiden University Library. Corbellini was appointed as a Rosalind Franklin Fellow in 2008 and was appointed as Professor of History of Reading in Premodern Europe in 2017.