Middle-Class Writing in Late Medieval London

Richardson explores how a powerful culture of writing was created in late medieval London, even though initially few inhabitants could actually write themselves. Whilst previous studies have tended to focus on middle-class literary reading patterns, this study examines writing skills separately both from reading skills and from literature.

Malcolm Richardson

Introduction: Pirates and Pens; Chapter 1 London Middle-Class Writing: The Institutional Bases; Chapter 2 'An Inextricable Labyrinth': The Major Genres of Civic Life; Chapter 3 English Middle-Class Writing in the Earlier Fifteenth Century: The Vernacular Letters; Chapter 4 Women's Letters and Men's Books; Chapter 5 Conclusions and Speculations;