Voices on birchbark : : everyday communication in medieval Russia / / Jos Schaeken.

• Author: Schaeken, Jos.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden,, Boston : : BRILL,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics 43.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

In Voices on Birchbark Jos Schaeken explores the major role that writing on birchbark – an ephemeral, even ‘throw-away’ form of correspondence and administration – played in the vibrant medieval merchant city of Novgorod and other cities in the Russian Northwest. Birchbark literacy was crucial to the organization of Novgorodian society; it was integrated into a huge variety of activities and had a broad social basis; it was used extensively by the laity, by women as well as men, by villagers as well as landlords. Voices on Birchbark is the first book-length study of this unique corpus in English. By examining a representative selection of birchbark texts, Jos Schaeken presents fascinating vignettes of daily medieval life and a holistic picture of the pragmatics of communication in pre-modern societies.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Notes on Translation, Transliteration, Terminology, and References -- Historical and Geographical Context -- Sites and Distribution -- Dating and Periodization -- Writing Technology and Practice -- Users and Literacy -- Intersections between Birchbark Writing and Graffiti -- Language and Communication -- Preliminary Remarks -- Commerce and Finance -- Law and Administration -- Estate Management -- Family Life and Household Management -- Learning to Read and Write -- Church, Religion, and Folk Belief -- Witnesses to History -- Non-Slavic on Birchbark -- Introduction -- The Orality Factor -- The Role of the Messenger -- Communicatively Heterogeneous Letters -- Social Networks -- Some Final Thoughts -- Color Plates -- References -- Index of Birchbark Documents -- Index of Subjects.