Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 34-35. (2014-2015)
Articles
MEDIEVAL STILI FROM ROMANIA Adrian Andrei RUSU Keywords: writing, writing tools, stilus, Middle Ages, Romania Cuvinte cheie: scriere, instrumente de scris, stilus, Ev Mediu, Romania A number of theories exist about how people in the medieval times wrote however, very few practicalities are actually known. One of the instruments which lived on from the Antiquity was the stilus with which writing on wax tablets was performed. Its use was indirectly proven through the existence of the numerous graffiti found in churches. Then, an inventory of the artefacts found during archaeological excavations is presented which partially have not even been identified as such, from: Vi Щи de Jos (Alba County), Alba Iulia, Oradea - bone, Tärgu Мищ - bronze, Ргитщет (Arad County), Sibiu, Codlea (Brasov County), Remetea (Cara$-Severin County), Baia (Suceava County), Bärlad (Vaslui County) - iron. All these are discussed together with their chronological determination and analogies from the other parts of Europe. Towards the end of the middle Ages, the ‘perfect’ humanist king Matthias was surrounded by illiterate barons.* 1 This information comes from a chronicle, which could immediately be exploited by historians. Nevertheless, it would be a great mistake to apply such an indicator to the whole society of the king’s time, coming from the Hunyadi dynasty. Writing had never disappeared from the circles of the society’s elites. Alongside the same source, in other chapters of culture history, the reluctance of reading and writing of laymen was equally emphasized. It has been written that ecclesiastical institutions held monopoly over intellectual activities.2 Besides, the mendicant monasteries,3 schools, fairs4 and towns had also used it. The materialized and preserved writing testifies this, through cursive and faster forms, although less calligraphic, 'fhen, with the introduction of Arabic ‘ This work was made possible through the financial support of a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-ITRUTE-2012-3-0477. 1 Engel 2006, 339. 2 Jakó 1956a, 81-102. The study is old, a revision is needed, but it accentuates the results of writing and the actual tools. 3 Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Co$eiu, Cluj, Tärgu Mure§, Oradea, Ineu, Sibiu: Romhányi 1996, 35-38. 4 An example at Tárnád. See: Valter 1996, 62-63. numbers instead of the Latin ones, the break in using Latin and entering the premodern world had started, using other rules in communication. Who and how people used writing and reading, except patrimonial law and justice, remained largely a question of logic and numerous presumptions. The truth is that medieval men knew the importance of written culture, and they respected it as such, and even though they did not practice it on a personal level, they did not remove the people, who operated it. Public bureaucracy was built gradually, shifting from royal chancellery, convent forums and chapters. Judgment seats, administrative and territorial units (counties and seats) started retaining written evidence, where lay noblemen constituted the majority. In urban environment, from which we have the most information concerning schools, we can rely on accidental historic information, which leaves us with the opportunity for a more nuanced interpretation. In 1457 the doors of the parish church in Sibiu contained paper messages, addressed to all (cédulám in papiro scriptam quam ad valvas ecclesie).5 It was clear that such a type of communication was accounted as successful. The news was to be reaffirmed even 5 Urkundenbuch V, nr. 3062, 3063. MARISIA XXXIV-XXXV, 2014-2015, p. 107-116.
