Research Catalog

Title

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

Author

Schaeken, J.

Publication

• Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2019]
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 212 pages : illustrations; 25 cm.

Summary

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. 0Voices 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.

Series Statement

Studies in Slavic and general linguistics ; volume 43

Uniform Title

Studies in Slavic and general linguistics ; v. 43.

Subject

• Inscriptions, Russian (Old) > Russia (Federation) > Novgorodskai︠a︡ oblastʹ
• Bark inscriptions > Russia (Federation) > Novgorodskai︠a︡ oblastʹ
• Bark inscriptions
• Inscriptions, Russian (Old)
• Birkenrindeninschrift
• Russia (Federation) > Novgorodskai͡a oblastʹ
• Nowgorod > Region

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and indexes.

Contents

Part I. Writing on birchbark. 1. Historical and geographical context ; 2. Sites and distribution ; 3. Dating and periodization ; 4. Writing technology and practice ; 5. Users and literacy ; 6. Intersections between birchbark writing and graffiti ; 7. Language and communication -- Part II. Communication in daily life. 1. Preliminary remarks ; 2. Commerce and finance ; 3. Law and administration ; 4. Estate management ; 5. Family life and household management ; 6. Learning to read and write ; 7. Church, religion, and folk belief ; 8. Witnesses to history ; 9. Non-Slavic on birchbark -- Part III. The pragmatics of communication. 1. Introduction ; 2. The orality factor ; 3. The role of the messenger ; 4. Communicatively heterogeneous letters ; 5. Social networks -- Some final thoughts.

Call Number

JFE 19-2822

ISBN

• 9789004389403
• 9004389407

LCCN

2018047131

OCLC

1048941877

Author

Schaeken, J., author.

Title

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

Publisher

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2019]

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Studies in Slavic and general linguistics ; volume 43

Studies in Slavic and general linguistics ; v. 43.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and indexes.

Other Form:

Online version: Schaeken, J., author. Voices on birchbark Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2018 9789004389427 (DLC) 2018053091

Research Call Number

JFE 19-2822