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The Rise of Literacy and Towns Sean Hill

2 The rise of towns facilitated the rise of literacy and rationalism, the main avenues for surmounting religious isolation. Through documents by Roger Bacon and Marco Polo and the Hebrew translation of King Arthur, I will show how literature was supported through the rise of towns and how it led to this religious seclusion.

I. Hebrew Translation of King Arthur An extremely interesting document is the Hebrew translation of the story of King Arthur. During the 11th-13th centuries, the rise of towns encouraged the advent of Jewish communities existing right next to these towns. This document is an example of the literacy that took place as a result of these towns. Much can be drawn from the fact that a Hebrew scholar found King Arthur’s legend worth translating. The scholar justifies his translation: No intelligent person can rebuke me for this, for we have seen that some of our sages of blessed memory, such as Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, did not disdain the knowledge of fox-fables, washers’ parables or the speech of palm trees. And this is done so that a man who is steeped in Torah-study or in worldly pursuits may derive from the knowledge of these tales a measure of relaxation and relief…

Moreover, it is possible to learn wisdom and ethics from these fables concerning a man’s conduct toward himself and towards his fellow man. Therefore they are neither idle nor profane talk. (Leviant 11) The scholar argues that highly respected Jews such as Johanan ben Zakkai used folk tales for relaxation and learning. Reading and translating texts such as the legend of King Arthur and other European fables has the inevitable result of familiarizing one with European society. In this way, the document seems to have increased the understanding of European culture for the Jews who read it, even if not all of the understanding that was obtained was truthful.

In this Hebrew translation, Lancelot’s mother and aunt are depicted as “scions of

3 the house of David” (Leviant 13). The footnote in the text says that portraying main characters as descendants of David is a way of sympathizing with a Hebrew audience.

Also, one of the cruxes of the King Arthur story is when Merlin changes King Uter Pendragon into the likeness of Duke Titomeil so that they King can seduce the Duke’s wife. In addition, one of Lancelot’s cousins turned out to be a witch. These elements of the story enforce the isolationism of religion. Since wizardry was certainly against Jewish law and custom, popular Jewish belief in the idea that magicians existed in European society worked to separate Judaism from the Christian community.

II. Roger Bacon’s Work Roger Bacon lived around 1220-1292 AD and wrote extensively on philosophy and science. He conducted many scientific experiments and achieved somewhat of a legendary status since he was believed to have done many more experiments than he probably did. In his greatest work, the Opus Maius, Bacon exhorts Christians that to overcome their enemies, they must increase their education.

For the whole sacred text has been drawn from the Greek and Hebrew, and philosophy has been derived from these sources and from Arabic: but it is impossible that the peculiar quality of one language should be preserved in another. (Western World 149) Firstly, Bacon stresses the fact that a plethora of knowledge can be gained from other cultures. As a Franciscan Monk, it is interesting that Bacon mentions Arabian philosophy since Arabs were usually thought of as enemies of Christianity. Secondly, Bacon exhibits a multicultural knowledge that even today is somewhat rare when he points out that some peculiarities of languages are impossible to translate. It takes knowledge of other cultures to be able to recognize the idea of idioms and of different

4 languages. The rise of towns allowed many people to read Bacon’s work at once and Bacon’s opinion is a pristine example of how rationalism and literacy were aided by the creation of towns.

Bacon commented on the Gallic dialects: For even dialects of the same tongue vary among different sections, as is clear from the Gallic language, which is divided into many dialects among the Gauls, Picards, Normans, Burgundians, and others. (Western World 149) Anyone from Bacon’s native country of England would understand the concept of different dialects within one tongue since this phenomenon took place in English.

Relating the two languages to each other in this way would surely serve to bring a better understanding of the German language and people.

Considering the fact that Bacon was a monk, we can see how his, and others, writings led to religious isolation. In The Monks and the Survival of the East Roman Empire, W.H.C. Frend succinctly describes this religious seclusion: In the west, monasticism was avowedly escape. Neither Paulinus nor Melania could rid themselves of their worldly responsibilities fast enough. Where the Church exerted political influence it was through ecclesiastical statesmen such as Ambrose or Pope Leo. (Meridians 61) Because of the need for transcribing documents and the demand for new ones, monks were able to isolate themselves from society.

III. Marco Polo’s Records

5 Marco Polo’s account of Kublai Kahn’s court is an excellent example of how a document was transmitted through the advent of towns and cities. Without doubt, world trade greatly aided the spread of Polo’s account, but not nearly as many would have read this account without high concentrations of people in many different places.

And I will make it quite clear to you in our book that this is the plain truth, so that everyone will be convinced that he is indeed the greatest lord the world has ever known. Here, then, is my proof.

We can see that Polo’s goal was to prove the Kahn’s greatness. His ability to do so was made possible by the fact that Kublai’s greatness was exhibited by Khan-balik, the city in which he lived.

Furthermore, Khan-balik is surrounded by more than 200 other cities, near and far, from which traders come to it to sell and buy. So it is not surprising that it is the centre of such a traffic as I have described.

It is clear that Kublai Kahn’s greatness depended on the greatness of his city, Khan-balik, which in turn depended on the 200 other town surrounding it.

IV. Conclusion One can plainly see through the writings of Roger Bacon and Marco Polo and the Hebrew translation of King Arthur that the rise of towns encouraged the composition and transmission of documents. These documents often resulted in religious isolation. We can see this through the disconnection of religious ideals that took place between Jewish and Christian communities in the Hebrew translation of King Arthur. Also, the ability of monks to spend their lives writing and transcribing documents resulted in an entire religious class that was isolated from the rest of society.

6 Bibliography

Bacon, Francis. Plea for the Study and Learning of Foreign Languages in The Western World. Pearson Custom Publishing, Boston. 2002.

Leviant, Curt, ed. King Artus, Syracuse University Press.

Polo, Marco. On Kublai Kahn in Meridians Sources in World History. Pearson Custom Publishing, Boston. 2006.