The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

textual communities were formed of literate, semiliterate and illiterate members; those unable
or just learning to read were expected to participate in textual culture” (Irvine 1991: 185).
Early medieval monasteries attracted converts from all social levels; “although [monasteries]
provided centres in which manuscripts could survive, they were primarily centres where
Christians from all ranks of society sought to pursue the highest levels of spiritual life”
(Parkes 1992: 171).
A simple frequency analysis of the employment of terms relating to acts of hearing and
reading might prove useful. Below are the frequency counts for forms related to lego, recito,
confero and audio in the monastic rules. It reveals the following results:
lego recito Confer audio
Rule of Isidore 5 5 4 3
Rule of
Fructuosus
1 2 0 7
Common Rule 3 11 0 3
Of course, the verb lego is problematic because it can refer as much to personal reading
carried out alone and in silence as it can reading out aloud to a group of listeners. Despite the
wide semantic range of lego, the point here is to demonstrate that references to activities that
involve orality are commonplace, suggesting the importance that should be given to oral
activities in companion with textual activity.
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