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

mysterious, aura. It is entirely likely that a good many semiliterate or illiterate early
Christians would have regarded with particular favour, even awe, those texts that were treated
as scripture in their gatherings, and might well have welcomed a chance to view with
reverence the written words” (ibid.: 113). Maxwell (2006: 67) has also suggested that
audiences might prefer religious texts that were written in an undecipherable script since it
added a sense of mystery to proceedings. This is an important point that will be turned to
below in a discussion concerning lectio divina. Overall, then, a cautious approach is required
that questions the presence of literacy amongst early Christians, taken here to include the
population of Visigothic Iberia, and one that does not permit automatically too high a level on
the basis of the prominence of texts in their religion alone.
3.5 Approaching Visigothic Literacy
To Visigothic and early medieval Iberia in particular, it has been customary to
attribute a comparatively high literacy rate when compared to other regions in the west; even
Ward-Perkins (2005: 165), who otherwise paints a generally negative picture of the period,
acknowledges a seemingly higher level of literacy in Visigothic Iberia than elsewhere in the
post-Roman west. Johnson (1970) painted a particularly balanced picture, stating: “one
bright cultural spot in the seventh century was Christian Spain. Despite the fact that much of
the population was illiterate, there were cultural centres in the larger cities, and several
religious groups that served as schools or training corps for priests” (ibid: 115-116). In the
first instance, it is clear that within ecclesiastical circles there was an appetite for writing,
demonstrated by the huge amount of letters and other texts that survive from the Visigothic
period. This desire for learning was also reflected, in some cases, amongst the lay nobility;
the case of King Sisebut is often cited, who was tutored by Isidore and who authored various
works (Martyn 2008).
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