Literacy rates in medieval times were not what they are today, but they're still routinely underestimated. Most places, including peasant villages, would have had some people around who could read.
Then again, it also depends heavily in what part of the middle ages you are talking about. Early, high and late middle ages were almost different worlds in many regards.
It's really easy for people to fail to really grasp that the middle ages still account for about half of the common era. They began in the 5th century and ended in the 15th. It was so long and so much happened. At the beginning Europeans were abandoning Roman structures and by the end they'd built things that even the greatest Roman engineers would be amazed by and wars included guns.
In Norway we lost our written Norse language since everyone who could read died caring for the sick during the black plague. That's part of the reason for why written Norwegian and Danish are so similar today.
More likely would have been taught orally. A traveling minstrel type bard is unlikely to have written music. Learn the song from your master/other performers then adapt as you wish.
We actually have quite a few troubadour "songbooks" from the late middle ages, indicating that it was a useful resource for minstrels of the time.
If we're getting into the Renaissance period, a professional musician would almost certainly be able to read; we have printed music manuals from the period for all kinds of instruments; for example, Arbeau's Orchésographie is a primer on courtly dance music that we still read today.
I would doubt most bards could afford books until after the printing press (~1440). During the middle ages (500-1500) is after the fall of the western roman empire (470) where papyrus stopped coming in for about 600-700 years (1100s) before cheap paper from Spain. I think court musicians were a bit different in "class" someone traveling is unlikely to be bringing a lot of written stuff with them all the time unless they were a weirdo. Once cheap paper and moreso the printing press to allow cheap copying spread then so did literacy. So its hard to definitely say whether the average bard would be literate. I think at the start of the middle ages, no, but by the end of the middle ages, yes.
There are a couple parts of the court music book Orchésographie that I think would be particularly interesting for a bard character.
Court musicians in the late 16th century frequently traveled to where the work was: either following a particular patron or looking to perform where they could. Most of the dances in the book are bransles, a folk dance popular with the "common people," and formalized when brought to court. As a D&D bard, this would be a cool way to explain why your music is beloved by all, and why they could move in all social circles.
There's also a part at the beginning that explains how to play the drum and fife for a marching army: how to improvise a melody or change up the drum pattern while keeping the march going. It seems to imply that the court musicians the book was written for were potentially marching with armies, likely playing music in the camps or stops at night.
Probably why most Isekai anime and manga tend to land people in an equivalent of about the 1500s. Like it would be really weird if they were the only person who knew how to read other than the clergy and they only knew how to read Japanese.
In the lord of the rings mmo back in the day you could play an instrument and actually play notes and program songs to play them in game but most people would just post up at the inn, like dozens of people, and just play the most discordant faceroll shit imaginable to the point where you had to disable it in the settings.
Kinda broke the immersion a little bit, unless roving squads of bards performing the medieval equivalent of a yoko ono song in everybody's face was a commonplace occurrence in those days.
If you go this way, since quests are part of the economy in these medieval fantasy societies, a person that can read would be next to the board to read the quests to the adventurers. One reason to learn to read is to stop paying the quest reader.
If you want to get even more real, the people who maintain the quests, usually the adventurer's guild or the hunter's guild in these stories, would pay for the quest reader. Probably the people who accept the quest requests would just tell the adventurers what to do, and bypass the entire board.
It would be in the guild's interests to have illiterate people do quests even if they were poor, to control who got what quests, and not to let the adventurers get too smart. The guild would be able to scam them out of so much money that way.
That would be why this isn't portraying adventurers ...
"Adventurer" is a modern invention, sure, but there are also reasons adventurers would be an exception to the norms of their own worlds. Literacy would be one of many such reasons for many of them, but there are plenty of portrayals of what happens when only one member of a party can read or write as well.
The stylized shortness of everyone obfuscates it somewhat, but I've never seen a person in a fantasy setting dressed like that with that weapon and facial hair who wasn't a fantasy dwarf. It's a very reasonable assumption.
49 replies
Literacy rates in medieval times were not what they are today, but they're still routinely underestimated. Most places, including peasant villages, would have had some people around who could read.
Then again, it also depends heavily in what part of the middle ages you are talking about. Early, high and late middle ages were almost different worlds in many regards.
It's really easy for people to fail to really grasp that the middle ages still account for about half of the common era. They began in the 5th century and ended in the 15th. It was so long and so much happened. At the beginning Europeans were abandoning Roman structures and by the end they'd built things that even the greatest Roman engineers would be amazed by and wars included guns.
It's almost as if that term was made up to put a name on something that wasn't Roman times or now
(Mind you, now being 16th century Italy)
I think that's incorrect, actually. By my calculations, we're at LEAST a dozen years farther along than that!
And some of us might not even be in Italy.
I wouldn't go THAT far.. Humans outside of Italy is just TOO unrealistic!
It's half roman times. Modern is no Rome. And pre medieval common era is full Rome.
In Norway we lost our written Norse language since everyone who could read died caring for the sick during the black plague. That's part of the reason for why written Norwegian and Danish are so similar today.
That is not even remotely true. In fact that is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start.
Bard would likely have some literacy.
More likely would have been taught orally. A traveling minstrel type bard is unlikely to have written music. Learn the song from your master/other performers then adapt as you wish.
We actually have quite a few troubadour "songbooks" from the late middle ages, indicating that it was a useful resource for minstrels of the time.
If we're getting into the Renaissance period, a professional musician would almost certainly be able to read; we have printed music manuals from the period for all kinds of instruments; for example, Arbeau's Orchésographie is a primer on courtly dance music that we still read today.
I would doubt most bards could afford books until after the printing press (~1440). During the middle ages (500-1500) is after the fall of the western roman empire (470) where papyrus stopped coming in for about 600-700 years (1100s) before cheap paper from Spain. I think court musicians were a bit different in "class" someone traveling is unlikely to be bringing a lot of written stuff with them all the time unless they were a weirdo. Once cheap paper and moreso the printing press to allow cheap copying spread then so did literacy. So its hard to definitely say whether the average bard would be literate. I think at the start of the middle ages, no, but by the end of the middle ages, yes.
There are a couple parts of the court music book Orchésographie that I think would be particularly interesting for a bard character.
Court musicians in the late 16th century frequently traveled to where the work was: either following a particular patron or looking to perform where they could. Most of the dances in the book are bransles, a folk dance popular with the "common people," and formalized when brought to court. As a D&D bard, this would be a cool way to explain why your music is beloved by all, and why they could move in all social circles.
There's also a part at the beginning that explains how to play the drum and fife for a marching army: how to improvise a melody or change up the drum pattern while keeping the march going. It seems to imply that the court musicians the book was written for were potentially marching with armies, likely playing music in the camps or stops at night.
Probably why most Isekai anime and manga tend to land people in an equivalent of about the 1500s. Like it would be really weird if they were the only person who knew how to read other than the clergy and they only knew how to read Japanese.
Yeah... I guess the largest issue in the cartoon is that it just says "medieval" and stops like if that says what you need to know.
Cleric: Hold my ale. About time my day job pays off.
If they're in D&D, the Bard has access to Comprehend Languages
A bard who can't read!? What!? Isn't that one of the professions you go to school for!?
He majored in interpretive dance.
Interpretive this!
sick lute-shedding solo
In the lord of the rings mmo back in the day you could play an instrument and actually play notes and program songs to play them in game but most people would just post up at the inn, like dozens of people, and just play the most discordant faceroll shit imaginable to the point where you had to disable it in the settings.
Kinda broke the immersion a little bit, unless roving squads of bards performing the medieval equivalent of a yoko ono song in everybody's face was a commonplace occurrence in those days.
If you go to Bree these days you'll find highly coordinated bands performing actual music. It's really impressive.
If your lute is shedding, you need better lacquer on it.
In the first Kingdom Come Deliverance you need to learn to read
Comprehend Languages is a 1st-level Bard spell and can be cast as a ritual. The Bard has no excuse XD
Bards have limited known spells. It's not optimal for them to take comprehend languages, that's nerd shit
*scoffs in College of Eloquence*
speak for yourself. Ii min max with the rituals.
i like using a utility warlock. i only need two spells for combat, maybe 3 (HoH, EB and maybe haste) and everything else is flavor
The bard had to learn to read at bard college though no? This is just a deception to get friendly with the barbarian
If you go this way, since quests are part of the economy in these medieval fantasy societies, a person that can read would be next to the board to read the quests to the adventurers. One reason to learn to read is to stop paying the quest reader.
Yep, a town crier like role.
Hell even in the American West, people would gather round for someone actually literate to read the latest newspaper.
If you want to get even more real, the people who maintain the quests, usually the adventurer's guild or the hunter's guild in these stories, would pay for the quest reader. Probably the people who accept the quest requests would just tell the adventurers what to do, and bypass the entire board.
It would be in the guild's interests to have illiterate people do quests even if they were poor, to control who got what quests, and not to let the adventurers get too smart. The guild would be able to scam them out of so much money that way.
Death march to a parallel world Rhapsody has this. I mean the story is very meh but the world building is fenomenal. In the WN at least.
Me: I can’t wait to-
Some dude: Hey our lord is mad at the lord from the other hill, so grab a pitchfork and join our army…or else.
Finally, some accurate medieval representation 😭
DiscworldMUD or a TTRPG?
Did your friend invent it or can I look it up?
That would be why this isn't portraying adventurers ...
"Adventurer" is a modern invention, sure, but there are also reasons adventurers would be an exception to the norms of their own worlds. Literacy would be one of many such reasons for many of them, but there are plenty of portrayals of what happens when only one member of a party can read or write as well.
Yeah, they would have to find themselves some kind of center for adventurers who can't read good
Not sure I recall a story about a kingdom wanting more educated adventurers...
Toss a coin to your Witcher 3.
So having a non-human fantasy dwarf is fine, but people being able to read (modern English, no less) is too unrealistic?
I think you're assuming a non-human fantasy dwarf here.
The stylized shortness of everyone obfuscates it somewhat, but I've never seen a person in a fantasy setting dressed like that with that weapon and facial hair who wasn't a fantasy dwarf. It's a very reasonable assumption.
None of them really look very human
Actually made me chuckle out loud. Good one.
Wasn't it that depending on which mediveal sub-era, every house would have at least one person that knows how to read?
Like similar to how every immigrant household has one child as translator in case it comes up.