Literacy, Education and Print Culture

Evidence of changes in education (bridegrooms)

Number of bridegrooms able to sign thier names upon marriage was 55% in 1630 and 70% in 1700

Evidence of increase in schooling

1530-1550 a marked increase in the creation of school, threefold increase in some places

Statistic showing the different classes in education

In Bury St Edmunds in 1656 52% of the school were aristocracy, 15% yeomen and no husbandmen or labourers

Statistics showing the increase in reading/books

In Canterbury in 1560 one in ten people owned books, by 1620 this was nearly 1 in 2

Books in England

By 1500 more that 9,000,000 books in England

Plebeian Students

1570s-80s 50% of the student body in both universities were plebeian. By the early 17th century this had significantly declined

What did every child have to know?

From 1538 every child in England had to know the Lord's Prayer in English, The ABC and the Catechism

David Cressy

Towns had higher literacy rates than countryside, London had higher literacy rates than provinces

David Cressy's ideas followed by supporting evidence

City of London 1580-1639 76% actively literate whereas in suburbs such as Stepney and Whitechapel 48% were actively literate

Main sources of measuring sign literacy

The protestation oath (1642) and signatures on marriage licenses after 1754

Difference in literacy in social groups

Affluent and professional social groups more literate than others, weaker social groups slower and more patchy rates of improvement

Printing news

Had news, intelligence (interpretation for the audience by the editor) and opinions

Vocational Education

Men and women were often educated according to their calling. Strong idea that people should not be educated beyond their station, reading therefore much more encouraged than writing

Printed books created

1455 - Gutenberg produced his first printed book. By 1477 print had reached England

Women’s education

More female academies teaching reading, writing, french, geography, needlework but these were equally as expensive

Spufford education expensive

“Some degree of prosperity was necessary to spare a child from the labour force for education as soon as it was capable of work. So literacy was economically determined” (Spufford 1979)

Spufford age

“Children who had the opportunity to go to school until they were seven were likely to be able to read. Those who remained at school until eight were likely to be able to write” (Spufford 1979)

Cressy sign

“More plausible was the argument that some people who could not sign their names nonetheless had some ability to read” (Cressy)