Sources of Knowledge; Cultures of Recording

Abstract

Deceased Medieval historians no longer work simply from texts, if indeed they ever did; but certainly now there is an almost universal commitment among those exploring the medieval centuries to an approach that unites texts and material culture, together increasingly with evidence from the biological and physical sciences. Individual historians choose their particular mix to work with, and those specializing in texts, whether as editors or interpreters, rightly remain central figures in the field, but it would be hard to think of anybody who really thinks the past is only accessible through written sources. That is good news for global historians because it has long been apparent that evidence in writing does not cover the whole world, and what it does cover it illuminates in very different ways. Writing is a characteristic of complex societies, which tend in turn to be both the cause and effect of more people living in the same place. It follows that our written sources are likely to tell us most about those parts of the world where most people lived, and usually less about anywhere else. The maps in Figures 1 and 2 are an attempt by Kees Goldewijk and his colleagues in the History Database of the Global Environment project to display the density and distribution of the world’s population over time.1 Up to the nineteenth century most of the underlying data is soft, and what the maps show is inevitably open to debate. Taking the maps for 1000 and 1500 ce in Figures 1 and 2, for example, it would be possible to argue about the shading to represent the population of the Americas. There is evidence to suggest more people lived in the Amazon and Mississippi basins in the medieval millennium than the maps allow.2 The demographic history of many parts of medieval Eurasia is similarly controversial.3 On a macro scale, however, these are details. Few medieval people lived in the parts of the world that are not shaded on the map, and a lot of people were doing a lot of things in the shaded areas. In terms of textual evidence, we are always likely to know much more about the shaded areas than the rest of the planet. HISTORICAL POPULATION DENSITY, 3000 bce–1000 ce K. K. Goldewijk, A. Beusen and P. Janssen, ‘Long-Term Dynamic Modeling of Global Population and Built-up Area in a Spatially Explicit Way: HYDE 3.1’, The Holocene, xx (2010), 569. Reproduced with permission of Sage Ltd the HISTORICAL POPULATION DENSITY, ce Goldewijk, Beusen and Janssen, ‘Long-Term Dynamic Modeling of Global Population and Built-up Reproduced with permission of Sage Ltd the only to a the shaded areas were to or to or to what been writing are good as of are they good and are and not of the world has the and that to the of and or been to texts in where we to of the medieval be to a of writing and to is a world with that a and where the same of by a density and of evidence, be as is that and are and and the in and are parts of the world as much written but what the evidence about be in those has to be a for to think on a global to not the in the history of of the that we are of our evidence, that the evidence from different parts of the is of different and that has different to history has been in different these to of the lived the same been and and they to is in and it much which is by in only medieval of the as if it not as a of and the population of the central and but that not of the from the to of the on the of the and the of the and the of the The for the has been an apparent of written In there are more written than from the medieval of and the in a of and for the whole from the to the the of and for and from the century The written in been to the century on the of the from anywhere in the The to of a but from the to the century the to the a in of the of an from the of of the the of of which the only of the of in the in a very of an of a for a of material in of written by many of been of the but it over in from the century to the from what is now the of are from to the the of which to the the century are from the and and by the a the century the of the that to the of that the of and which from the to the writing than in the of medieval to these complex societies, with and and a material culture, were where and on of the medieval world, the Mississippi In the with complex but there is no evidence they not a for but it many of their past from with writing and has been and to be of the medieval past with the of the in the in and the in On a what we know and not know is by the of the in the century the of in the of in the of the in in the the same in in the the in and the to the of in On the of the most of the medieval from the that the of and the where of the on the in is In with of in that among things over of the to writing were a of that in a to a of in to a over are to the as many as with a of are only a of the that in but the from the that and the of an writing to the of and the of those who or more than the of in of as a more of the by the medieval and and as a on what a but no now to be a of show that the with a and and if that the of a writing to open is to now only history in textual through the in their as as or the is more and the of the more The and with writing in the and the by the and their of the more of has been the that not in of that a or but a writing on the of it no less than were in of they and on the to been and as the less writing with a more than It is to the of the a whole world in writing has been The is more The certainly a of they as but the in In the of of the we know much about the world is because of the of an of the for The not it to things that would been to what the but that they are The texts a culture, which would but for the of a writing that what the The of many texts written for the in almost from the that texts the they were no longer to be the the the century and the century the a of written material on and and on of the however, in the in the and been in the and in the the same the in the The most of which the but only and in a and by to the of The certainly but the of medieval would long the of material would to be by whether in the much in a the in of the of but only to a The that the many than in central and that work long the the of the and what they as much as the of the what we know and not know about the their of writing material is in as the of in it not The that we a about the medieval is to their on which has the over writing of to and and be by or and were similarly of from an where the century very written material than as on or more a and textual in In the to to texts, in now in not where they were written as a who in to the and of medieval of writing for and as an of of material to been and writing in on of that be no longer more in both and were the the of and of and a very good writing the and of is likely to been a in the of the the as with is that they are not are to and and in more than a of centuries most they and to longer than that a to been The is that in terms of written evidence, what we about these through the to a on the of on the texts that were to and on the the of writing material be a from material to the from writing on to writing almost in less In a as the world from a Up to the century of in and of are world in the century the The is to be by a from which in turn be in and but it a of a for than most texts not The world in as much writing as in the of and texts more has been for the to centuries ce than for the to for those not of to a of evidence The of the world but texts on only in from where the by the of population the for of to for they are of of of texts, from the to the in to writing a more is about than in the and that is a of what is from parts of the and but very from the century the of texts of in what been more and more the of to the the that the of and in the and a from the century the more is the from to much more more to but In the of and many of and their a what of as the material and much of it to where it has of the sources of medieval or very would In those parts of the world which were what is of the medieval has been through a as much by the of writing material as by know more about parts than very simply because what written on or which has where less is only of the to think about the and the more than or the of to and what about the and in what and for what the and to the in the of a the of which to The of not the been is because has it of is with medieval that as or as It is no that medieval history in is in effect a writing in the from a of with the of the The in and a of which cover the The and the in their of the the of an and of medieval for the in to medieval material that in the the evidence to the medieval by who what from the century The the of which and the evidence which are not the whole but from work of the medieval in the It is for in to for but it is very know much about because a of the medieval by who and and The of these were in the but among the and were in in with by now the as their the that of their the of and and their to to the of the of in many in the The in and in the in with the and were to of The there to the in the not they would not in the to the for it not to a to the where they but the is that for as for medieval most of they to they The of the with in turn the of of medieval The of has a to over a medieval that no for not and but many of their to the material that would no for writing history in a less for a of but of an of much of the past and for evidence to as the of history in not were not by the of the the which in a for the of through a of very particular and of medieval material a to what a of medieval would to the of written as a whole would for the very much for the that the in the of a that of and as as texts of and the of with an to a which for but from the century those of the the of an that to of the of particular that our of the would for the of the of and the of the of the and the as as the not only of in the century to of of but of the of the of which of It is a for these are with of material that a good to our of the the world of the and centuries through the or not we the of or more much of the and centuries is through what written and and The has us more than the the History of a of work has a on medieval The history of and has been written through with a similarly but our of and much more from the or from those of the of most the not the from but there is a that they as as culture, and the of are through the of the these in is that they are the of the same that the of and and because medieval a world, where were written and in and by and and not in the In and the of that to the and and those texts in turn the of many is the of what and the of that in has been of and are is the of in medieval to more than a and to not the and in and but the were not and most of what been in and The and of as more the in in the of the through the of the of and the of and the of the be as The medieval is of an not in it has the in the the to a for the history of that over to and are the of what The and as the from in the and more the by in The of the and of a to good what been of the the of and in the of historians is because the of their where those for most the of the century medieval as to the of but to by from in and the almost a which many are now in a of the we know of the of of the is similarly the of their the of of the who in the century to be by the a of the medieval of the of the in the the by the to there it as by the in and to their the and the of who medieval The medieval of in similarly the by the in the and what be to of medieval were by the of in they the medieval a in by historians who it to and were both of the and as we for from by the The by which to us is an that tend to know for or more they know for the in in the nineteenth century and the of the over they are a by most they the for of the to the in what the of to the that it a not for the but for and in for more to however, that the be as a of the medieval world, to the the of the to which of more than a to the that the from what were in the the by the in the and a more of these were a of what and what of the texts were from an about from for the most were in or The of the texts are from a of or more of the the in the the to the or from of the by and were for what not and that would more the medieval evidence what who been to on the of the an who of now his work be his texts are and to the than the medieval not simply what in texts that likely to his and that to that were than The same by the what we been to The of the it these are the to the in effect not the the evidence to us is the of a of is a global The of The medieval with from the past the of a of in the and a of from the evidence that an in the century a and that by the of the it that history writing a from the or that were to of a were and writing things to us has been by and and by of what to no in the in by the in and by the and their in as to many the of the that been to would the of in or the in of of and to parts of the world they would or the of that no longer in the of what has been a of and both and more for the world than or The only to are most the on in the of the what the for their were of and however, what they not and were of and and of they by a to be but most to been if no longer of we a of there were The same would to the of the texts that for historians most on the world the work on by the for not in the but in where and of which to we know what we know about medieval and there are more medieval of in than anywhere in or It what it is about that we and it is that we know The of the same certainly in terms of the of medieval material that has been a that writing on a and for possible It a which and of in It a that to and by the century and by the century what has to us a very particular of and History writing in to the century and the that both the of and the and were to the from the century ce by the of for that in a of In in the a History which over a complex of writing and the The through the and but the always the that the and the of the which were of were which in turn the for the that a history of the of the or of the for of the and they in turn the material for the that the of the The are history on the and a of but they are the of a of and on the scale, the very of the underlying material in the century the were of The is that only of a has no more than of a that a we the history of medieval through the of the of the of the and the and of a The of the is an example, but with is in the as a who to in a who a and to a who a who in and over a is and what is not in is hard to what we are is what a and we to from a History to be in it of the of is not for of the medieval but it is hard for the centuries to the a of has been to written sources and on and the of from in central in their The ce in in texts, and as as on which in as or as of a that not it the much on the of many on or in and that are not the which material not from but from are texts of material that has the of for the of these sources more than a and from the century as the writing Medieval an on a that almost that of the world, but for the most to than our for example, of which as it on his in It and a of to what is in the but that would been of the are not with that is what most of are and those which are and which are not in than are about a world very in from the of the On the of from the from the century as a of and on a by the of the and the to be to a not much to a as to the very of of the in the a where were of that to display in or the of and of writing be and to display that to an that of to on more The to on and by not to the but to and In the to to but in The of from of the were if the were to be to to and the century the were and were of of that the of the of from over show they were of to and to with the of or of that would been a of the and the central and in In as and or most in but many which of likely to to the the of to a of and it is that the most in on the history of been written on the of evidence from and from from the has to that material a very particular they open a on medieval different to that by the it is which only a very as to the of the of the the century they the mix of and that the through to the an and the nineteenth century to On more or less were what they example, in the the of to on the and with and of and and the of the of and those who the the of and about and written in or about the particular is about is what is for an open on very much the same In the in the the same world as the of the and were and as an by their of a and The same be about which been as or of to the by that same on the of and The as a in the and with and the The on history and the of the with an for on as and the of and were an of what the they were the and only very us from the of In they more to show the to which the and the of the were together by a and it is through the of that that we their The and to which be the which to were by that by that and very through the centuries in the of that In however, most medieval societies, a world where on the of and of those who It a where the of the population were from in and that were with and and in for and for the the material has not through to as an to and of what we know of the medieval past is the of a of and certainly but more the of and a that and what The to what we know about medieval has been as or or the in with a of The to what we know about is the almost only what they and only what they to and in it is possible to the written evidence for the on a There are and the are a of and a as the of his the only of are to be in his the are the of and the of of with our of it is the of and and that in our of the medieval with many of and and and the of the does where much medieval material in by for and by it the of the of the world in the as those of the in the and or the in the to were that and on a to an very as ever is of an but be not to The of is the of in to the and as the or simply be for more than a to the nineteenth century been of of the material and but there are of in that from the of these been to the would in the but as is most as of the where they been they a and writing for of and for the texts, that to their in the a very of been the of or the medieval of as as those of or It is that the of for the of the is not but where the to a and their Writing the medieval certainly of and in many of not on evidence but on by as writing in the or in the not in to the with historians of the world hard to of the and the the medieval of the is of the that show much is of as to texts, only about of the but it is and they are to on of medieval and we about their and they their their with their and most their the and the the of medieval the material has our of many of the world of the and of those with they with however, the effect of material much the is an that the many things we are to about only be for that most texts from the world are not as but and by it is not that among historians of the medieval who work with texts there is a that the most of the not in to together of and in writing and history as they would be for but in exploring the of and that the world of medieval the of the is which and for much the same has a very of to with the of the century the century many of culture, the of the century the to to as an and what an and culture, with but by as and a in which a and the of a of and has a of as the of or the of are to the of no to of the to written in his on by a the the is anywhere in the rest of the world the the material that has really the of history is the evidence, which a world of and of for with by of of medieval and of the it on both to medieval in terms of what the of The has much to the of as a for and to of would now but the through the that much evidence for the medieval world in both and these as with much in

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 15 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.