 |
 |
Brian Stock's *Implications of Literacy* deals implicitly with this question (for an earlier period) in the section on textual communities. There must be (?) literature on preaching and on pastoral care that deals with the use of the vernacular as a means of defusing the sort of anti-clerical sentiment you mention, though I don't know of anything specific offhand. For the late medieval/Reformation period, there might be something on the question in Steven Ozment's books (e.g. *The Reformation in the Cities*), though medievalists are advised to approach his work with extreme caution--his arguments on "social control" are problematic. Miriam Chrisman's work on Strasbourg might also be useful on the question of the relationship between literacy and views of the clergy. I don't recall if there's anything on this issue in the collection *Anticlericalism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe*, ed. Peter A. Dykema and Heiko A. Oberman, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought, 51 (Leiden, 1993), but it might be worth a look. Hope this helps--an interesting question! Eric Reiter Concordia University, Montreal [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%