It reminded me what a revolution cheaper paper and the printing press were.In the 13th century ... Christian monks, needing vellum for a prayer book, ripped the manuscript apart, washed it, folded its pages in half and covered it with religious text. After centuries of use, the prayer book — known as a palimpsest, because it contains text that is written over — ended up in a monastery in Constantinople.
So my question is, did the limits of technology of 600-1400 play a part in limiting production of books in Western Europe around this time? Was there anything about medieval society that made widespread illiteracy inevitable? Is it plausible to imagine a society with swords, horseback travel, castles, and a medieval technology where it is likely that Fred and Astra could read?[/quote]