Just reading a book about the transition in England from memory to written records (as one does), and came across quite an interesting point: in the 12C, to 'record' something meant to bear oral witness - not to write something down; spoken words were legally valid and often outweighed anything written down. By mid/late 12C, though, written records were rapidly beginning to supersede the spoken word as being legally valid in courts, etc - spoken words seriously declined in importance.

The book also raises interesting issues (although declines to answer them, saying they're another book entirely) about the perception that literacy is necessarily a requisite of progressive civilisation, which is the pervasive assumption in the West...