Note 104 — Chapter I · (continued 2)

It might be inferred from a passage in Richard of Bury, about 1343, that none but ecclesiastics could read at all. He deprecates the putting of books into the hands of laici, who do not know one side from another. And in several places it seems that he thought they were meant for the tonsured alone. But a great change took place in the ensuing half century; and I do not believe he can be construed strictly even as to his own time.