Communication and the literary production of the Middle Ages were an integral part of a complex linguistic situation. Latin, the Western European language of education and administration, stood in contrast to the vernacular languages, which in turn were divided into different dialects. Different vernacular languages often existed in the same geographic area. This anthology approaches this topic, which has not been systematically covered until now, from an interdisciplinary perspective. It discusses fundamental methodological issues and surviving linguistic and literary documents from the 8th up to the 16th century.

The media-historical study addresses a fundamental, culture-historical event of the European pre-modern period: the advancement of the print medium in schools from the 8th to the 17th century. The manifestations and effects of the event on the practical organization of instruction and on text work are depicted by means of a Latin and a German text corpus, namely, the fables of Avian and the German translations of the a ~Disticha Catonisa (TM) from their beginnings in the 13th century, to Martin Opitz in 1629.