Chapter 6. Middle Ages: Parchment and Paper
In Chapter 6, Innis tries to show how the medium of parchment supported the power of churches, clergy and monasteries in medieval Europe after the breakdown of the Roman empire. Rome's centralized administration had depended on papyrus, a fragile medium produced in the Nile Delta. Innis notes that parchment, on the other hand, is a durable medium that can be produced wherever farm animals are raised. He argues, therefore, that parchment is suited to the decentralized administration of a wide network of local religious institutions. However, the arrival of paper via China and the Arab world, challenged the power of religion and its preoccupation with time. "A monopoly of knowledge based on parchment," Innis writes, "invited competition from a new medium such as paper which emphasized the significance of space as reflected in the growth of nationalist monarchies." He notes that paper also facilitated the growth of commerce and trade in the 13th century.
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