We compiled and reviewed over 7,500 manuscript testimonies (charters, diplomatic codices and fragments). Two major, open resources were delivered via the project website: (1) a full catalogue of medieval sources for Galicia and (2) a detailed list of private-lay documents for Entre-Minho-e-Douro (northern Portugal). No complete catalogue existed previously for either territory.
We defined a new integrated method (History + Palaeography + Diplomatics) that allows deeper, more comparable analysis of charter writing, especially for the early centuries (900s–1000s). Applying this method led to our key finding: to our knowledge, the first largely peasant corpus, by and for lay rural communities, preserved for the early-central Middle Ages in the Iberian Peninsula. This supports a richer picture of pragmatic literacy, showing that reading and writing among rural priests and laypeople were more widespread and socially meaningful than previously assumed.
Dissemination and knowledge transfer were central throughout: almost thirty peer-reviewed publications and edited volumes; more than fifty international seminars, workshops and conferences; and open resources for education and outreach. Public engagement included blog posts, the educational videogame Scribe of Ages, and activities such as: I Taller de Caligrafía Medieval: iniciación a la escritura visigótica redonda (2022), II Taller de Caligrafía Medieval: iniciación a la escritura carolina (2024), Carolingian Calligraphy workshop (Durham, 2025), the exhibition Adulterio, robo, siervos y pagos en especie: la vida secreta de la escritura… (Nov 2023-Jan 2024), Reflejos del Libro Medieval. Iluminación y Caligrafía en el siglo XXI (May 2025), open talks (e.g. European Researchers’ Night), and media (radio, press and TV).
