Between 1000 and 1536 Scandinavia was transformed from a conglomerate of
largely pre-state societies to societies with state governments. The
state increasingly monopolised 'legitimate' violence. Church and state
used literacy to strengthen social control in central and important
areas: jurisdiction, religion and accounting. Written laws made social
norms more precise and easier to change, a necessity in an increasingly
complex society. The basic social transformations of the period cannot
be attributed to increasing literacy alone, but the written word
rendered them more peaceful and gradual, and strengthened social
conformity and cohesion. Writing in Roman letters was introduced late to
Scandinavia (ca. 1000 ad); consequently the transition from orality to
literacy is better documented than in many other European societies. The
rich saga literature from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries emerged
at the time that administrative literacy was introduced. Until the
fourteenth century, literacy was mainly promoted by church and state in
their efforts to pacify and control society. Then the literate elites
grew, encompassing ever larger groups of officials, clerks, merchants
and artisans, many of whom were now educated in town schools. The
resulting elite culture prepared the ground for the development of a
proto-national identity.