Interesting note from a (so far) trustworthy archeology type:
Medieval universities had entire underground economies of forbidden books. Alchemy, astrology, banned philosophy, smuggled in and traded among students. The image of the rebellious scholar chasing dangerous knowledge isn’t a modern invention. It’s at least 800 years old.
A commenter politely disagreed:
Books weren’t widely disseminated until after Gutenberg. I find it very hard to believe “entire underground economies of forbidden books” existed. Very likely some, but not the quantity you suggest, I would say.. Bear in mind a low literacy rate, among other practical considerations.
I don’t know if the underground economy is true, but I’m sure the counterargument doesn’t work.
Partly from my own experience. Printing wasn’t SIGNIFICANTLY faster than writing until around 1880 when linotypes and steam or electric presses became common. Handsetting a page takes at least 10 times longer than writing a page, if you include the aftermath of cleaning the form and putting the letters back in the case. Printing one page on the early presses took about a minute. And this doesn’t count the huge expense of equipment and the special building. Students had paper and ink and scribal skills, so samizdat was practical.
As for the literacy, recent research shows that reading and writing were widespread even among peasants. Students were literate by definition.
Makes me wonder if some of those weird and scurrilous cartoons were done by students passing around parodies of annoying profs or merchants.
Polistra's Mill 