Dealing with the relation between monastic reform and manuscript production in southwestern Germany during the period from the 9th to the early 16th century, this book, a series of case studies, offers an original contribution to a "topography" of mediaeval literacy and book culture of the area it takes under investigation.

Heinzer's book, a series of case studies, deals with the fundamental relation between monastic reform and book production in the middle ages in the southwestern part of the German-speaking area during the period from the 9th to the early 16th century. This book, thus, might be considered as a complementary contribution to a long-term project, initiated by scholars of mediaeval german studies (Nigel Palmer and Hans-Jochen Schiewer), of reconstructing a "Literary Topography of south-west Germany", dealing however almost exclusively with Latin texts and focussing not as much on more specifically litterary matters, but rather on aspects of formal (esthetical) interest as well as on the conditions of writing and reading and on the social formations which fostered the production and dissemination of texts and books.