medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

In regard to "willy nilly," though I have not checked the OED, I would think that it is an anglicization of "volens nolens" or "nolens volens," i.e., unwillingly yet willingly; not really wanting to but doing it anyway (one might be inclined to say "against one's will, but actually, if one does something, one is willing to do it, even if under pressure, threat, duress, magic, seduction etc.--as Augustine points out in the City of God and in On the Free Choice of the Will.)

Dennis Martin

>>> [log in to unmask] 06/09/01 06:03 AM >>>
9 june 2001

dear esteemed list members,

this is a query re the Hamelner Rattenfängersage, which i submit
to the list in hope of better enlightenment, improved understanding,
deserved critique. i shall assert severally things i think i know, or
wonder if i know, in hope of knowing better, more correctly, &c
and shall be grateful to each and every respondent who will 
reveal and disclose the matters i propose for scrutiny and
review. my advanced apology to those who receive this query
in cross-postings.

i have come to this matter through robert browning's poetic
retelling of the legend of the ratcatcher of hameln so i shall
begin with things said in his THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN,
a text of which i append ad finem infra. i shall append thereto
as well the few references i have been able to ferret out so far 
& any augmentation will be most gratefully received.

to begin: the date of browning's poem is 1842? 
the legend of the pied piper which he tells came
to be associated, sometime in the early 16th century, 
with an alleged exodus of the children of Hameln in 
1284, perhaps in connection with the german colonization 
of the east, & the figure of the pie piper has perhaps 
a homologue in the historical personage of nicholas von Köln, 
who led thousands of german children on the ill-fated 
children's crusade of 1212. at cologne there are 
"Rattenfänger Inschriften" which have survived to 
this day, preserved in the local museum at Köln 
as has the so-called Rattenfängerhaus.

in what do the Rattenfänger Inschriften consist? in
what contemporary museum at Köln are they to be
found? what is the Rattenfängerhaus, something
associated with nicholas von Köln? what are this
fellow's dates? the exodus of children from Hameln
in 1284 is an assured historical fact? was it in
connexion with eastward colonization?

the figure of die Rattenfänger. browning describes 
this figure as "the strangest figure!" about him there
is "no guessing his kith and kin". he had "sharp blue 
eyes & light loose hair" & his skin was "swarthy ...
with no tuft on cheek nor beard on chin", hence
evidently a youth. about his pied dress browning
calls it "quaint attire" & a "vesture so old-fangled". 
he wore a "queer long coat half of yellow and half 
of red" & "round his neck a scarf of red and yellow 
stripe" was thrown. comments about this figuration?

the figure of the pied piper is augmented in 
browning's description of the reaction of one of 
the corporate associates of the town & mayor 
who says that the pied piper was "as my 
great-grandsire", that is someone antecedant
and long dead, and adds: "Starting up at the 
Trump of Doom's tone,/ Had walked this way 
from his painted tombstone!" the figure, then,
has a connection to the dead and the deceased.
i wonder from what browning constructed the
allusion to the painted tombstone- that is curious,
and has an obvious analogy in the pied piper's
peculiar dress (pied = particoloured). of himself 
browning makes the pied piper say: i'm able by 
means of a secret charm, to draw all creatures 
after me. 
 
now it seems to me this picture of the pied piper
has too an obvious homoogue in that of the harlequin 
figure of the italian commedia dell'arte form: 
arlecchino or arlequin whose costume was originally
that of a peasant's shirt and long trousers, both covered 
with many coloured patches. this vestment later evolved 
into a tight-fitting costume decorated with triangles & 
diamond shapes, and it included a batte, or slapstick. 
this figure wore a black half mask which had tiny eyeholes 
and quizzically arched eyebrows that were accentuated by 
a wrinkled forehead. in the context of the italian theater
the figure of arlecchino was originally dressed in shreds 
and patches, & by the 17th century emerged in a suit of 
red, blue, and green triangles arranged symmetrically and 
joined together with yellow braid. a century later the 
triangles became diamonds, and his soft cap was
exchanged for a pointed one. in the early years of 
the commedia dell'arte the harlequin figure, typically
arlecchino, was a zanni (a wily and covetous comic
servant), and, apud alia, was plagued by a continual 
lack of money and food- i touch upon this last point,
and not others, only owing to the superficial connexion
with the figure of the pied piper in browning's version 
of the Rattenfängersage. what about this patchwork
of colours and specific shapes? triangles and rombi?
and the pointed cap, not quite a pileus- what does one
call such a cap? now it seems to me too that i have
come across, perhaps in the work of auguste scheler?,
reference to a legend (12th or 13th cent.) associated 
with the cemetery at arles in which a spectral figure with 
pied vestiture was supposedly seen at night haunting the 
place (which perhaps plays a role in the french form 
"arlequin"?). moreover these figures, i.e. the the pied 
piper, die Rattenfänger & the harlequin have their prototype 
in the classical figure of hermes psychopompos. like the 
Rattenfänger hermes is a mediator between humanity and 
the beyond (psychopompos = leader & guide of souls), who 
regularly accompanies & condcts the souls of the dead on 
their journey into the underworld, just as the Rattenfänger 
accompanies the children into the mountain in browning's 
poem.

i have only this reference re browning's source(s) for the
legend of the pied piper: Arthur Dickson, "Browning's Source 
for the 'Pied Piper of Hamelin,'" in *Studies in Philology*, 
volume 23 (1926), pp. 327-336. i have not seen this item.

now besides browning there are other english versions,
antecedant to browning i believe, re the Rattenfängersage,
the earliest perhaps from around 1600. at the moment
i have forgotten them and it seems i did not collect them
into my notes. moreover the grimm brother's published
a version too in their *Deutsche Sagen*. i have this only
in a version i acquire through an internet search. i append
it ad finem infra etiam. i should be grateful for anything
better. the grimm version shows some variation relative to
browning's rendering of the legend, scilicet: 

in the Brüder Grimm version die Rattenfänger
is described simply as a wondrous figure attired
in a shirt or jacket of many colours, composed
from a multicoloured fabric: 
 
ein wunderlicher Mann ... Er hatte einen Rock von 
vielfarbigem, buntem Tuch an ...
 
after being cheated by the hameliners the Rattenfänger
returns in the form & dress of an huntsman, with a grim 
visage, a wondrous red hat: ... er jedoch zurück in Gestalt 
eines Jägers, erschrecklichen Angesichts, mit einem roten, 
wunderlichen Hut ...
 
rather than only one child being spared, as in browning's
version, the grimm brother's version has two children
who are spared, one dumb, the other blind:
 
Nur zwei Kinder kehrten zurück, weil sie sich verspätet 
hatten; von ihnen war aber das eine blind, so daß es den 
Ort nicht zeigen, das andere stumm, so daß es nicht 
erzählen konnte.

finally in the grimm version an alternative coda is 
suggested, in which it is added that "some say" that 
the children were led into a hole [in the mountain to 
which the pper had conducted them] and then re-emerged 
again "in Siebenbürgen", which means that the children 
reappeared in transylvania, namely:

Einige sagten, die Kinder seinen in eine Höhle geführt 
worden und in Siebenbürgen wieder herausgekommen. 

transylvania? (& how comes it that transylvania = 
Siebenbürgen).

goethe, also, took an interest in this legend. where
is that in his opera? what does he do with the legend?
(i do not believe i have it, wherever it is). anyone else
besides treat this legend? 

finally "to pay the piper" is proverbial & "to pay the fiddler" 
(the french have the same expression, namely: "payer 
les violons") is a like proverbial phrase. it's usage today
probably owes alot to browning's poem about the pied 
piper. we understand that we shall have "to pay the piper" 
in the end, that no one cheats death. grimm's piper 
returns after the Hamelins Bürger attempt to cheat him
of his rightful due as >>ein Jäger mit erschrecklichen 
Angesichts<<, that is: a hunter with a dreadful and 
terrifying countenance, a common teutonic personification 
of the death-daimon (wotan) who comes to fetch away 
souls to the underworld. his head is dressed >>mit einem 
roten, wunderlichen Hut<<, that is: with a strange red 
cap. his thought is blood revenge: the fathers will pay 
the piper with the blood of their children. perhaps here
too we have a hint of the translyvanian coda? it would 
seem to illustrate a sin against death for which the 
children will be taken in payment. the innocent children 
pay for the knowing & wanton crimes of their parents.

appendices follow. to what or whom does "willy" (in
browning line 300) refer?

THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

               I
 
1 Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
2 By famous Hanover city;
3 The river Weser, deep and wide,
4 Washes its wall on the southern side;
5 A pleasanter spot you never spied;
6 But, when begins my ditty,
7 Almost five hundred years ago,
8 To see the townsfolk suffer so
9 From verin, was a pity.

II.


10 Rats!
11 They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
12 And bit the babies in the cradles,
13 And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
14 And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,
15 Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
16 Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
17 And even spoiled the women's chats,
18 By drowning their speaking
19 With shrieking and squeaking
20 In fifty different sharps and flats.

III.


21 At last the people in a body
22 To the Town Hall came flocking:
23 ``Tis clear,'' cried they, ``our Mayor's a noddy;
24 ``And as for our Corporation -- shocking
25 ``To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
26 ``For dolts that can't or won't determine
27 ``What's best to rid us of our vermin!
28 ``You hope, because you're old and obese,
29 ``To find in the furry civic robe ease?
30 ``Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking
31 ``To find the remedy we're lacking,
32 ``Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!''
33 At this the Mayor and Corporation
34 Quaked with a mighty consternation.

IV.


35 An hour they sat in council,
36 At length the Mayor broke silence:
37 ``For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell;
38 ``I wish I were a mile hence!
39 ``It's easy to bid one rack one's brain --
40 ``I'm sure my poor head aches again,
41 ``I've scratched it so, and all in vain
42 ``Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!''
43 Just as he said this, what should hap
44 At the chamber door but a gentle tap?
45 ``Bless us,'' cried the Mayor, ``what's that?''
46 (With the Corporation as he sat,
47 Looking little though wondrous fat;
48 Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister
49 Than a too-long-opened oyster,
50 Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous
51 For a plate of turtle green and glutinous)
52 `Only a scraping of shoes on the mat?
53 ``Anything like the sound of a rat
54 ``Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!''

V.


55 ``Come in!'' -- the Mayor cried, looking bigger
56 And in did come the strangest figure!
57 His queer long coat from heel to ead
58 Was half of yellow and half of red,
59 And he himself was tall and thin,
60 With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
61 And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin
62 No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
63 But lips where smile went out and in;
64 There was no guessing his kith and kin:
65 And nobody could enough admire
66 The tall man and his quaint attire.
67 Quoth one: ``It's as my great-grandsire,
68 ``Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,
69 ``Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!''

VI.


70 He advanced to the council-table:
71 And, ``Please your honours,'' said he, ``I'm able,
72 ``By means of a secret charm, to draw
73 ``All creatures living beneath the sun,
74 ``That creep or swim or fly or run,
75 ``After me so as you never saw!
76 ``And I chiefly use my charm
77 ``On creatures that do people harm,
78 ``The mole and toad and newt and viper;
79 ``And people call me the Pied Piper.''
80 (And here they noticed round his neck
81 A scarf of red and yellow stripe,
82 To match with his coat of the self-same cheque;
83 And at the scarf's end hung a pipe;
84 And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying
85 As if impatient to be playing
86 Upon this pipe, as low it dangled
87 Over his vesture so old-fangled.)
88 ``Yet,'' said he, ``poor piper as I am,
89 ``In Tartary I freed the Cham,
90 ``Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats,
91 ``I eased in Asia the Nizam
92 ``Of a monstrous brood of vampyre-bats:
93 ``And as for what your brain bewilders,
94 ``If I can rid your town of rats
95 ``Will you give me a thousand guilders?''
96 ``One? fifty thousand!'' -- was the exclamation
97 Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.

VII.


98 Into the street the Piper stept,
99 Smiling first a little smile,
100 As if he knew what magic slept
101 In his quiet pipe the while;
102 Then, like a musical adept,
103 To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
104 And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,
105 Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;
10 And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
107 You heard as if an army muttered;
108 And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
109 And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
110 And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
111 Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
112 Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats,
113 Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
114 Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
115 Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
116 Families by tens and dozens,
117 Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives --
118 Followed the Piper for their lives.
119 From street to street he piped advancing,
120 And step for step they followed dancing,
121 Until they came to the river Weser
122 Wherein all plunged and perished!
123 -- Save one who, stout as Julius Caesar,
124 Swam across and lived to carry
125 (As he, the manuscript he cherished)
126 To Rat-land home his commentary:
127 Which was, ``At the first shrill notes of the pipe,
128 ``I heard a sound as of scraping tripe,
129 ``And putting apples, wondrous ripe,
130 ``Into a cider-press's gripe:
131 ``And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards,
132 ``And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,
133 ``And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,
134 ``And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks:
135 ``And it seemed as if a voice
136 ``(Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
137 ``Is breathed) called out, `Oh rats, rejoice!
138 ```The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!
139 ```So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
140 ```Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!'
141 ``And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon,
142 ``All ready staved, like a great sun shone
143 ``Glorious scarce an inch before me,
144 ``Just as methought it said, `Come, bore me!'
145 `` -- I found the Weser rolling o'er me.''

VIII.


146 You should have heard the Hamelin people
147 Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple
148 ``Go,'' cried the Mayor, ``and get long poles,
149 ``Poke out the nests and block up the holes!
150 ``Consult with carenters and builders,
151 ``And leave in our town not even a trace
152 ``Of the rats!'' -- when suddenly, up the face
153 Of the Piper perked in the market-place,
154 With a, ``First, if you please, my thousand guilders!''

IX.


155 A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue;
156 So did the Corporation too.
157 For council dinners made rare havoc
158 With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock;
159 And half the money would replenish
160 Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.
161 To pay this sum to a wandering fellow
162 With a gipsy coat of red and yellow!
163 ``Beside,'' quoth the Mayor with a knowing wink,
164 ``Our business was done at the river's brink;
165 ``We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,
166 ``And what's dead can't come to life, I think.
167 ``So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink
168 ``From the duty of giving you something to drink,
169 ``And a matter of money to put in your poke;
170 ``But as for the guilders, what we spoke
171 ``Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.
172 ``Beside, our losses have made us thrifty.
173 ``A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!''

X.


174 The Piper's face fell, and he cried,
175 ``No trifling! I can't wait, beside!
176 ``I've promised to visit by dinner-time
177 ``Bagdad, and accept the prime
178 ``Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,
179 ``For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen,
180 ``Of a nest of scorpions no survivor:
181 ``With him I proved no bargain-driver,
182 ``With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver!
183 ``And folks who put me in a passion
184 ``May find me pipe after another fashion.''

XI.


185 ``How?'' cried the Mayor, ``d'ye think I brook
186 ``Being worse treated than a Cook?
187 ``Insulted by a lazy ribald
188 ``With idle pipe and vesture piebald?
189 ``You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst,
190 ``Blow your pipe there till you burst!''

XII.


191 Once more he stept into the street,
192 And to his lips again
193 Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;
194 Ad ere he blew three notes (such sweet
195 Soft notes as yet musician's cunning
196 Never gave the enraptured air)
197 There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling
198 Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
199 Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
200 Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering,
201 And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering,
202 Out came the children running.
203 All the little boys and girls,
204 With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
205 And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
206 Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
207 The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

XIII.


208 The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood
209 As if they were changed into blocks of wood,
210 Unable to move a step, or cry
211 To the children merrily skipping by,
212 -- Could only follow with the eye
213 That joyous crowd at the Piper's back.
214 But how the Mayor was on the rack,
215 And the wretched Council's bosoms beat,
216 As the Piper turned from the High Street
217 To where the Weser rolled its waters
218 Right in the way of their sons and daughters!
219 However he turned from South to West,
220 And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,
221 And after him the children pressed;
222 Great was the joy in every breast.
223 ``He never can cross that mighty top!
224 ``He's forced to let the piping drop,
225 ``And we shall see our children stop!''
226 When, lo, as they reached the mountain-side,
227 A wondrous portal opened wide,
228 As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
229 And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
230 And when all were in to the very last,
231 The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
232 Did I say, all? No! One was lame,
233 And could not dance the whole of the way;
234 And in after years, if you would blame
235 His sadness, he was used to say, --
236 ``It's dull in our town since my playmates left!
237 ``I can't forget that I'm bereft
238 ``Of all the pleasant sights they see,
239 ``Which the Piper also promised me.
240 ``For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
241 ``Joining the town and just at hand,
242 ``Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,
243 ``And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
244 ``And everything was strange and new;
245 ``The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,
246 ``And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
247 ``And honey-bees had lost their stings,
248 ``And horses were born with eagles' wings;
249 ``And just as I became assured
250 ``My lame foot would be speedily cured,
251 ``The music stopped and I stood still,
252 ``And found myself outside the hill,
253 ``Left alone against my will,
254 ``To go now limping as before,
255 ``And never hear of that country more!''

XIV.


256 Alas, alas for Hamelin!
257 There came into many a burgher's pate
258 A text which says that heaven's gate
259 Opes to the rich at as easy rate
260 As the needle's eye takes a camel in!
261 The mayor sent East, West, North and South,
262 To offer the Piper, by word of mouth,
263 Wherever it was men's lot to find him,
264 Silver and gold to his heart's content,
265 If he'd only return the way he went,
266 And bring the children behind him.
267 But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavour,
268 And Piper and dancers were gone for ever,
269 They made a decree that lawyers never
270 Should think their records dated duly
271 If, after the day of the month and year,
272 These words did not as well appear,
273 ``And so long after what happened here
274 ``On the Twenty-second of July,
275 ``Thirteen hundred and seventy-six:''
276 And the better in memory to fix
277 The place of the children's last retreat,
278 They called it, the Pied Piper's Street --
279 Where any one playing on pipe or tabor,
280 Was sure for the future to lose his labour.
281 Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern
282 To shock with mirth a street so solemn;
283 But opposite the place of the cavern
284 They wrote the story on a column,
285 And on the great church-window painted
286 The same, to make the world acquainted
287 How their children were stolen away,
288 And there it stands to this very day.
289 And I must not omit to say
290 That in Transylvania there's a tribe
291 Of alien people who ascribe
292 The outlandish ways and dress
293 On which their neighbours lay such stress,
294 To their fathers and mothers having risen
295 Out of some subterraneous prison
296 Into which they were trepanned
297 Long time ago in a mighty band
298 Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land,
299 But how or why, they don't understand.

XV.


300 So, Willy, let me and you be wipers
301 Of scores out with all men -- especially pipers!
302 And, whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice,
303 If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise!
 
Die Rattenfängersage  (Nach Brüder Grimm, "Deutsche Sagen")

Im Jahre 1284 ließ sich zu Hameln ein wunderlicher 
Mann sehen. Er hatte einen Rock von vielfarbigem, 
buntem Tuch an und gab sich für einen Rattenfänger 
aus, indem er versprach, gegen ein gewisses Geld die 
Stadt von allen Mäusen und Ratten zu befreien. Die 
Bürger sagten ihm diesen Lohn zu, und der Rattenfänger 
zog sein Pfeifchen heraus und pfiff. Da kamen alsbald 
die Ratten und Mäuse aus allen Häusern hervorgekrochen 
und sammelten sich um ihn herum. Als er nun meinte, es 
wäre keine zurückgeblieben, ging er aus der Stadt hinaus 
in die Weser; der ganze Haufen folgte ihm nach, stürzte 
ins Wasser und ertrank. Als aber die Bürger sich von ihrer 
Plage befreit sahen, reute sie der versprochene Lohn, und 
sie verweigerten ihn dem Mann, so daß dieser verbittert 
wegging. Am 26. Juni kehrte er jedoch zurück in Gestalt 
eines Jägers, erschrecklichen Angesichts, mit einem roten, 
wunderlichen Hut und ließ, während alle Welt in der Kirche 
versammelt war, seine Pfeife abermals in den Gassen ertönen. 
Alsbald kamen diesmal nicht Ratten und Mäuse, sondern 
Kinder, Knaben und Mägdlein vom vierten Jahre an in großer 
Anzahl gelaufen. Diese führte er, imer spielend, zum 
Ostertore hinaus in einen Berg, wo er mit ihnen verschwand. 
Nur zwei Kinder kehrten zurück, weil sie sich verspätet 
hatten; von ihnen war aber das eine blind, so daß es den 
Ort nicht zeigen, das andere stumm, so daß es nicht 
erzählen konnte. Ein Knäblein war umgekehrt, seinen Rock 
zu holen und so dem Unglück entgangen. Einige sagten, 
die Kinder seinen in eine Höhle geführt worden und in 
Siebenbürgen wieder herausgekommen. Es waren ganze 130 
Kinder verloren.

references

F(ranz?) Meissel, *Die Sage vom Rattenfänger von Hameln* 
(Hameln: 1924)

Willy Krogmann, *Der Rattenfänger von Hameln. 
Eine Untersuchung über das Werden der Sage* 
(Berlin: Emil Ebering, 1934; reprinted through
Nedeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus, 1967) 
 
Wolfgang Wann, *Die Lösung der Hamelner Rattenfängersage* 
(Diss. Würzburg, 1949)
 
Heinrich Spanuth, *Der Rattenfänger von Hameln. Vom Werden 
und Sinn einer alten Sage* (Hameln: C. W. Niemeyer, 1951)
 
Hans Dobertin, *Quellensammlung zur Hamelner Rattenfägersage* 
(Göttingen: Otto Schwartz, 1970) 
 
Norbert Humburg, *Der Rattenfänger von Hameln, Ein Lese-, 
Lieder, Bilder-Buch* (Hameln: C. W. Niemeyer, 1984). 
 
Arthur Dickson,  "Browning's Source for the 'Pied Piper 
of Hamelin,'" in *Studies in Philology*, volume 23 (1926), 
pp. 327-336.

mata

___ .

mata kimasitayo
[log in to unmask]

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     non ridere, non lugere, 
     neque detestari, sed intelligere.   
     -- b. spinoza 
     (tractatus politicus, cap. I, par. 4)
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html