medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Henk <[log in to unmask]>
> You should try and read the White Goddess by Graves, Chris, both Flaky and
Pretty Interesting at the same time.
i've tried, several times, to get through it, Hank, without complete success
--maybe the subject just doesn't interest me as much as that covered by The
Greek Myths does, which latter work i've found myself dipping into every few
months (over the last few decades), for some reason or another, and have also
found it progressively more difficult to extricate myself from each time i do
so, so fascinating and inter-woven is the "story" he's laying out there (it's
actually something of a reference work, but one which can be read as a
continuous narrative, at least to a certain extent).
he is, among other things, dispelling much of the "mythology" which surrounds
the subject of The Greek Myths, and, i believe, does so quite admirably.
in any event, Grave's comments about certain trees/groves being sacred to
certain "gods" and/or ethnic groups (and why) i find to be quite compelling.
c
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Namens Christopher Crockett
> Verzonden: donderdag 27 januari 2011 19:21
> Aan: [log in to unmask]
> Onderwerp: Re: [M-R] Dating yew trees (WAS: Re: [M-R] double monasteries)
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> watching this little string go bye, i realized that i had no idea what a
yew
> tree might look like, much less ever having dated one (they're just not my
> type, i suppose, being more of a Walnut kind of Guy, myself).
>
> so, i looked a bit on that Ultimate Pons Asinorum, The Innernets, to see
> what
> i might come up with.
>
> now, i may not know from yews, guys, but i've got a pretty good clue that
> *this* is an old, old tree:
>
> http://cornishevangelist.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/sussex-west-2814.jpg
>
> to say nothing of being very difficult for even it's mother to date.
>
> for dendrochronology works at all for dating such a "muliti-stalked" tree
as
> this, the wood would have to be very, very dense (i.e., slow growing)
> indeed.
>
>
> what a strange creature.
>
> turns out that "Taxus baccata is a *conifer* native to western, central and
> southern Europe..." and was at the very heart of the English Longbow
> Military
> Industrial Complex
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxus_baccata#Longbows
>
> which, ultimately, led to European-wide over yewing, with considerable
> ecological damage by early modren times.
>
> this "Door of the Chapel in a Norman yew"
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LaHayeDeRoutotIf1.JPG
>
> has to be the favorite of this list.
>
> this site
>
> http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/yew.htm
>
> is more-than-a-bit new-agey, but this statement
>
> "The Yew is sacred to Hecate, and the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess;
> both
> are guardians of the Underworld, death and the afterlife"
>
> is surely based on the work of Robert Graves, generally thought by
academics
> (esp. those who have never read his works) to be somewhat of an igorint an
> irrelevant nutcase, but whose _Greek Myths_ (2 vols.) is, to my mind and
> experience, a first-rate piece of work, its somewhat over-stretched
> interpretive material perhaps to the contrary notwithstanding.
>
> c
>
>
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> Received: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:25:49 AM EST
> From: Alison Goulbourne <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [M-R] Dating yew trees (WAS: Re: [M-R] double monasteries)
>
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> > Many thanks to chris laning for information on dating the yew trees.
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > On 26 Jan 2011, at 18:03, Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> > > culture
> > >
> > > (wearing former botanist hat ;)
> > >
> > > To the best of my knowledge, yew trees are dated by a combination of
> > > dendrochronology (samples taken from what appears to be the oldest
> > > surviving wood) and estimated growth curves. These curves are based
> > > on abundant measurement data from surviving trunks and stumps, dates
> > > of mention for known yews in documentary evidence, and known and
> > > projected growth rates. AFAIK very little radiocarbon dating of
> > > living yews has actually been done (according to my 2002 source),
> > > and yew wood is hard enough that apparently it's notoriously
> > > difficult to get good cores. David Bellamy is indeed a major figure
> > > in this research.
> > >
> > > As with any estimates, these growth curves are only as good as the
> > > volume and quality of the data they are based on. But there's
> > > actually been a fairly large amount of work done on this, much of it
> > > in the last twenty years or so. As one might expect, there's
> > > considerable discussion of these issues among various experts, whose
> > > estimates of dates can vary widely for the same tree.
> > >
> > > Although it's not a scholarly work, I recommend _The Ancient Yew_ by
> > > Robert Bevan-Jones for a discussion of these issues. (2002, ISBN
> > > #0-9538630-4-2)
> > >
> > > ____________________________________________________________
> > >
> > > O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California
> > > + http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
> > > ____________________________________________________________
> > >
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