Dear David and others who have wondered about my impotence problem.
Here is the text from York Borthwick Institute CPE 105 (The witness
is called Isabella de Wairgrave):
"... et dicit quod virga dicti Johannis est quasi quedam intestina vacua
del mortua pelli, non habens carnem interius nec venas in cute et est
medietas anterior eiusdam nigra totaliter. Et ista testis palpavit istam virgam cum manibus suis et posuit eam
in flore fratris et sic palpata et deposita nec dilatabat nec
crescebat. Interrogata si habet bursam cum testiculis dicit quod est
ibi pellis buralis sed testiculi non pendent in pellis sed sunt
contigui cum carne in unguinibus sicut est in juvenibus infantibus."
It is clear that the witness is being highly euphemistic but am not quite sure that
I know precisely what David is referring to in his communication.
John Sanderson, the defendant, had previously tried to go through
with intercourse with his wife in front of his brother and family.
> Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 09:15:29 -0500 (EST)
> From: David Flory <[log in to unmask]>
> To: medieval religion <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: impotence test
> Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
> I would not wish to pronounce on a source I have not read, but I think it
> likely that the clue to the impotence test was provided by Mr. Ferzoco
> when he referred to evidence that these were, at least on occassion,
> tests for "indeterminate gender." If you reflect on the
> euphemistic meaning of "in f[l]ore fratris" in that light, it is pretty
> clear what they were trying to determine. I would only add that Latin
> "in" used with the ablative had the meaning of "in the area of" or
> "before" (i.e., "in oculis" meant "before my eyes" not "in my eyes."
Frederik Pedersen
Department of History and Economic History
University of Aberdeen
King's College
Old Aberdeen
AB9 2UB
Scotland, UK
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