On Sun, 26 May 1996, Frederik Pedersen wrote about
>a fourteenth-century York impotence case. The defendant, John
>Sanderson, is exposed to an investigation by "good and honest
>women," who attempt to give him an erection.
I'm only an ignorant literature person, but even as I realise
the logicality of the procedure, the mind boggles. What
tribunal was this? What is the Latin description of these 'good
and honest women', and why such rather than professionals? Were
they a standing body (sorry), the Examiners in Impotence, or an
ad hoc task force?
Sorry for an interest which is not entirely divorced (?
annulled) from prurience, but the thing reads so much like a
Monty Python script that the weirdness is genuinely
illuminating about the otherness of the M.A.
Baffled,
Michael Wright
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr M.J. Wright | [log in to unmask]
English Department | Ph. (64 9) 373 7999 ext. 7496
University of Auckland | Fax (64 9) 373 7429
P.B. 92019 Auckland, New Zealand |
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|