William of Malmesbury wrote that
> Lady Godiva of Coventry (died 1075) bequeathed to a statue of Mary
'the
> circlet of precious stones which she had threaded on a cord in order
that
> by fingering them one after another she might count her payers
exactly. In
> thirteenth century these were called 'paternosters'; people who
made them
> were called 'paternosterers'; in London these people worked in
street
> called 'Paternoster Row'.
>
>Has anyone ever seen a medieval paternoster? Was it exactly the
same as a modern rosary?
Oriens.
Survivals of early rosaries have not, to my knowledge, been
systematically studied, but you might find helpful: E. Wilkins, The
Rose-Garden Game: The Symbolic Background to the European
Prayer-Beads, London, 1969 (fascinatingly, the author came to the
subject from an initial interest in collecting marbles!); and L. Bartoli,
Simbologia Mariano, Rovigo, 1949.
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