Stephen J. Harris wrote:
>
> I am soliciting submissions for an academic internet site entitled,
> MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES. [..]
> (Please feel free to propose your own topic.)
Chastity belts?
Knights being hopelessly encumbered by the weight of their armour if they fell
off their horses? (Olivier's "Henry V" goes so far as to have them winched into
the saddle by cranes...)
As a complimentary topic, perhaps there's scope for something along the lines of
"True Conceptions of the Middle Ages", which discusses features of medieval life
that people aren't normally aware of.
As an example, when I read the chronicle of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, by Jocelin of
Brakelond, I was suprised at the amount of time the monks seemed to spend in
legal and semi-legal squabbling amongst themselves, or with outsiders. One came
away with an impression of partial anarchy, in a land where there was a law, but
it was misunderstood, ineffective, and partially enforced. It made me realise
that our own society, while far from perfect, is still a lot more orderly and
law-abiding than Jocelin's.
Just a thought...
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