Dear Thomas
Clanchy (in From Memory to Written Record) mentions physical mnemonic
devices used during contracts, such as knives; and tells the story of William
the Conqueror *joking* that he will make the recipient of a gift of land
remember the transaction by driving the knife through said person's hand
(what a joker, eh?). This is on p.254; the section following, and a later
chapter, deal with other examples...
cheers
john
On Tue, 10 Mar 1998, Thomas Sullivan wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> A friend of mine is writing a book about infant baptism and confirmation and
> has asked me the following question:
>
> "Do you know anything about slapping in the Middle Ages? My friend says her
> husband claims that in the Middle Ages the one who witnessed contracts was
> slapped so that he would remember the contract. Durandus, who invented the
> confirmation slap, says one reason for it is so that the one who was
> confirmed would remember it. He can't remember where he read the material on
> contract slapping. I asked his wife to slap him a few times, but that didn't
> help."
>
> Does anyone know of a discussion of physical-blows-to-help-one-remember in
> the literature? I recall the notion of beating children to help them remember
> land boundaries if later disputes should arise over boundaries as well as
> making people take a bath to help them remember a significant event.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Thomas Sullivan, OSB
>
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