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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Bill East <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > This looks like a howler of th first magnitude! A bishop makes, every five years, an 'Ad limina' visit to the Pope: that is, 'to the threshold' of the apostles. It looks as though someone misread this as 'Ad lumina', 'to the lights.' It would be a very crass misunderstanding, but such things happen. not quite so crass as all that, perhaps. i'm no palaeographer qualified in this period's writing, but i would imagine that, in formal caligraphy of the time, the first word could, at first glance, have looked like "liiiiiiia" ; and the second word "liiiiiiia" --without the dots over the eyes and with only the faintest of little connecting lines between the strokes of the "i"s : at the bottom of two to make a "u" ; or at the top of two for a "n" ; or at the top of three for an "m". the sole "i" would have probably been dotted, but that probably also have been a very faint mark, usually not a "dot" but rather a diagonal stroke, made with the pen upside down (i think). though possible, such a misreading would not be a mistake that an accomplished scribe or notary would have been likely to make --perhaps there was some "political" influence applied which "sexed up" his reading?? hard to believe that politics would have entered into a matter of such religious importance, but.... christopher Gib$son'$ Folly: http://images.ucomics.com/comics/jd/2004/jd040224.gif ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html