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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Jonathan Hall <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I was wondering if anyone knew offhand of evidence that Christian Europe was aware of coffee before the sixteenth century (through Christian-Muslim contact in Spain or through travels to N. Africa or the Middle East). well, the story i have is that Peter the Venereal became aware of it during the course of his project of translating the Koran, but didn't realise what he had until his friend, Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair, on his way to Rome in 1139, turned *his* friend Bernie onto it as a fine medium for diluting his Irish whiskey a bit (and thereby lengthening the Holy Man's life by, perhaps, decades). not to be out done, Abelard adapted it for Calvados dilution, as well; to which expropriation Bernie took Great Umbridge (thus, the *real* root of the animosity between them). documentation is difficult to come by, but i'm sure that something like this must have been what happened. all this will no doubt be the subject of a chapter in the forthcomming book on _Twelfth Century Networking: How It Worked_, by one of our new list members. best from here, christopher "What about the older ones [Indians] ?" "Well, we can't seem to cure them of the idea that our Everyday Life is only an Illusion, behind which is the Reality of Dreams" --Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" http://us.imdb.com/Title?0083946 ********************************************************************** 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