medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Ms B M Cook wrote:
>
> Does this Egbert's Pontifical have a prayer to say over the dead
> mouse &c when you have removed the corpse from the barrel ? Or from a
> trap ?
No, and it is unlikely to be covered by the "blessing of cheese, butter and
all meat", because the root of the problem was Leviticus 11:29+ "These also
shall be reckoned among unclean things, of all that move upon the earth, the
weasel, and the mouse, and the crocodile, every one according to their
kind:" (Crocodiles falling into beer didn't represent a huge problem in
Northern Europe...) The prohibition appears in the Irish Penitentials, with
different penances for those serving the beer to those drinking it. Weasels
in beer must have been a particular problem in 10th-century England, because
the daily allocation per monk was three gallons... So it was prudent to
purify it first...
John Briggs
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