| What not to say at your dissertation defense |
[Apr. 29th, 2007|03:44 pm] |
Via BlueBuddhaBead, Things you shouldn't say at your dissertation defense.
I fear that the guy in the third panel will be me, except that I'd be saying "Well the theory was current eighty years ago--the last time someone wrote an article about that stupid subject!" The guy in the final panel also strikes a chord, except that I would be offering to defend the diss through trial by combat. |
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| Whee! |
[Mar. 27th, 2007|01:07 am] |
You know you're an incurable medievalist geek when the accidental discovery of an online database of French cartularies fills you with glee.
And check out the Ordonnances de l'hôtel du roi, which ennumerate all the staff of the French kings around 1300. Those are just such nifty records of the daily life of royalty. If my dissertation was coming along faster than it is, I would take the time to translate them for the benefit of fantasy writers trying to do some realistic worldbuilding. |
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| Trial by combat |
[Jan. 31st, 2007|05:02 pm] |
Courtesy of the British National Archives website, I can now share with you my favorite image of a judicial duel. I give you Blowberme v Stare [1249].
Walter Blowberme, a thief pictured fighting on the left, became an approver, which is to say he agreed to convict some of his thieving accomplices by judicial duels in return for his own freedom. He accused Hamo the Stare of helping him to steal some clothing. The unlucky Hamo lost the battle and is pictured hanging on the gallows. That's what happens if you lie spent in posta longa when your opponant still has half a tempo to play with. But why does Walter appear to be traversing to the left, when that's where Hamo's weapon is? And what are the heads of those duelling batons made of, anyway? Such are the important questions that occupy my day. |
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| Who's on first? |
[Dec. 4th, 2006|01:51 pm] |
On one page of my dissertation, I have to cite the Roman chronicler Livy and two historians named Levi and Lévy. Even I can't keep the names straight. |
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| Sick and cranky |
[Oct. 3rd, 2006|05:34 pm] |
Bleah. I suppose I could be lucky on this sixth try, but I suspect that my annual Ontario Graduate Scholarship application is just a waste of time. Let's face it: a better understanding of medieval trial by combat won't really do much for the greater good of humanity.
There's also the little problem of what could go wrong if I actually won a scholarship. Remember last year, when John Tory started asking questions in the legislature about OGS grants? Well, judicial duelling is probably an even easier target than flying squirrel reproduction. |
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| Today's favourite quote |
[Sep. 1st, 2006|02:10 am] |
"Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong, because it is only by doing it wrong that you can learn to do it right."
--Anonymous
Now, back to struggling with the dissertation. |
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