eugaenia

[eugaenia]

why don't people in zombie apocalypse stories ever just wear suits of armor? you think any zombie is gonna get their shitty rotting jaws through this?

I'm gonna rip and tear my way through the zombie apocalypse completely unharmed because none of the undead hoards will be able to get through my plate mail

#lol #it got better #a connecticut yankee in king arthur's court #one of the funniest things I've ever read #arthuriana

[eugaenia]

Also Walter Daniel: Y'all dumb and ignorant of rhetoric and the use of hyperbole, huh? Of course our Aelred occasionally deflowered his chastity in his youth but WHO CARES. No one is free from stain, not even the infant a day old. Aelred was awesome and also his dead body smelled like incense

Walter Daniel: Aelred of Rievaulx was so pure and chaste and lovely. He loved his entire life the most virginal virgin.

Everyone who knew Aelred: bitch, what?

#those are almost exactly the same words that Walter Daniel used when defending him #:') #Aelred is love #and Walter Daniel is so cute in his fierceness #monkposting

[eugaenia]

BEHOLD

smiling bat :)

based on this guy ^ my favorite little guy from British Library Harley MS 3244 f 55v

#so cuteee #medieval manuscripts

[eugaenia]

objectifying men in armor will literally never get old. like, work it shiny boy. hit ‘em with that old razzle dazzle you fuckin trash can. hottie! (tucks $5 into your cuirass) 

#so me #medieval knights #humour

[eugaenia]

⚔️

#:') #medieval knights #art #lgbtq+

[eugaenia]

Well, I can't resist attaching here the most affective passages from Aelred's lament over the death of his close friend Simon, which appear in his work "Mirror of Charity" and which further illustrate just how important friendship was to him. :')

„[My] grief prevents me from going further. The recent death of my dear Simon forcibly drives me instead to weep for him. […] You are astonished that I am weeping; you are still more astonished that I go on living! For who would not be astonished that Aelred goes on living without Simon, except someone who does not know how sweet it was to live together, how sweet it would be to return together to the fatherland. So bear patiently with my tears, my sighs, the moaning of my heart, then. And you, my beloved, although you have been brought into the joy of the Lord, […] still permit me to offer you my tears […]. Let not my sighing burden you, for it is prompted not by despair but by attachement. Do not restrain my tears, which flow not from lack of faith but from tenderness. […] Let me alone, then, that I may assuage my sorrow. Mine, I say, mine, for your death is not to be wept over when it was precedet by a life so praiseworthy, so lovable, so pleasing to all […]. For you, beloved brother, for you I rejoice, but for myself I feel keen sorrow. […] What a marvel that I be said to be alive, when such a great part of my life, so sweet a solace for my pilgrimage, so unique an alleviation for my misery, has been taken away from me. It is as if my body had been eviscerated and my hapless soul rent to pieces. And am I said to be alive? O wretched life, O grievous life, a life without Simon! […] My attachement seeks his sweet presence which nourished it delightfully, but my reason does not agree that this soul, beloved by me, once free from the flesh should again be subject to the miseries of the flesh. […] Here now, O Lord, I shall follow his ways, that in you I may enjoy his company. Look at what I have lost. Look at what I miss. Where have you gone, O model for my life, harmonizer of my conduct? Where have you gone, where have you vanished? What shall I do? Where shall I turn? Whom now shall I propose to follow? How have you been torn from my embrace, withdrawn from my kisses, removed from before my eyes? […] What […] did you gain, bitter death? What did you gain? Of course, you invaded his tent, the site of his pilgrimage, but you broke the chain which tethered him. […] Now, therefore, his soul […] has been divested of its enveloping flesh and […] has flown off on freer wings to that pure and sublime Good to be gathered into the long desired embrace of Christ. […] Where you seem to have done something to him, you are shown to have been profitable to him. So you spewed all your poison over me. Seeking him, you inflicted dire wounds upon me. […] Now, O my eyes, what are you doing, what are you doing? I beg you, do not be sparing, do not pretend. Offer whatever you have, whatever you can, over the remains of my beloved. Are these tears reprehensible? Yet the tears you shed over the death of your friend excuses us, Lord, for they express our affection and give us a glimpse of your charity. […] Oh how sweet are your tears and how gentle. What savor and consolation they give to my troubled mind. […] But perhaps some stalwart persons at this moment are passing judgement on my tears, considering my love too human. Let they interpret [them] as they please. But you, Lord, look at them, observe them! […] Look at the source of my fear, O Lord, look at the source of my tears. Heed them, O most tender-loving, dearest and most merciful Lord. Receive them, O my only hope, my one and only refuge, the object of my intentions, my God, my mercy! Receive them, O Lord, as the sacrifice I offer you for my most beloved friend and, if any flaws remained in him, either pardon them or impute them to me. Let me, let me be struck, let me be scourged, I shall pay for everything. I ask only that you do not hide your blessed face from him, withdraw your sweetness, or delay your kindly consolation. […] To me, also, a wretch albeit his beloved, grant a place of rest some day with him in your bosom. Amen.“

(Aelred of Rievaulx, The Mirror of Charity, translated by Elizabeth Connor, ocso, Kalamazoo 1990, pp. 147-159)

Aelred of Rievaulx was a 12th century Cistercian abbot. One of the many topics Aelred of Rievaulx wrote about was the love he felt for other men and love between men.  . While I don’t know if Aelred would call himself gay or bisexual or something else, there is a lot of homoerotic language in his work “Spiritual Friendship.” Throughout the work he discusses in detail how to love and what true friendship is.  . For my modern audience, it’s important to note that passionate love doesn’t have to include lust/intimate relations. You can love without “relations” just like you can have “relations” without love. (Phrasing to avoid algorithm censorship.) . Here are some sections that particularly stood out to me: . In Book 2, sections 21-27 of Spiritual Friendship, Aelred describes all the different types of kissing people can do. Some of the kissing he means literally but others are metaphors for spiritual connections between people and God.  . In Book 3, section 82, Aelred discusses how much he loves the monks in his care.  . In Book 3, sections 85-87 the monks Aelred talks to describes their passionate friendship with each other and Aelred warns them they have a carnal friendship but it could grow into a spiritual one.  . In Book 3, sections 119-130 Aelred describes in detail two of his most intimate relationships, including one where his friend warns him that their “love should not be measured according to the comfort of the flesh, lest this be attributed more to [Aelred’s] carnal affection.”  .

(My copy of Spiritual Friendship was translated by Peter Frick and edited by Marsha L. Dutton.) 

Aelred of Rievaulx sitting in an initial with a scroll . Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 392 f.3 . Source: Bibliothèque municipale de Douai

#aelred of rievaulx #medieval monks #cistercians #friendship #lament #love

[eugaenia]

academic bias is so funny because you’ll be reading about the same historical event and one person is like “Despite the troubles that befell his homeland and near constant criticism of the court King Blorbo remained strong in the face of adversity” and the other one is like “after letting his people carry the brunt of his cringefail decisions Blorbo the Shitface refused to listen to any reason and continued to be a warmongering piece of shit. Also he was ugly.”

#deep truth #academia #humour

[eugaenia]

of course you have a full suit of armour both marking you as the romantic ideal of masculinity and obscuring your body so completely that your sex loses importance when signifying your gender and class. and pronouns

#i love this site #medieval knights #humour

[eugaenia]

how i imagine this scene in the Bible actually went

Jesus appearing to the 12 in a locked room after the crucifixion: Peace be- stop screaming it’s just me- Peace be with you

#:') #humour

[eugaenia]

something ive noticed while reading dantes inferno is that there seems to be a lot of italians in hell

#dante #humour

[eugaenia]

This passage from Crysogonus Waddell's memories may be my new favourite quote regarding Bernard of Clairvaux. :')

I know, of course, that not everyone has a love for Saint Bernard. [...] I was [...] hurt by a general lecture given by the then recognized authority on the Crusades, Steven Runciman. Dr Runciman was speaking about a sensible trade agreement between the Byzantine emperor and the Egyptian caliphate—a trade agreement which Saint Bernard had deplored. Bernard? “. . . a bigoted cleric.” The audience roared with appreciative laughter and approval. For myself, I started thinking dark thoughts about Professor Runciman, “the bigoted Cambridge don.” Medievalists will always be grateful to Runciman for his pioneering work on the Crusades. But scholars refer to him less and less. Runciman has had his day. Meanwhile, Bernard, the bigoted cleric from Clairvaux, is with us still.

(Crysogonus Waddell, An Old Man's Tale, in: Brian Patrick McGuire, ed., A Companion to Bernard of Clairvaux, Leiden - Boston 2011, pp. 363-364)

#bernard of clairvaux #st. bernard #medieval monks #medieval history #cistercians #church history #humour

[eugaenia]

For all its dumbfuckery, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is genuinely the closest a film adaptation of the Arthurian mythos has ever gotten to capturing how deeply weird the source material really is.

#couldn't agree more #monty python #monty python and the holy grail #arthuriana

[eugaenia]

The best notes written in manuscripts by medieval monks

Colophon: a statement at the end of a book containing the scribe or owner’s name, date of completion, or bitching about how hard it is to write a book in the dark ages

Oh, my hand

The parchment is very hairy

Thank God it will soon be dark

St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing

Now I’ve written the whole thing; for Christ’s sake give me a drink

Oh d fuckin abbot

Massive hangover

Whoever translated these Gospels did a very poor job

Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night

If someone else would like such a handsome book, come and look me up in Paris, across from the Notre Dame cathedral

I shall remember, O Christ, that I am writing of Thee, because I am wrecked today

Do not reproach me concerning the letters, the ink is bad and the parchment scanty and the day is dark

11 golden letters, 8 shilling each; 700 letters with double shafts, 7 shilling for each hundred; and 35 quires of text, each 16 leaves, at 3 shilling each. For such an amount I won’t write again

Here ends the second part of the title work of Brother Thomas Aquinas of the Dominican Order; very long, very verbose; and very tedious for the scribe; thank God, thank God, and again thank God

If anyone take away this book, let him die the death, let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever seize him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen

#lovely #medieval monks #medieval manuscripts

[eugaenia]

knights will randomly be like

#yeah #arthuriana

[eugaenia]

So I've finally made it to visit Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire. Beside being absolutely stunned by the ruins of the abbey itself, I almost melted when I saw this in the souvenir shop. Just look at it.

Of course I was not gonna leave this silly monk-bear there. Thank you, English Heritage, for making my day.

#oh and they have it in three sizes #i chose the middle one #rievaulx abbey #english heritage #yorkshire #medieval monks #misc

[eugaenia]

Also me if they ask me to elaborate:

(Brian Patrick McGuire, The Difficult Saint: Bernard of Clairvaux & His Tradition, Kalamazoo 1991, p. 37)

My friends: So what is it that makes St. Bernard so special to you?

Me:

(Richard W. Kaeuper, Medieval Chivalry, Cambridge 2016, p. 289)

#bernard of clairvaux #saint bernard #still made it to become a saint tho #medieval monks #medieval history #humour

[eugaenia]

Brian Patrick McGuire in his book "The Difficult Saint" (1991) characterized Bernard of Clairvaux as "a mysterious combination of affection and hostility" (p. 38) and if this is not the best description of Bernard's personality, then I don't know what is.

#bernard of clairvaux #saint bernard #medieval monks #medieval history #cistercians #12th century