#Anyway this is nightmarish ramble I'm just Stuck and have Block

[the-busy-ghost]

In other news I adore mediaeval chroniclers who genuinely tried their best to get accurate information (as they saw it) but were still perplexed by things they couldn’t explain (and sometimes just included some tales because they were good stories and admitted it). I think it’s a good reminder that a testimony is absolutely dependent on the limits of a person’s viewpoint, no matter how hard they may try to be objective. And while we may think of ourselves as “better” at history nowadays, we are only as good as our sources and our use of reason (the latter having existed for millenia).

William of Newburgh is a good example, since he is known for grumbling about Geoffrey of Monmouth’s lies but then found himself forced to include some outlandish tales in his own chronicle, like the Green Children of Woolpit because, so far as he was concerned, he HAD found credible witnesses and there was no way for him to deny them. So he comments on the story:

“Nor does it seem right to pass over an unheard-of prodigy, which, as is well known, took place in England during the reign of king Stephen. Though it is asserted by many, yet I have long been in doubt concerning the matter, and deemed it ridiculous to give credit to a circumstance supported on no rational foundation, or at least one of a very mysterious character; yet, at length I was so overwhelmed by the weight of so many and such competent witnesses, that I have been compelled to believe, and wonder over a matter, which I was unable to comprehend, or unravel, by any powers of intellect.”

Which is relevant because I’m currently considering a story told by William of Newburgh (and alluded to by Ailred of Rievaulx) about events that took place in the reign of David I. Some nineteenth and twentieth century historians have doubted whether this story has any truth in it whatsoever. I will say it helps that more recent authors (including David’s most recent academic biographer) seemingly believe the bare bones of the story, but they haven’t given their reasoning. But William and Ailred are generally considered (comparatively) reliable authors, even if they might have used a bit of poetic license. If I dismiss this story do I not then have to reevaluate every other claim these men made in all their writings? And since many of those claims are known to be true does that necessarily mean that we should accept this story at face value? What reasons do I have for dismissing it? If I have no reason to disbelieve the story should I then accept it until further evidence comes to light? But if I accept these writers at their word then shouldn’t I accept other writers’ plausible stories, even if they are less credible in other respects? At what point does it all just become a vague *feeling* that dictates whether or not I choose to believe something? But then even if the story wasn’t true might it not be worth recording anyway as an example of the concerns of the age? But if I take this line then I have to assume it is false???

In other words, Help

#I'm getting there #But sometimes you just want to write an easy flowing narrative #Without having to contradict y ourself every two minutes and spend half your time humming and hawing over the basics #And it's not like this only applies to history #I've seen at first hand how juries can be swayed by their opinion of what constitutes a credible witness #I was just fortunate that they (rightly btw) concluded that I must be the truthful one #But god knows what criteria they used to make their decision #Anyway this is nightmarish ramble I'm just Stuck and have Block #God I need to read that book Aristotle wrote on logic #Of course logic does not exist in a vacuum free of emotion and social constructs #But it might help #I am not by nature a rational person #Sadly my feeble attempts are likely to start with me trying to decide whether to believe some twelfth century chronicles #and end with me simultaneously accepting the resurrection of Christ but also at the same time like every other world religion #and Atheism