(no subject)

Yesterday I went to an extremely good talk about depictions of the apostles in Freiburg Minster (which is exceptionally interesting architecturally), and learned a myriad of interesting facts, such as that apostles are very rarely depicted without shoes - except St Bartholomew, because he was patron saint of the tanners†, and James, because of the pilgrims to Santiago all requiring shoes. The reason for this seems to be the sending out of the apostles without bags or shoes or a second shirt, thought the lecturer noted that in Luke's Gospel Jesus also specifies that they should wear sandals. The lecturer attributed this to Luke being a doctor and therefore concerned about the medical aspect; I think he was joking. At any rate, he knew a stunning amount about mediaeval art in general and the Minster in particular, which is impressive given that he's a retired Germanist rather than an art historian.

I can't find any decent pictures of the Freiburger apostles online, so for sheer comedy value, have a link to an image from the Minster of an ox trying to eat the swaddling bands. (Clearly, a very stupid ox, given that there was hay lying about. If it had been a goat, I could have understood it - and it would have explained Our Lord's otherwise somewhat inexplicable prejudice against goats, which I've never understood, given that they were his idea in the first place!)



† For the unedifying reason that according to the Legenda Aurea, he was flayed alive. For some reason this seems even more tactless than making Sebastian the patron saint of fletchers.

First of all:

Happy Thinking Day/ Founder's Day to any Guides and Scouts out there.

Secondly, I have to link - even though those of you who are interested have probably seen it already - to a newly discovered Chaucer lyric lamenting that brave knight Will Thatcher/ Ulrich v. Lichtenstein (and how on earth did I contrive to forget the Ulrich von Lichtenstein reference in A Knight's Tale? Very embarrassing).

Looking at the blog somehow led me to look at the memorabilia. I'm so tempted to get this to wear to give my saints paper (no, Mechthild wasn't a recluse, but still). If I was a Julian scholar I'd definitely do it!

Although I'm also tempted by the academic peasants' revolt one, even if it is in American terms, or, as a a very obscure tribute to Joseph Wright and Tolkien, this one