How on earth did I forget about this?

[tree_and_leaf]

From an older chapter of my thesis: I had forgotten this - in fact, I think I'd suppressed it.



"The hagiographic account also serves other purposes; indeed, its suitability for direct imitation may be questioned. Particularly in lives of women, but also in the case of some men, the hagiographer expresses wonder at ascetic feats, rather than recommending them; at times, there is even a tone of faint horror or disapproval, as in the thirteenth century life, probably by the Cistercian Goswin of Bossut, of the lay-brother and athlete of asceticism, Arnulf of Villiers.[51] Arnulf’s acts of heroic, if rather questionable, penance included ferocious floggings, leaving his wounds to become infected and filled with worms and, somewhat eccentrically, wearing not a hairshirt but a shirt made out of the skins of hedgehogs, prickles towards the skin. Goswin remarks breathlessly “Who will not stand aghast at it! Oh, friend of God Almighty, what is it that you are doing?” and implores the saint to show moderation and pity for his body.[52] There is a real ambivalence between admiration and disgust or fear. It does not seem even to occur to Goswin that the reader might go forth and slaughter hedgehogs in emulation of the saint, but he does value Arnulf’s piety, suggesting that his asceticism exceeds that of S Benedict, whose rule the hagiographer and his subjects followed. [53]


[51] The life is translated, along with Goswin’s lives of Ida of Nivelles and Abundus of Villers, and an excellent introduction by Cawley (2003). Goswin uses the metaphor of athlete for Arnulf at I.1.e and 1.2.g.
[52] Life of Arnulf 1.3.f (Cawley 2003: 135).
[53] Life of Arnulf I.1.6 (Crawley 2002: 139)."

I... just... step away from the hedghog, OK?

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid cruelty to hedgehogs always reminds me of this infamous sketch from Not the Nine O'Clock News....

[azdak.livejournal.com]

OMG, they all look so YOUNG! (including HRH!)

[tree_and_leaf]

That was a new one on me...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

In some aspects, a reflection of my taste when I was ten...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I can lend you an audio cassette of them ... ?

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I have one DVD, and one VHS tape, of the compilation repeats shown in the 1990s...

[buffysquirrel.livejournal.com]

That's a blast from the past! thx :)

(I'd love a parrot, but what with this cat, I think it'd be a Fight to the Death)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Happily, I am only in parrot-form on LiveJournal, otherwise the neighbour's cats would probably not be as friendly as they are when they see me.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

You beat me to it. (And then there was the opening scene from the following episode?)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Which one was that? (I remember the "Is this your hedgehog, sir?" in one of the police station sketches.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

From memory, it goes something life this.

"We would like to reassure viewers that no hedgehigs were harmed in the making of last week's sketch. In fact, stuffed hedgehigs were used. And we thing that [angrily] what we did is far less cruel to hedgehogs, per se, than stuffing them. So if you know who does this sort of thing, write to ... "

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

My mother used to sing me a song about a man who annoyed his wife and therefore had a patch of hedgehog skin sewn 'into his breeches on his bottom end'. Being very small, I of course thought it was hilarious.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

What a SPLENDID idea!

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, I think that would have been my reaction, too!

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I do have to admit that's a bit much. ;-)

Poor little hedgepiggies.

[tree_and_leaf]

Whatever you think of flagellation, I'm fairly sure that slaughtering large numbers of hedgepigs in the cause of self-discipline is not a particularly good way to God ;)

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I have to believe so.

I suppose it's possible that the hedgepigs had already been taken for somebody's stewpot, and the skins would've otherwise only gone to waste, but somehow I question that. It seems as if it would take an awful lot of them to make a shirt, unless they were a lot bigger back then. ;-)

[shoebox2.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's hilarious. Now I'm imagining a sort of 13th-century beginner's hairshirt for relieved wannabe saints, for whom crowns of thorns were perhaps a trifle too intense:

"Stand back! I must display my piety by going forth and randomly slaying God's helpless creatures!"

[tree_and_leaf]

Are you sure about that? I've no experimental data, but I'd think a crown of thorns was a lot less painful, though of course it would necessitate careful choice of headgear if you didn't want odd looks... ;)

One ought, in defence of thirteenth century saints, to note that Arnulf is the only one I've come across who thought this a good idea and that, further, he was a contemporary of S Francis.

It's probably good that they never met ("Put that hedgehog down! It's my congregation!"), but I like the Franciscan approach better.

[shoebox2.livejournal.com]

I've no experimental data, but I'd think a crown of thorns was a lot less painful

Quite possible. I'm Canadian, my conception of hedgehogs comes mostly from children's books. There they look kind of...pastel and springy, like bath sponges.

LOL at the St. Francis line. I like his approach better too.

[tree_and_leaf]

No, they're spikey. Very spikey (the prickles are a defence mechanism, because no dog that tries to bite them will try that again).

Also, they have lots and lots of fleas.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

It's probably good that they never met ("Put that hedgehog down! It's my congregation!"), but I like the Franciscan approach better.

Word.

The problem is that now I'm imagining an unofficial hagiography that tells of St. Francis running about rescuing little animals from would-be ascetics who wanted to use their hides for self-mortification. (Do they have hedgehogs in Italy?)

Glory be to God for Sister Hedgehog

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, they do (so Google informs me).

Early Franciscan hagiography can be quite strange, but not that strange...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

but I'd think a crown of thorns was a lot less painful

If it's just resting on the head, certainly. I have vaguely won dered if it wasn't just resting, though, but was pushed down in some way.

[tree_and_leaf]

Even if pushed down, though, a hedgehog shirt would presumably cover all of your torso, which is more nerve endings, and it would presumably rub, doing more damage.

I don't know. I also don't know why I'm putting this much thought into it...

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Anyway- that's not what you use hedgehog skin for- you stretch it flat and nail it to a board for carding wool. Seriously.

[tree_and_leaf]

...

Actually, come to think of it, that makes lots of sense.