I take a small break from the Purgatory of frantic essay-writing (Four pages today. Not enough!) to share these insights on the nature of the medievalist, brought to us by Another Damned Medievalist from Blogenspiel:
You Might Be A Medievalist If…
-Your secondary sources are somebody else’s primary sources.
-Everyone else on your conference panel has taken holy orders.
-You have a favorite decree of the Fourth Lateran Council.
-Your particular field of study could be wiped out by a car accident.
-You’ve ever been asked “the truth” about King Arthur.
-You refer to the American Revolution as a “recent development.”
-You add the word “yet” to the statement “I don’t know that language.”
-You specify which level of hell your day has been like.
-You call the renaissance “a dirty lie.”
Great stuff. For some reason, though, Another Damned Medievalist calls this ‘humour’, which I find a little hard to understand. I mean, who doesn’t have a favorite decree of the Fourth Lateran Council?*
—
* – Mine is number 16.
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September 1, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Medusa
Remind me to ask you what a “Medievalist” is some time.
And isn’t number sixteen “Clerics must be caste”? I would’ve thought they’d have cleared that up at the First Lateran Council…
September 1, 2008 at 10:08 pm
lanfranc
A medievalist is an expert in or someone who otherwise concerns him- or herself with the Middle Ages.
Number 16 is actually that “Clerics are not to engage in secular pursuits, attend unbecoming exhibitions, visit taverns, or play games of chance. Their clothing must be in keeping with their dignity.” Chastity is number 14, but I really prefer 16 because it provides such an excellent catalogue of what many high-status clerics, and by extension others among the upper classes, must presumably been spending their leisure time on. It’s wonderfully specific in that regard.
September 2, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Ames
I hadn’t seen this blog of yours, buddy – I love it! In another life, before law school, I wanted to be a medievalist, and still call myself a freelance classicist depending on my reading list at the time
. As such, I have a few friends who I know sympathize with this list… one in particular and I were frequently asked about “the truth” of King Arthur – we took a few classes covering the relevant history period 
. Was funny 
September 3, 2008 at 1:02 am
lanfranc
Funny coincidence. For a while way back when, I considered doing law instead of history, but got scared away by the enormous amounts of legal materials involved. So now I do a bit of legal history instead. Much better in the long run.
For some reason, law texts are much more interesting in Middle High German.
October 7, 2009 at 9:54 pm
2guysreadinggibbon
Thanks for Vox! I had no idea about the “red or green garments or curiously sewed together gloves, or beak-shaped shoes.” Now I know and understand. As a failed Medievalist (and probably faux as well), I have nothing but envy and admiration for someone who appends “yet” to statements with “learning another foreign language.” Thanks again – will enjoy reading more of you – thanks for the interesting blog on the Goths, and the new essay on Apollinaris.
February 9, 2011 at 11:25 pm
Elizabeth
As a medievalist who happens to live in er…’Merlin’s Town’ in the heart of um…Arthur’s country (Wales!) (depending on whether you ascribe to Arthur being, not only Welsh but just generally being!!), the Arthur Question is what I get in the main. Surprisingly, they don’t seem to want to know the truth when you start on the lack of evidence or spouting Gildas or Giraldus Cambrensis at them! Oh and as for mentioning Chretien…they’re suddenly up in arms! Odd, that.