Recent content by Bruce N H

Hey all, I was re-listening to the podcast of the Name of the Rose class and noticed something interesting. In Jorge's big sermon in Day 5: Compline he's condemning the pride of the abbey for daring to seek after forbidden knowledge and near the end says this: "But this is not to make us...

Hey all, I also just ran across a YouTube video, which has many more examples.

Hey all, The algorithm just fed me this article: Why Medieval Artists Doodled Killer Bunnies in Their Manuscript Margins It's fairly short. I figured members of this community would find it interesting. It touches on things we've done in three points: - In the Mythgard Academy study of the...

Hey all, I've recently started listening again to a podcast that a lot of people around here might find interesting, the History of English Podcast. I figure by virtue of our connection to Tolkien some interest in philology might have rubbed off on some of us, and the development of language...

That is very cool. As I reread Mallory I was surprised about how many stories echo in other stories, like the obvious paralleling of Tristam's story with Lancelot's. On the drawing of swords that no one else can, that's a recurring theme with Galahad as well - wasn't it the same sword that...

Cool note that Fisher King is close to Sinner King in the French, that really helps. I had always assumed it was somehow related to several of the apostles being fishermen, and Christ's call for them to become fishers of men. Also it would make sense to relate the Saracens to Sarras. Does the...

Don't know about YouTube, but if you go to the Tolkien Professor channel on Apple podcasts and scroll all the way back to the very start (2009) you can find them. As far as I can see the oldest thing Corey posted (that's still online) was is "How to Read Tolkien and Why" lecture, followed by...

I think we have to go back to the history of the Ring and the Rings. At the time that Sauron forged the One Ring, at least some of those had been already sent out (e.g. we have the dwarven tradition that Celebrimbdor gave a ring directly to Durin's heir (I forget who was king of Moria at the...

Of course, if the poem is inscribed around the ring, the loop keeps going endlessly: The finding leads to the bringing leads to the binding leads to the ruling leads to the finding leads to the bringing leads to the ... And on and on and on. Of course in the English it makes more sense for the...

Hi all, I'm re-reading Morte and re-listening to the Mythgard Academy classes. In session 30 we were finishing up the Grail quest. Corey notes that it feels like the quest comes to a conclusion when Galahad, Percival, and Bors "came to the castel of Carbonek / And whan they were entryd within...

Wow, cool. I'm currently rereading the Morte and re-listening to the Mythgard Academy class. So if I'm getting this right we have three levels to Kay's mockery: - This guy's clothes fit poorly - obviously to Kay because he's of low birth, but actually as we soon learn because he's wearing the...

Hi all, When William visits the glasier on day 1 there is a conversation about the lights in the library at night, and the glasier says "I think those lamps are prepared for visions" and then proceeds to describe how different candles and lamps can cause anyone who inhales the smoke to see...

Very interesting. I've always had a very uninformed view of the inquisition, as much shaped by Gestapo interrogators in WWII movies as by any actual medieval history. And, of course, there's always Monty Python and Mel Brooks.

Hi all, Today I was listening to the Name of the Rose class 5 in preparation for class 6 this evening. In Day One - After Nones - William and Adso were in the scriptorium having a conversation prompted by Adelmo's illuminations. In class Corey was discussing the difference between imagination...

I think the main thing lies in just the Hobbit preference for normalcy and predictability. Think back to the start of the Hobbit. Going on adventures was not a thing respectable hobbits did. So for this venerable old hobbit, richest in the region, and seemingly settled down since his crazy...