I’m reading The Making of the Middle Ages by R.W. Southern. This small book is a time machine. It takes me back to a world that seems familiar but really is very different and very unexpected. Southern writes so well and concisely that he sort of invites you in. The book was written in the fifties and I guess today it would be 900 pages long (not 272) and full of impenetrable, specialist academic jargon.
The only curious thing about it is that he gives Latin quotes in Latin without any attempt at translation. He assumes that anyone reading the book will be able to read Latin. Which is as much of an insight into British academia in the fifties as it is into the middle ages. Even though I studied the language from 11 to 21, I can remember so little of it now that I am unable to parse the stuff he quotes.
So my book learning has faded. But my enjoyment of well-written history books has not. That’s one gift that my history degree has given me. The other one came to me when I was thinking about those Latin quotes. It is the memory of one of my tutors.
When I was at Oxford, I took a course in medieval Latin. A tutor at Corpus Christi College was giving it. (Oxford is divided up into dozens of colleges. I was at Pembroke.) The first week twelve of us showed up. The second, four. By the third week it was only me and a friend of mine. So rather than give up the course, he turned it into a tutorial in his study. For a year or so, we turned up and he taught us. Each tutorial started with a cup of tea and a biscuit (cookie). He was witty, shrewd and learned. His study was more like a library. Even the blinds of his medieval attic room had Anglo-Saxon inscriptions on them.
A couple of episodes stick in my mind. Once, he was teaching us about the oath of fealty between a lord and his feudal vassal. But rather than teach it, we reenacted it with him as the vassal and me as the lord. Another time, one of the porters rang him up about a disciplinary incident (he was, I think, dean of the college). Some student had been caught vandalising or drunk or something. All he said was “do send him my regards.” I think the porter understood that this meant words of admonition and guidance but it was typical of his understated way of doing things.
Do I remember any Latin? No. But looking back, his generosity (he didn’t need to teach us at all), his hospitality (he didn’t need to give us tea) and his wry humour seem to be more valuable lessons. Especially in an age of “educational attainment goal-setting.”
Related posts:
Zachary Overline
Chris
Daniel Rose
hell
Master Dayton
mihaitur
Paul
TheKid
TransABC
Whitney Segura
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent. I always tell my kids that many of the most important things they learn at school will not come from the text books or be on a test. They will learn how to deal with different types of people, how people think, and how large group dynamics work or don’t work. This in additional to all of the random personal stuff.
I value my college education and miss those college days. I miss even more teaching. The lessons I learned from my students stick with me to this day.
Seems to me you’re overlooking a killer niche. With a little refresher study, you could be The World’s Only Latin-Capable Copywriter.
I’m just saying.
I just wrote a post about eBay and was going to use the phrase caveat emptor, and then thought, no it’s not only about buyers, it’s about sellers too. So I took a guess at what that phrase might be and then Googled it: caveat venditor, I was right. But, like I say the post is about both buyers and sellers and so that didn’t fit either…
In the end, I opted for caveat mercator. If that doesn’t mean what I think it means, then my total lack of an education in Latin will have all gone to waste
db
{ 1 trackback }