Joseph Gies > Quotes

“Across the bottom of the last page of many a book is written 'Explicit, Deo Gratias ('Finished, thank god')...Books are kept not on open shelves, but in locked chests. ”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“...beggars were permitted to enter great houses and solicit directly from the table, but now they are restricted to the doorstep. ”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“Instrumental keys [on organs], introduced in the twelfth century, are so heavy and stiff that they must be played with clenched fists. ”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“As the baby grows bigger, she [wet nurse] will chew his meat for him.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“At mealtime a very broad cloth is laid on the trestle table in the solar. to facilitate service, places are set along one side only. On that side the cloth falls to the floor, doubling as a communal napkin...there are several kinds of knives...but no forks.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“[A] vicar’s concubine, learning that the bishop was coming to order her lover to give her up, set out with a basket of cakes, chickens, and eggs, and intercepted the bishop, who asked her where she was going. She replied, “I am taking these gifts to the bishop’s mistress who has lately been brought to bed.” The bishop, properly mortified, continued on his way to call on the vicar, but never mentioned mistresses or concubines.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval Village

“For outdoors, he wears a mantle fastened at the shoulder with a clasp or chain; although buttons are sometimes used for decoration, the buttonhole has not been invented. ”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“Sometimes the pagan spirit of Roman poetry arouses qualms. Guibert of Nogent confesses in his autobiography that early in his monastic life he took up verse making and even fell into "certain obscene words and composed brief writings, worthless and immodest, in fact bereft of all decency," before abandoning this shocking practice in favor of commentaries on the Scriptures.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“Even for a well-to-do city family, making life comfortable is a problem. But arriving at a point where comfort becomes a problem for a fair number of people is a sign of advancing civilization.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“Between two each places stands a two-handed bowl, or ecuelle, which is filled with soup or stew. Two neighbors share the ecuelle, as well as a winecup and spoon.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“The undermining of the common fields, the declining effectiveness of the village’s internal government, and the development of a distinct group of wealthy tenants [spelled the] triumph of individualism over the interests of the community,” in the words of Christopher Dyer.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval Village

“A Jewish ethical treatise warns that a man must not express his anger by pounding on a book or by hitting people with it. The angry teacher must not hit the bad student with a book, nor should the student use a book to ward off blows.”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval City

“(To give an idea of monetary values, the usual daily wage of a skilled craftsman in the thirteenth century was about 4½ pence—there were 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound.)”
― Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval Castle