ANST - Period Scams?

[Paul Mitchell]

Joe Wolf recently said:

>With all the talk recently of computer viruses and prayer hoaxes (all 
>off-topic) I begin to wonder about such 
>scams in the period we study.  Papal Indulgences aside,  (and I won't go 
>into whether these are a scam or
>not! Too heated of a topic!) does anyone know of a medieval equivalent of 
>a chainletter or get-rich-quick scam?
>
>Herr Manfred von Wolf
>Barony of the Stargate
>
>
>[Psssst... wanna buy a piece of the true cross?  How about one of Saint 
>Michael's pinfeathers?]

Actually, my understanding is that a lot of money was made in period
by people preying on the religious faith of the gullible.

A practicing Catholic, I can tell you that papal indulgences were
a sincere practice that were severely abused, but which (abuse over)
still exist today.  The traffic in saints' relics is another example
of popular scams in period.  I remember that Friar Tuck in one version
of Robin Hood had a collection of chicken bones (which he had just
eaten the meat from) that he was planning to sell as the finger
bones of various saints.

The cyncism of crooks, however, doesn't affect the validity of
faith.  If I went around selling pieces of the One True Baldric 
of Lloyd von Eaker, that would not impact Duke Lloyd's value as
a teacher of fighters or an exemplar of chivalry.  Not even if
Sir Pendaran (his former squire) was fooled and paid me dearly
for my entire stock.

Around the turn of the first millennium, several folks made a
lot of money convincing people that the world was about to end
and that they needed to give away their worldly possessions.
But chain letters?  I really doubt that the level of literacy
was sufficient to support something like that.

We look back and laugh at people who thought the world was
flat.  Future people will laugh at us, who thought that
viruses could come through e-mail and erase our harddrives.

- Galen of Bristol
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