[Ansteorra] hiding mundane

[Jay Rudin]

Ker Megan asked:


> Is that the job that evolved into "clerk"?; as chirurgeons evolved into
> surgeon?

Yup.  Clerk (clericus) first meant somebody in minor holy orders, and then 
somebody who could read, and finally (mostly post-period) a specific job 
title for somebody who kept records.

In England, afer the murder of Thomas a Beckett, "benefit of clergy" was 
the right to be tried by the church (which did not hang people) rather than 
the state (which did).  But it applied to anyone who could read. 
Eventually, Henry VII decreed that literate people who were not in holy 
orders would only be able to claim benefit of clergy once.  The Renaissance 
playwright Ben Jonsson got off from a murder charge by claiming benefit of 
clergy, even though he was never connected with the church.

The test was always reading Psalms 51 (or 50, depending on the numbering 
system).  It was the appallingly appropriate "Miserere mei, Deus, secundus 
misericordiam tuam" ("O God, have mercy upon me, according to thine 
heartfelt mercifulness").  Since it could be used to keep your neck out of 
the noose, it came to be known as the "neck-verse".

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin