[Ansteorra] Can someone confirm/deny for me?

[Jeffrey Clark]

Even music notation of the time was really a type of short-hand, and
scholars are still debating what most of it means.

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 10:40 PM, Richard Culver <rbculver at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> Actually Dark Ages is a bit of a historian bigotry, particularly when
> matters shift away from Roman and/or Greek tradition.  The fact of the
> matter is there was significant amount of writing and learning going on in
> the so-called Dark Ages; it just was in places like Merovingian France,
> Northumbria in English, Utrecht in the Netherlands, and other such places.
>
> As to whether they would have written them or not, it does not seem to be
> the case in a number of texts we have from the period.  Indeed many stories
> copied into manuscript show narratives where the narrator left out details
> under the understanding his target audience already knew the reference.  It
> would be similar to me telling you a story in which I mention a child sang
> the Alphabet Song.  If I knew you had kids or a similar experience with
> young children, I could culturally assume, for the most part, that the tune
> you would think is the one which follows, roughly,  the same melody of
> Twinkly, Twinkle, Little Star.  Back to period, a writer might mention a
> character used a weather charm, but because the audience of farmers, many
> superstitious and likely using said charm at one point or another, knew it,
> there was no reason for the author to sell out the charm.
>
> Though laws were written, in many Germanic lands they were still written in
> alliterative verse style, which is a remnant of the oral tradition of
> lawgivers who used the poetic tool to memorize them.  This certainly was
> the
> case in Iceland where I believe the Law-Speaker was required to recite a
> third of the law each year for three (if I remember that correctly).  So
> even with writing systems around, some traditions were established so well
> as to keep them oral.
>
> Gódspéde,
> Wihtric
>
> In response to both:
> > I understand the importance of the oral tradition that we use in the
> > SCA. In period that is how it is done, but if rely only on the passing
> > down in oral tradition now we stand the chance of losing some of the
> > greatest songs and stories in the SCA.
> > If they would have known how to write them down, I am sure they would
> have.
> >
> > Lord Devin
>
> And....
>
> I think my point was lost. I know that people have been writing since long
> ago...but they do not call them the Dark Ages for nothing. A lot of things
> were
> lost and I believe that even during the time period we study that most
> people
> did not know how to read or write, and if they did, then it was few and
> only
>
> those who could afford to learn. True?
>
> Lord Devin
>
>
>
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