Fw: [Elfsea] Re: Challenge

[Morgan Cain (Ansteorra)]

> Just out of curiosity how did this Duchess even hear of Judas
> Macabbee?, was she Jewish by any chance? Just wondering?

Tegwared, Judas Maccabeus was one of the Nine Worthies in their most popular
configuration.  These Worthies constituted three trios, one from the Ancient
World, one from the Classical World, and one from the "Modern" (to the 14th
Century) or Christian world.  They were well-known to the Christian world
that created them from the mid-14th-Century onwards.  So, unless Her Grace
is very early, she would have heard all about the Worthies, Judas Maccabeus
included.  It's interesting to study how this bit of Jewish history ended up
in the Catholic bible.

Each Worthy had certain traits that a man was to emulate, and was also
assigned armory (I think four of the nine had their own, the others got
fanciful arms) so that he could be more easily recognized in an allegorical
setting.  They were often used as symbols of how man SHOULD behave,
something like an early Hall of Fame of Chivalry and Comportment.  Some
tellers gave each a distinct trait, sometimes they had more than one, or the
traits overlapped.  Almost all the Worthies are warriors.

I've done a lecture on the Nine Worthies for several years, ever since I
stumbled across a reference and was fascinated.  It usually scores as a
philosophy class.

                                            ---= Morgan


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making
  exciting discoveries."                               ---=  A. A. Milne
"....look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else."
        ---= Tom Stoppard, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" (1967)