[Sca-cooks] inaccurate books

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Mon Mar 8 16:24:06 PST 2010


Suey said:
<<< In reference to "Charlemagne and the doctors," there were no
'doctors' in medieval history. The correct word is physician in this
case. Barbers, who bleed patients, were another matter. >>>

Oh! okay. So is "doctor" a medieval term? If so, what did it refer to?  
This may be less an error and more a choice even if strictly  
inaccurate. I often face this choice when trying to define or describe  
things in the Florilegium. I need things to be where people expect  
them to be, not necessarily the most accurate place for them to be. So  
sometimes things get filed under a term which is known to be post- 
period rather than using the period term. Because if I filed an item  
under the medieval term, folks wouldn't think to look there. The  
experts might, but my audience is less the experts than the common SCA  
person with a wide variety of interests but not necessarily expertise  
in a particular area.

<<<    Changing the subject a bit,  I have a problem with my colleagues
because they feel no book should be trashed. I disagree. I feel when a
book is historical 'crap,' it should be trashed so as to not to let
readers be mislead. I do not believe in the inquisition but when there
is no foundation for facts presented as history they should not be
admitted for publication. >>>

But who is this expert going to be who is going to decide which books  
are crap and which ones are great. And what about the books, and I  
would say this includes all books, that fall in-between trash and  
perfect. Where do you draw the line? So, sorry Suey, I fall closer to  
the viewpoint of your colleagues.

And again, I have direct experience in this. You will often find  
viewpoints in the Florilegium I disagree with. You will also find  
conflicting opinions in the same file. I'm not going to presume to  
have the expertise in enough areas to say what is and isn't the  
absolute, correct answer. And if I were to do so, it is possible  
someone tomorrow will come up with evidence to prove me wrong. What  
then of the person and their work I threw out?

No, if you disagree with something, write up your opinion and let it  
be tested along with the original thoughts or thesis. I guess this is  
one reason I have real problems with most organized religions and  
censorship.

<<<    Today I started reading Matt Cohen's Spanish translation of THE
SPANISH DOCTOR. It is about a Jewish physician and his family who were
persecuted by the "Spanish Inquisition." >>>

Again, I wouldn't ban or destroy this book, but I would encourage  
writings from folks correcting the book's fallacies. However, it  
sounds like this book is a novel and even if draped in the trappings  
of historical events, it isn't proclaiming itself to be an accurate  
description of that time period.

In the MEDIEVAL-LIFE section of the Florilegium, I do have this file:
hist-novels-msg    (6K)  7/ 3/05    Reviews of various historical  
novels.

with the idea of giving folks a chance to review various medieval  
historical fiction so they can get an idea of which books are good  
reads and which ones have what major historical flaws. You give some  
info in your message on one book, but it really isn't complete enough  
for me to use, but certainly I would recommend a more comprehensive  
review and bibliography. Your knowledge of Spanish history far  
surpasses that of most folks in the SCA.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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