Dear Stephen, no - you are not, although Eco admitted after the publication of "Il nome della rosa" that he had smuggled some rather recent ideas (he named Wittgenstein) into his character's mouths. But with respect to eyeglasses - I suspect in future years I like many other elderly people will need one to read music, tablature a.s.o., so there is something like a justification for the topic here, ;) - he stayed with the truth. One finds eyglasses quite similar in construction to the "Ockeghem"-thing in Italian art of the fourteenth century as in german - erm - rubble heaps from the same century. Very nice are the ones from the Wienhausen convent (situated in Lower Saxonia), which are on display in the museum rooms of the convent. They were found as part of an enourmous "Tusculum Sammelsurium" (sorry, can't think of an English term here) in the 1950s, when the floor boards in the chapel of the convent were raised during restoration work. There is some music found, too - mostly single leafs and fragments with the exception of a songbook preserved almost in its entirety. No lute music, though ... All best, Joachim ."stephen arndt" <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb: > Since we seem to be taking a break from the lute, let me say that a number of > years ago I read a novel by Umberto Eco called "Il nome della rosa." The > story takes place in the 14th century, and if I recall correctly, one of the > main characters (frate Gugliemo) wears eyeglasses. I would be surprised at an > anachronism in a writer such as Eco, who has some pretty decent credentials, > so I suppose that eyeglasses existed already at that time. Am I mistaken in > that supposition? > > Stephen Arndt > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- Dr. Joachim Lüdtke Frühlingsstraße 9a D - 93164 Laaber Tel. +49-+9498 / 905 188
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