Dear Ron and all, thank you for the suggestion and please forgive my tired head for using this expression. I once found it written on a little box meant to hold things you don't find a better place for: Tusculum was a town near Rome. Cicero had a villa nearby: Tusculanum. Over the course of the centurys Tusculum became used sysnonymously with Tusculanum and later (not sure: Early Modern Times?) a word for a treasure house or something smaller to hold things dear to one. "Sammelsurium" ist colloquial German for ..... let's see: omnium gatherum. I suspect that England was not slow to adopt the oculi de vitro cum capsula, but I can't remember having found one in the York Clergy Wills, e.g., where one can read about Richard Plummers "lutte with a cays" and other musical items. But these wills are quite a bit late - I really think that inventions like eyeglasses spread rapidly. Most people did not live nearly as long as today, but those who lived in the relative comfort of monasteries or belonged to the wealthy often grew old enough to develop a weak eyesight. Hm - I'm just looking on reproductions of Holbein's portrait sketches made in England - not a single person wearing glasses, even not Thomas More's father - but this may be due to glasses in paintings sometimes meant the person wearing one was stupid ... On Holbein's family portrait of the Mores there ist no musical instrument visible, but in a copy from 1592 on can see a lute and a viol (just to find the way back to something lute related). All best, Joachim
"Ron Fletcher" <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb: > Hi Joachim, > > Could the words Tusculum Sammelsurium mean an archaelogical 'dig' during the > church restoration? > > Thanks for your information...Still curious as to when glasses came to > England and, if our lutenist were short sighted as the aged. > > Best Wishes > > Ron (UK) > > -----Original Message----- > From: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 26 November 2006 11:48 > To: stephen arndt > Cc: lute-list (Renaissance) > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Eyeglasses > > 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 > > -- > > > > > > -- Dr. Joachim Lüdtke Frühlingsstraße 9a D - 93164 Laaber Tel. +49-+9498 / 905 188 --
