7 ms·
Dear Dad, Send Money – Letters from Students in the Middle Ages
- alexro 11y agoIt was easier for me - I just needed to ring my parents and collect cash at the post office. But I kept the tradition going - first telling mom and dad how I'm getting well along with studies! Great times
- josephpmay 11y agoYou had to call your parents and wait at the post office? How old fashioned! Today my parents can just look at my credit card bill online and decide if they want to pay for any expenses.
- mcv 11y agoYour parents check your credit card bill? In my time, they just regularly transferred some money to my bank account.
- will_brown 11y agoTimely post. My Father (80) is in the process of publishing a book titled "Dear Mom: Letters Home From a Diplomatic Courier 50 Years Ago." Basically his Mother kept all the letters/postcards (~700) he sent home during his time traveling the World with the State Department. He recently began digitizing them to compile a book. It is almost a re-life Forest Gump story...a man in Moscow at the height of the cold war; being in Vietnam 6 years before the War and seeing the stage being set; camping in the Himalayas watching Chinese aggression against Buddhism; commenting on Black Churches being bombed in the South back home, etc...But really what is most striking is we think communication has changed so much in 50 years (internet, social media) but there is no doubt what we communicate is otherwise unchanged, like OP students requesting money in the middle ages. For those with interest here are a few letters, interested to hear the reaction of anyone outside friends/family: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wudj58edm2fjqd9/AAAQuGGfqE61orF5aLTk9abAa?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wudj58edm2fjqd9/AAAQuGGfqE61orF5a...
- kidsil 11y agoman his writing is very addictive. I hope you'll post about his book once it's out!! With all the noise out there, I hope it gets some serious attention.
- david-given 11y agoYeah, he's a good writer; the ones I've read breathe with life. And he's got a nice turn of snark too, low-key but pointed. I'm British, I appreciate that!
- syedkarim 11y agoCan you setup a Google form in the meantime, in case we don't come across your HN post with a landing page?
- will_brown 11y agobillbrowndearmom.weebly.com
- pavel_lishin 11y agoIs there anything we can subscribe to, so we can be notified when the book comes out?
- will_brown 11y agoMaybe I will set up a landing page with some sample letters and submit an HN post...but its nice to think others would have interest outside immediate friends/family.
- swedishturnip 11y agoMy father in law is in his eighties and served as a Swedish diplomat in Moscow in the 1960's (among other places). I know he too would love get a chance to read some of those letters.
- freshyill 11y agoI like how the kid butters him up a bit before just admitting that he's asking for beer money. Refreshingly honest.
- Danieru 11y agoOf worthy note: "In the year 1400 he penned this imaginary letter from a student to his father:"
- cfoobaz 11y agoSo that particular letter was a parody?
- knodi123 11y agoYes, that one was, although it's still medieval.
- kosievdmerwe 11y agoThough parodies and satires still offer you an insight into the lives and state of minds of people back then.
- stormbrew 11y agoThat's the Eustache Deschamps one. The first one, which the article doesn't attribute and doesn't claim is imaginary, also makes a veiled reference via Bacchus, though.
- sisl 11y agoThe first one is more subtle, but he's even more brazen. "For you must know that without Ceres and Bacchus Apollo grows cold." Ceres is the goddess of fertility. Bacchus the god of booze.
- freshyill 11y agoYeah that's the one I was referencing. Ceres is also the goddess of agriculture and grains, so I figured he was asking for beer (Ceres) and wine (Bacchus). Although your interpretation of Ceres would make this a much more interesting thing to write home to dad about.
- Enzolangellotti 11y agoCeres and Bacchus while he really meant Venus.
- raverbashing 11y agoI get Bacchus, but I'm drawing a blank on what does he means by Ceres and Apollo
- robbfitzsimmons 11y agoCeres = goddess of the harvest (grain, bread) Bacchus = god of the vine (wine) Apollo = god of light (enlightenment / knowledge)
- SoulMan 11y agoWe were tought in primary school how to write such telegrams in least possible words ..
- rav 11y agoIs the link dead? I get a 404.
- coldcode 11y agoDear Dad, send money. Dad: 404
- F_Catalan 11y agoAs a kid, every time I tried to hoodwink my father into bogus school supplies expenses he would recite this joke about a medieval student sending a letter to his uneducated father. After some platitudes similar to the ones in the article, the punchline was more or less like this (loses a bit in translation): "Three books I have to buy: Marcus, Tullius and Cicero. At three royals each, nine royals I need". The response was: "Marcus Tullius Cicero is one book. Here I send five royals, so you can send back two".
- logicallee 11y agoConspicuously absent: "you can scarcely imagine how expensive our text books are. Having tried to save some money through the purchase of a second-hand edition of Euclid's Elements, I am at risk of failing that class. The only change is that for this year's edition for some reason all the postulates have been renumbered, making it impossible for me to use the text in class."
- henriquemaia 11y ago"The city is expensive and makes many demands; I have to rent lodgings, buy necessaries, and provide for many other things which I cannot now specify." The list of bars and parties a student has to attend before graduating grows too long to be put on a letter.
- mcv 11y agoOne letter was surprisingly honest about the need to drink wine. But I totally get why most students can't specify those expenses in detail.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- bryanrasmussen 11y agoRE: Thine assay on my coinage - Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are most select and generous, chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
- WalterBright 11y agoMy grandfather went on a trip around the world as a coaler in 1894. His mother kept his letters home, and I transcribed them a few years back. http://walterbright.com/trip/chas.html http://walterbright.com/trip/chas.html
- BorisMelnik 11y agoI can't help but wonder if one day people will be looking at how adorable ancient programmers were in the 2000's with their "monitors" and "smart phones."