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N8CCRG t1_iy41qh1 wrote

>Significantly, she found Eadburg’s name passionately etched into the margins of the manuscript in five places, while abbreviated forms of the name appear a further 10 times.

>This suggests it is likely to have been Eadburg herself who made the marks. “I could understand why somebody might write someone else’s name once. But I don’t know why you would write somebody else’s name so many times like that,” Hodgkinson said.

Are we pretending that a man obsessing over a woman is a modern invention?

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SendMeNudesThough t1_iy45os1 wrote

“I could understand why somebody might write someone else’s name once. But I don’t know why you would write somebody else’s name so many times like that,”

This is definitely a line written by someone who has never seen a teenager's diary.

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Might_Aware t1_iy4a63v wrote

Or whom never had her name written more than once herself...or never etched her crushs last name on hers. Like, helllooo, ever go to elementary school?

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MostlyPseudonymous t1_iy45gcw wrote

I facepalmed hard reading that, glad it wasn't just me.

"it's inconceivable to me personally as a single adult woman that a man could ever have written a woman's name over and over in a book."

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jigokubi t1_iy55k1f wrote

Yet she thinks it's perfectly normal for someone to write their own name in a book over and over...

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ButterflyAttack t1_iy57r0f wrote

Just goes to show how you have to take history with a pinch of salt. Historians' preconceptions colour their perceptions like anyone else's.

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shewy92 t1_iy8f2jf wrote

I did that when I was practicing my autograph for when I become a famous race car driver when I was bored in class as a teenager.

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jigokubi t1_iy9ivwa wrote

Maybe someone a thousand years from now will look at one of the old textbooks you had under the paper, find the impression of your signature, and write a news article about you.

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Nuntiak t1_iy587hv wrote

> …tiny, rough drawings of figures – in one case, of a person with outstretched arms, reaching for another person who is holding up a hand to stop them … Hodgkinson hopes further study will reveal the meanings of these figures and the ancient transcription, which has so far proved impossible to translate.

Really, Hodgkinson? Are we going to pretend we all don’t “know” EXACTLY what these figures mean?

Some medieval dude had an unrequited crush on Eadburg. He doodled in the book with his stylus while he was supposed to be studying.

We’ve all been there.

Except Hodgkinson apparently. Lucky Hodgkinson.

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CreativeKeane t1_iy6mbre wrote

I figured they're just playing dumb to get more funding and research money.

I hope they find more doodles. It's kinda cute but poor homie and the unrequited love.

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PMmeserenity t1_iy6wbqk wrote

This is the obvious interpretation. I totally agree. But if you go with that explanation, you loose the whole story about a "rare" example of a woman's writing from that era.

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vesparider t1_iy4l7x5 wrote

This is the equivalent of an 8th grade notebook with a first crush being scribbled inside. The person writing clearly knew if someone saw the text, they'd get some shit so they did it stealthily.

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Igoos99 t1_iyawoln wrote

Exactly. Look at any teenager’s notebook. The name written over and over again on it is very often not their own.

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