
Dear Dad, Send Money – Letters from Students in the Middle Ages - diodorus
http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/05/dear-dad-send-money-letters-from-students-in-the-middle-ages/
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will_brown
Timely 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/AAAQuGGfqE61orF5a...](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wudj58edm2fjqd9/AAAQuGGfqE61orF5aLTk9abAa?dl=0)

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Stratoscope
These are wonderful! Your dad was quite the ladies' man too. I love the
depiction of the Bengali princess: "...I doubt if she realizes that there are
a group of people on earth who actually work and it is this which makes the
world go around. She floats endlessly in her world of art, poetry, and
creativity... It will be a considerable relief when this girl has returned to
London and I can become rested again..."

Would he mind a suggestion on the title? If this book is as good as the
letters you shared, people will be reading it 10, 20, 30 years from now. So
"50 Years Ago" is a bit of a moving target. Not sure if it would be an
improvement to just mention the actual decades in the subtitle, or a reference
to the events of the time, or maybe just leave out the "50 Years Ago" entirely
since as you noted this is really timeless. Just food for thought.

Please put up that email subscription form! :-)

p.s. Any chance of an ebook or Kindle edition?

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will_brown
billbrowndearmom.weebly.com

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staz
[http://billbrowndearmom.weebly.com](http://billbrowndearmom.weebly.com)

Clickable link. Looking forward to reading the rest !

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henriquemaia
"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.

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mcv
One letter was surprisingly honest about the need to drink wine. But I totally
get why most students can't specify those expenses in detail.

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F_Catalan
As 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".

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logicallee
Conspicuously 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."

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BorisMelnik
I 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."

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freshyill
I like how the kid butters him up a bit before just admitting that he's asking
for beer money. Refreshingly honest.

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Danieru
Of worthy note: "In the year 1400 he penned this imaginary letter from a
student to his father:"

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cfoobaz
So that particular letter was a parody?

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knodi123
Yes, that one was, although it's still medieval.

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coldcode
Dear Dad, send money. Dad: 404

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alexro
It 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

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josephpmay
You 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.

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mcv
Your parents check your credit card bill? In my time, they just regularly
transferred some money to my bank account.

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WalterBright
My 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)

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rav
Is the link dead? I get a 404.

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bryanrasmussen
RE: 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.

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Enzolangellotti
Ceres and Bacchus while he really meant Venus.

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raverbashing
I get Bacchus, but I'm drawing a blank on what does he means by Ceres and
Apollo

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robbfitzsimmons
Ceres = goddess of the harvest (grain, bread) Bacchus = god of the vine (wine)
Apollo = god of light (enlightenment / knowledge)

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SoulMan
We were tought in primary school how to write such telegrams in least possible
words ..

