Aleric Donnal’s notebook
Aleric Donnal’s notebook
I discussed my intended return to Brittany at the end of term with the professor, who said he would be sad to lose me from the department because my tutorials are popular with the undergraduates. He wished me luck with the book I plan to write and I told him how much I appreciated his support.
I am working on a paper I will use as the basis for my book – the use of animal imagery in the medieval imagination.
But what I have discovered in the Fontescue archives concerning Brother Anselm’s activities has become a major distraction and I feel I now need to follow the trail he has set out for me.
Perhaps he is becoming an obsession. I do hope not, because I have seen obsessions destroy minds far more brilliant than my own.
Anselm does not name his sinner directly, but he gives clues to his identity.
I have found vague references to carvings in local churches that were paid for as penance.
Misericords were mentioned, those hidden seats in the choirs of ancient churches designed for the comfort of those obliged to stand during long services.
There is no remedy for my dilemma, Anselm writes, apart from giving my sinner penance for the unholy thoughts he has confessed to me.
Being wealthy, he has offered to make gifts to local churches, thinking such generosity will save his soul from damnation.
One time I told him that priests and other men of God were ever grateful for some rest during a long mass, and what I said half in jest was taken in earnest. Churches here are to have misericords, seats of mercy for the weary carved with strange and fearsome beasts, a reminder of the sins that mar the human soul.
He has not, so far, acted on his dark desires. And I pray he never will.