Joseph Gies

“Across the bottom of the last page of many a book is written 'Explicit, Deo Gratias ('Finished, thank god')...Books are kept not on open shelves, but in locked chests. ”

“Instrumental keys [on organs], introduced in the twelfth century, are so heavy and stiff that they must be played with clenched fists. ”

“As the baby grows bigger, she [wet nurse] will chew his meat for him.”

“...beggars were permitted to enter great houses and solicit directly from the table, but now they are restricted to the doorstep. ”

“At mealtime a very broad cloth is laid on the trestle table in the solar. to facilitate service, places are set along one side only. On that side the cloth falls to the floor, doubling as a communal napkin...there are several kinds of knives...but no forks.”