“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.”

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

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

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

“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. ”

“Why, Sicarius, is it possible you have a playful side beneath your razor-edged knives, severe black clothing and humourless glares?”

“People should never think that you have to be a very special person to help those who need you.”