Beards

There was an old law of the Alemanni which ran: Si Barbam alicujus tonderit non volentis, cum sex solidis componat, that is to say that the fine for shaving a man against his will was fixed at six gold coins. And in later years the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who had clearly a vested interest, fixed the fine for this offence at twenty pounds, with ten pounds damages to the victim. Fines were, in fact, frequently mentioned, among old Teutonic laws, for forcible shaving as an injury and insult.

Quoted on October 4, 2011

I have often wondered when and how this historical sense began, and how far it has carried us. The Victorians certainly thought they had it, and were doubtless attentive to sartorial detail in a stage play; yet their mediaeval romances are merely fairy-stories about themselves, rigged up in fancy dress and waving property Excaliburs. Will our own work look any more convincing to the irreverent gallery of Posterity?

Quoted on January 22, 2010