Posted on 03/02/2010 6:23:06 AM PST by Palter
What is believed to be the first ever example of English in a British church has been discovered.
It was written half a millennia ago and its message was serious enough to be painted carefully on the wall of England's finest cathedral.
But now it seems no one can quite decipher exactly what the inscription on the wall of Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire actually says.
It was hidden for 350 years behind a monument to a local aristocrat who was 'martyred' in the English Civil War for his support of King Charles I but rediscovered in January by astonished conservators.
And baffled experts have resorted to asking members of the public with a keen eye for deciphering puzzles to have a look at the text, and a computer-enhanced version, to see if they can help out.
Tim Tatton Brown, the cathedral's consultant archaeologist, explained: "The Cathedral's conservators quite unexpectedly found some beautifully written English text behind the Henry Hyde Monument on the cathedral's south aisle wall when the monument was temporarily removed as part of the on-going schedule of work.
"I had originally surmised the text date from the 16th century, bearing in mind that the monument was erected soon after 1660. However, our researchers now suggest it was written a century earlier and therefore pre-dates the Reformation.
"My colleague Dr John Crook has made a comprehensive detailed photographic record of the script and subsequently enhanced the letter forms on his computer," he added.
The writing was carefully painted onto a wall at Salisbury Cathedral
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
From the news article....
“And what the experts now think is that this could be the first example of English written in a church context - scholars were executed for translating the bible into English at that tune.”
From what i can make out it says
OMG.....Cuthefene...something something...We are the world...
Okay, I stand corrected.
First example of English in a church context, ‘name that tune’.
assuming it predates Henry VIII .. Salisbury is
a Catholic cathedral is it not?
...when they knew the difference between millennia and millennium.
Hot tea dripping down my chin. Thanks a lot :).
“He who writes on church house walls...”
They were all Catholic cathederals in England. Even when they became the Church of England Latin was still the spoken language up until recently.
Leni
I’m with you. First word is ‘ethylene’.
“Center right, I see ‘ethylene’”
Hah! So did I!
“Bingo has been moved to Tuesday nights.”
LOL!
Great deduction, Sherlock. Those old alchemists were more advanced than we ever thought. We may further deduce that the ethylene glycol was the main ingredient for anti-freeze even back then. I wait breathlessly for news that archeologists have dug up the first automobile.
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