"If sovereignty hangs in a lion's jaws,
Then rob his fangs. Go. This risk's yours to run.
Win glory, fame and power to give laws
Or end as heroes end. Take death head-on."
— Hanzala Badghisi tr. from Persian (9th century)
mihtarī gar ba kām-i šēr dar ast
šaw, xatar kun, zi kām-i šēr bijōy
yā buzurgī u 'izz u ni'mat u jāh
yā ču mardānt marg rōyārōy
Mauntel, Christoph, Gewalt in Wort und Tat: Praktiken und Narrative im spätmittelalterlichen Frankreich (Mittelalter-Forschungen 46), Ostfildern, 2014.
"If you can master your own mind, then you're a man.
If you don't mock the deaf and blind, then you're a man.
It is not manliness to kick men when they're down.
Give fallen men a hand. Be kind. Then, you're a man."
— Rōdakī (10th century), tr. from Persian
Gar bar sar-i nafs-i xwad amīrī, mardī
bar kōr u kar ar nukta nagīrī, mardī
mardī nabuwad futādarā pāy zadan
gar dast-i futādaē bigīrī, mardī.
"Therefore we go to Speyer to the other buried kings!"? Really? #otd 1291 King Rudolf I died in Speyer - chroniclers writing later report that he travelled to this place especially to die. #medievaldeath#Medieval@medievodons@histodons
Hartmann, Florian, Ars dictaminis: Briefsteller und verbale Kommunikation in den italienischen Stadtkommunen des 11. bis 13. Jahrhunderts (Mittelalter-Forschungen 44), Ostfildern 2013.