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Page 495
cult or impossible. Sources for manners and customs disagree, largely because medieval people were not troubled by anachronism. Manuscript illustrations, paintings, and statues reflect the style at the time of production rather than the style at the time the subject(s) lived. For example, Dux bellorum Artorious (King Arthur) is usually depicted in fifteenth century armor, although the tales were mostly in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the legends go back to the sixth.
Certain anachronisms, however, have been used deliberately for convenience. The word English is used in a sense that would have horrified Richard's noblemen. At the time, English was a derogatory word; the English were a subject people. Therefore, there were no English "lords" or "barons" or "vassals." They were, of course, Normans, Poitevins, Angevins, and so onand that is how they regarded themselves. To call these people what they called themselves, however, would confuse the special political problems of those men whose major estates lay in England and who spent most of their time in that country. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of calling these people "English."
In addition, the choice of spelling for names has been arbitrary because there were no rules for spelling at the time, and transliteration from a native language to the Latin in which the chronicles or grants were written further changed spellings. For example, the name spelled Llewelyn in this book is spelled Leolin, Liolen, Llywelyn, and so on, in various sources. However, if any reader is puzzled as to who is meant or by any other matter or should find inaccuracies he/she would like to draw to my attention, I would be grateful for questions and suggestions.
R. G.
1977

 
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