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<blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5006166" data-attributes="member: 54707"><p>You know, I hadn't thought of that but it makes a lot of sense as a "smuggler's language."</p><p></p><p>Say you develop a fighting guild with good techniques in Venice, and that you want to keep such techniques and practices (maybe even the fact that such a Guild exists there - after all surprise is almost always the best offense) a secret, but German agents are curious to know what the Italians know, then just pay to have the text copied into Latin. Copy the illustrations with corresponding page notations in another book, smuggle that to a monastery in Germany (or wherever the target locale is) then have your monks (who read and write the same static church Latin as any other Catholic church in Christendom) then retranslate it into German, match up the illustrations, and you've got your own copy of the book.</p><p></p><p>Of course if it can be done and there is little security involved then you just have one of your agents pay for the original and then have a translator do it once in-country. But if it's in Church Latin then the work can be smuggled anywhere and easily retranslated by monks and scribes for a nominal fee (or perhaps favor to the monetary or parish) anywhere in Europe.</p><p></p><p>It would be hard to keep even militarily proprietary techniques secure from Church Latin. Because any church or monastery in Christendom (Latin Christendom anyways) can translate any material so written. </p><p></p><p>Good observation.</p><p></p><p>It makes me wonder if any manuals of this type might be wandering about in code somewhere. </p><p></p><p>To prevent Latin from making all such manuals "Open Books."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A lot of the more isolated monasteries (really rural instead of near large population centers) would have to be able to protect themselves from bands of raiders and bandits, small groups of foreign invaders and skirmishers, and even local nobles who went rogue.</p><p></p><p>No one could reach them in time if a determined party decided to raid and kill so they'd have to protect themselves if absolteutly necessary. It might be thought of as a distasteful but necessary evil.</p><p></p><p>So they would also have a personal and group interest in such manuals for self-defense when needed. And I can't help but wonder if on occasion they didn't either covertly instruct female family members, lovers, or even noble women (maybe a husband wants his wife or daughter to know how to defend herself while he's away, but societal pressures prevent open arms instruction, pay a monastery to secretly teach some females self-defense) in such arts.</p><p></p><p>Of course the illustration could have been of someone in disguise, or even a sort of illustrative code, showing that this person was playing the "female part" in the armed encounter. Could represent any number of things.</p><p></p><p>Well, I've got most of the links secured and listed in my broswers now. So I'm off to bed. I'll explore them in detail later on.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jack7, post: 5006166, member: 54707"] You know, I hadn't thought of that but it makes a lot of sense as a "smuggler's language." Say you develop a fighting guild with good techniques in Venice, and that you want to keep such techniques and practices (maybe even the fact that such a Guild exists there - after all surprise is almost always the best offense) a secret, but German agents are curious to know what the Italians know, then just pay to have the text copied into Latin. Copy the illustrations with corresponding page notations in another book, smuggle that to a monastery in Germany (or wherever the target locale is) then have your monks (who read and write the same static church Latin as any other Catholic church in Christendom) then retranslate it into German, match up the illustrations, and you've got your own copy of the book. Of course if it can be done and there is little security involved then you just have one of your agents pay for the original and then have a translator do it once in-country. But if it's in Church Latin then the work can be smuggled anywhere and easily retranslated by monks and scribes for a nominal fee (or perhaps favor to the monetary or parish) anywhere in Europe. It would be hard to keep even militarily proprietary techniques secure from Church Latin. Because any church or monastery in Christendom (Latin Christendom anyways) can translate any material so written. Good observation. It makes me wonder if any manuals of this type might be wandering about in code somewhere. To prevent Latin from making all such manuals "Open Books." A lot of the more isolated monasteries (really rural instead of near large population centers) would have to be able to protect themselves from bands of raiders and bandits, small groups of foreign invaders and skirmishers, and even local nobles who went rogue. No one could reach them in time if a determined party decided to raid and kill so they'd have to protect themselves if absolteutly necessary. It might be thought of as a distasteful but necessary evil. So they would also have a personal and group interest in such manuals for self-defense when needed. And I can't help but wonder if on occasion they didn't either covertly instruct female family members, lovers, or even noble women (maybe a husband wants his wife or daughter to know how to defend herself while he's away, but societal pressures prevent open arms instruction, pay a monastery to secretly teach some females self-defense) in such arts. Of course the illustration could have been of someone in disguise, or even a sort of illustrative code, showing that this person was playing the "female part" in the armed encounter. Could represent any number of things. Well, I've got most of the links secured and listed in my broswers now. So I'm off to bed. I'll explore them in detail later on. [/QUOTE]
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