Thursday, June 03, 2010

Frankalmoigne

FRANKALMOIGNE, n. The tenure by which a religious corporation holds lands on condition of praying for the soul of the donor. In mediaeval times many of the wealthiest fraternities obtained their estates in this simple and cheap manner, and once when Henry VIII of England sent an officer to confiscate certain vast possessions which a fraternity of monks held by frankalmoigne, "What!" said the Prior, "would your master stay our benefactor's soul in Purgatory?" "Ay," said the officer, coldly, "an ye will not pray him thence for naught he must e'en roast." "But look you, my son," persisted the good man, "this act hath rank as robbery of God!" "Nay, nay, good father, my master the king doth but deliver him from the manifold temptations of too great wealth."

2010 Update: A sacrifice made to the LORD of hosts in exchange for those battalions otherwise unengaged.
Once upon a time, a thane of Scotland established by way of Frankalmoigne a monastery upon a rocky crest. The abbot, also a Scot, promised vigorous prayer by the brothers for the "Wee" of the thane's house and descendents. And so it was henceforth until a grandson of the original thane, during a down-market in wool, replaced the monks' annual shipment of lamb with fleece.
The thane, then an old man, came into the great hall one evening to put out the torches only to find his grandson lying murdered amid the monks.
"Och!" cried the donor, "Ye merdurin' rapscallions! me purr wee grandson! I'll gae nothin' fuir his hide and tallow! Yuir sappose ta be prayin' fuir his soul!"
"Indeed we were," explained the abbot, "fervently, but we know how you and the almighty despise excess."

17 comments:

the amoeba said...

Ah, so the grandson tried to fleece them, did he?

FRANKALMOIGNE, n. Soul benefactor.

Russell CJ Duffy said...

And good old King Harry, having 'confiscated' the priories from the Catholic church then sold them to members of his own circle for a neat turn of profit. This not only upset, understandably, the Pope but also several Priests who found themselves without home and often heads.
A case maybe where "commerce and common 'indecency' have come into play"

:)

k. riggs gardner said...

"Recognizing that if my old friends will ever google me and find my blog it will happen this week ..."

Sacrifice and murder is so dramatic. Waking Ambrose should gain battalions of new readers by week's end.

TLP said...

You know Frank, right? Frank al Moigne? He invented somethingorother to do with transient polysemiotic charities in England. Somethin' like that. I am so sure. Or else, what you said.

Nessa said...

Thems guys sure did speaked funny back in yon times.

Pray for me and I'll give you a dollar.

k. riggs gardner said...

Actually, Sean the Vampire, if you head over to the Cheesemeister's house, she'll give you a Steak Through the Heart.

Or was that the Axe Man's coffin?

Where o where is Tempest Nightingale LeTrope, the failed Victorian novelist, when she's needed?

Oh that's right. She fell asleep after pricking her finger on an old spinning wheel while exploring the attic in what was once the Overlook Hotel but became the Netherworld hotel upon imploding into the Netherworld.

k. riggs gardner said...

Or perhaps masterymystery will pray for your soul, Sean.

Either way, if you pray for Marine Land you'll find cute, ugly and jerky fish of all sizes.

k. riggs gardner said...

Oh, excuse me, Nessa. I forgot you were there. Here's your dollar.

quilly said...

Amoeba and TLP got all of the brilliance today. I shall just support them with a bravo!

I used to think Karen didn't like Nessa, but I have changed my mind. I think Karen must actually have a crush on Nessa.

k. riggs gardner said...

My mistake, Q. I stopped reading after the first three letters. I just traveled through time to Fraticide. That word means killing a jackazz. Or is it a military term for Friendly Fire?

i'm sorry i hurt your feelings,TLP and Amoeba.

:(

k. riggs gardner said...

Dang, A-Bell! Can you just be quiet for once in your hot INXS life?

Go read a book in the laundromat or something.

Jim said...

I won't discuss the comments here today. I Googled "Karen" but didn't get Karen's blog. There were lots of sexy images though.

Thank you Doug! That's a neat old truck you found over there at Deep Springs. Did you get to drive it? I read the students do most of the work to help keep the budget in line.
..
Sorry I was soooooo busy yesterday I didn't do blogging.

Today I Googled your word, frankalmoigne. One first page entry was "Buy frankalmoigne items on eBay." Guess we can buy anything on eBay. Maybe even Alice.
..

k. riggs gardner said...

Whew! I'm glad my comment was deleted. It was very unlady like.

Thank you, Douglas Wyoming.

Ariel the Thief said...

Yeah, Quilly, you are right. I immediately knew Karen loves us, though. Sometimes it is a little embarrassing that she says all those wonderful things about us, but her kindness comes from her heart, I have never met a person nicer before.

k. riggs gardner said...

Yeah, Quilly, it's gettin' late here on the EST. I may have to google the word, BREVITY. I hope you don't mind.

Ariel the Thief should meet a friend of mine from another blog. His name is lopsidus and he says *SMOOCH* a lot.

ROTFLMAO ...

Word veri Odermo. (Isn't that a hamlet in Hungary?)

Anonymous said...

... oh yes,comments for yesterday,just say,n...
happy and safe travels

peace and out

Doug The Una said...

Amoeba, that's a particularly good pun.

C.J., on one of your walks about London, try to find a historical location where commerce and common indecency didn't come into play.

Karen, that doesn't mean anyone will. Just that I should keep names and embarrassments separate.

TLP, wasn't it semisyllabic syllabaries?

Nessa, we should try that with paypal.

Karen, we all need to watch our fingers around anything that spins.

Quilly, a chorus of applause is always welcome. You really go in for the pun, don't you?

Karen, I'm sure you're probably forgiven.

Actonbell, I'm sure the clerk meant High School senior discount. Were you buying books?

Karen, be fair to Actonbell. Incessant braying may be the injury to us, but it's probably a symptom to the one doing it all.

Jim, the labor program at Deep Springs comes from the founder's frustration as a miner. According to the story he would bring engineers from back East and find they had no practical skills or hire locals from the west and find they couldn't be bothered with theory. So the idea was to train up the mind and the arms. I arrived with calloused hands and left with a hide-bound brain.

You're welcome, Karen. If you curate me, I can edit you, It's like barter.

Ariel, vampire love is the purest of all.

True, Karen. Heimdall would do well here.

Bear, did I forget to answer them? Pax!