Preserving Culture

"Let one noble man bring fourth one noble author, and an other emprinte an other, to the conservacion of Englandes antiquities. In lyke case lete one ryche merchaunte brynge one worthye worke of an auncyent writer to lyght, and an other put fourth an other. Besides the Bryttyshe authors, whome I oft named afore, lete one bryng fourth Bedas de Oeatia Anglorvm, an other Willyam of Malmesbery de Geatis Pontijicum et Regum. Lete an other brynge fourth Simeon of Durham, wyth Rycharde and Johan of Haiigustalde, an other Aldrede and Wyllyam of RieuaU, wyth Marianus the Scott. An other Oiraldus CambreTiaia, an other Henry of Hwrvtyngdony an other Alphred of Beverley, an other Florence of Worceatre, and an other Walter of Exceatre. An other Roger Hoveden, an other Mathew Parys, an other John Bever, an other RaduLphus Niger, an other Radvlphua de Diceto, an other William Newhurg of Bridlington, an other John of Oxforde, An other ScaUe Temporum, an other Flores Historiarum, Aeserius, Osbemue, Oervaaivi Stephanides, and Ricardua Divisiensia of Wynchestre, wyth a wonderfiill nombre besydes."

That's the remarkable John Bale, writing in the mid-16th century, one of the first to recognize the worth of the writings of the Medieval English historians, and to urge that their works be preserved, printed and published. The passage above is quoted by Frederic Madden in the Preface of his 1866 edition of Matthew Paris' Historia Anglorum, also known as the Historia Minor to distinguish it from Paris' Chronica Majora. I was paging through this Preface while watching Henry Rollins on YouTube, telling an audience at a German music festival about how he has loaded up a terabyte flash drive with music and taken the flash drive to places like Iran and Sri Lanka, where people have trouble sometimes accessing Western music, and spreading it, one young Iranian or Sri Lankan with a laptop at a time, meanwhile loading up on things like underground Sri Lankan death metal, which Rollins says is awesome, and bringing it back to the West.