Medieval Copy Protection 226
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the thou-shall-write-your-own-book dept.
from the thou-shall-write-your-own-book dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In medieval times a 'book curse' was often included on the inside cover or on the last leaf of a manuscripts, warning away anyone who might do the book some harm. Here's a particularly pretty one from Yale's Beinecke MS 214: 'In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. In the one thousand two hundred twenty-ninth year from the incarnation of our Lord, Peter, of all monks the least significant, gave this book to the [Benedictine monastery of the] most blessed martyr, St. Quentin. If anyone should steal it, let him know that on the Day of Judgment the most sainted martyr himself will be the accuser against him before the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.'"
Famously.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Book of Revelation ends like this:
Not copy-protection, but an "invariant section" definition as in the GFDL [debian.org]. The translation is medieval, but the original and therefore clearly the practice is much older. Since there was no government-provided copyright law with which to enforce this, threatening eternal damnation is pretty much the only resort available. (Right?)
(Sidenote: of course, this was written before that book was commonly bound into a single-volume manuscript, but that doesn't stop people from assuming that they were meant to apply to the entire bible in its current form.)
Re:::facepalm:: (Score:4, Interesting)
Not steal. It doesn't forbid copying the bible into your own personal notebook. "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself. But the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.
"Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine...
"That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property." - Thomas Jefferson
Therefore:
While I can claim ownership of this bible, and label you a "thief" if you steal it (because I have been deprived of use of the computer), I have NO natural right to claim ownership of the ideas contained within. Your copying of text deprives me of nothing. I still possess knowledge.
Re:Imagine that. (Score:4, Interesting)
Say it ain't so! :(
Actually, most good books [sic] in the middle ages were chained to the library shelves, curse or no. It wasn't until the invention of the printing press that books became "unchained" and eventually so ubiquitous that hardcovers became "special" and paperbacks were the order of the day. Personally, just like the music and films I give away to my friends and family, I like to lend out books to interested peoples. Even printed information wants to be free. Bringth me your 100GB+ drive, good sir, and I'll shall layeth upon thine disk drive with mighty hands and bequeath to thee an generous sum of iPod movies and MP3s!!1! Go forth, verily and spread thy good datas, friend! Purchase some, share more.
Re:::facepalm:: (Score:3, Interesting)
To me, that passage says human law is a waste of time and an illusion, since only god's laws are the ones that truly matter...this part is what makes me interpret it that way:
"For there is no power but of God."
To me, that says human laws are inconsequential and mean nothing.
Re:That's not copy protection (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, you *could* - Thomas Jefferson had his own version with a lot removed (1), and others have added to it (2) - but there is a warning toward the end of Revelation (the last book in the Bible) which applies at the very least to that book itself: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." (Rev 22:18-19, NIV)
1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible [wikipedia.org]
2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon [wikipedia.org]
Re:That's not copy protection (Score:2, Interesting)
However I've once heard about some valuable illustrated bible in medieval Ireland, of which a monk from another monastery (or maybe it were several, quite probably, I'd say) made (by hand, of course) an exact copy (as exact as copies could be made that way). The monastery who owned the original version didn't like that and wanted the copy to be destroyed. They asked the pope, and the pope indeed ordered that the copy was to be destroyed.
Unfortunately I can't verify that story or give further details (I tried to google, but if it's even on the net, I probably didn't find the right keywords), but if that's true, one could see it as sort of an early copyright case.
Re:That's not copy protection (Score:3, Interesting)
A careful reading of the language shows that it is a caution against changing specifically the words of the book of prophecy--i.e. Revelation; note that the remainder of the New Testament books deal less with prophecy and more with accounts of actions (Gospels + Acts) and lessons (the Epistles)--rather than the New Testament as a whole.
As an additional point, modern scholars on the authorship of the Johannine works tend to agree that the Gospel of John was written later than the book of Revelation. In other words, the common interpretation of those two verses would cut an entire quarter of the Gospels from the scripture.
Up your Colophon (Score:4, Interesting)
Medieval scribes wrote book curses in the "colophon" at the end of the book; here are two favorites:
Whoever steals this book let him die the death; let him be frizzled in a pan; may the falling sickness rage within him; may he be broken on the wheel and be hanged.
For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, ... let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying out for mercy, & let there be no surcease until he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails. ... Let the flames of Hell consume him forever.
— San Pedro monastery, Barcelona
... and one a bit older (from Asurbanipal's library in Assyria 650 BCE):
Clay tablet of Ashurbanipal, King of the World, King of Assyria, who trusts in Ashur and Ninlil. Your lordship is without equal, Ashur, King of the Gods! Whoever removes [this tablet], writes his name in place of my name, may Ashur and Ninlil, angered and grim, cast him down, erase his name, his seed, in the land.
Re:FBI warning (Score:3, Interesting)
That damned FBI warning, plus all the "nope, you can't skip these ads" crap, is half of the reason why I rip almost all my DVD's, stick them on the file/mediaserver, and then play them through my PS/3's media client functionality. Obviously, I _don't_ rip anything but the main movie track, no more having to sit through 8 freaking ads just so my kid can watch her Thomas movie.
Re:::facepalm:: (Score:3, Interesting)
And your stupid.
See Hebrews 11:13-16 - We are "strangers and pilgrims" in whatever land we happen to live. We must be obedient to the law of the land insofar as these laws do not contradict God's law.
I'm an Atheist, and I find believers ignorance regarding there own theology very funny..and sad because you alway spread your ignorance of your theology s if it's the truth and then try to force others to comply.
regardless to your belief, ignoring man's laws leads to anarchy.
I know I wont change your mind because you use your ignorance as justification to do what you want and ignore how it impacts other. Hopeful someone who actually thinks will read this and realize that according to The Bible you are supposed to obey mans laws.
It also says in the Bible to pay your taxes. Something that's convenient overlooked by the tea party and stupid people like Palin.
Re:As if the curse did any good (Score:3, Interesting)
I suspect the literacy rate among people who would be inclined to steal books was pretty high.
Because all of our modern-day jewel thieves go around adorned like Mr. T? You steal something, not because it is valuable to you, but because it is valuable to someone.
Re:how do you own intellectual property? (Score:1, Interesting)