Yahoo News ‘Pick not thy ears or thy nostrils’: Children’s manners book from 500 years ago is digitised
Parents who blame modern technology for children’s bad behaviour may have to think again, after the British Library digitised a manners guide for children from 500 years ago.
The book offers a fascinating insight into the behaviour of children in 1480, with instructions for children to stop picking their noses, burping and gobbling food.
Parents who blame modern technology for children’s bad behaviour may have to think again, after the British Library digitised a manners guide for children from 500 years ago.
The Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke has been digitised for a new British Library website containing more than 100 “treasures” of children’s literature.
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Instructions include “Pyke notte thyne errys nothyr thy nostrellys” (don’t pick your ears or your nostrils) and “Spette not ovyr thy tabylle” (don’t spit on the table).
Children are also advised, ‘“And chesse cum by fore the, be not to redy”: (don’t be greedy when they bring out the cheese), and “Pyke not thi tothe with thy knyffe” (don’t pick your teeth with your knife), as well as “Bulle not as a bene were in thi throote” (don’t burp as if you had a bean in your throat).
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Written around 1480, the Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke was a “courtesy book”, designed to teach children how to behave in noble households.
Such books were popular in Europe between the 13th and 18th centuries, and used by families who hoped to join the nobility or find work serving at the royal court.
Anna Lobbenberg, lead producer on the British Library’s digital learning programme, told The Guardian: “These older collection items allow young people to examine the past close up. Some of these sources will seem fascinatingly remote, while others may seem uncannily familiar despite being created hundreds of years ago.”
Parents who blame modern technology for children’s bad behaviour may have to think again, after the British Library digitised a manners guide for children from 500 years ago.
Read more: How do we connect a child to technology?
The British Library site says: “There are three different copies of the ‘Little Book’ at the British Library, and at least three more in other collections.
“This copy is part of a larger manuscript, probably meant for children and other household members. The manuscript includes texts on hunting and carving meat, medicine, blood-letting and English kings.”
The author links good manners with religion as well as social standing, saying “courtesy” comes from heaven.
Also showcased on the new site are sketches for Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came To Tea.
Artist Axel Scheffler also shows off preliminary sketches for The Gruffalo, which he was told to make less scary.
