On Knowledge Creation

The task of knowledge gathering, arrangement, summary and dissemination will be a crucial one for the next generation. Because we now have the ability to present all we know on one computer screen--a screen that is immediately accessible to anyone--the task will be to find a means by which all this knowledge can be analyzed and presented so that it leads to genuine understanding of our world. The task of these two essays is to show how my method of knowledge creation will work through a brief analysis of a text--in this case a 1664 account by Abraham Jennings, a physician and the Inquest foreman for a murder trial of a certain Richard Rogers in England.

Digitus Dei or an Horrid Murther Strangely Detected

This thirty-page text, describing a murder and its aftermath in Heavitre (also spelled Heavitree), in the County of Devon, England in 1663, which led to the hanging of Richard Rogers in 1664, appears nowhere online. I found it by randomly reading in the huge library of Early English Books Online, a 125,000 document collection of all the printed pamphlets, books and everything in between published in English from 1475-1700. Subscription costs for an institution are more than $3,000 per year--not exactly the kind of spare change that most people could afford.

As I read the text, I made mental notes on what additional information I would have liked in order to have a full understanding and appreciation of everything the case described. In other words, I wanted to use the case as a window into knowledge creation and deep understanding. To put the issue in ways that are easily understood, I would like to use a text like this to create enough useful links to knowledge so that the interested student can go considerably deeper into the topic than a doctoral candidate who decided to write his/her entire dissertation on this text alone.

Topics

My initial goal would be to create at least 25 substantial links from all kinds of textual hints in Jennings' account. There can also be tons of other links of a shorter nature, such as the kinds of biblical verses used in frontispieces of such works, the Latin phrases used in passing as an educated writer described something in the mid-17th century, or the way that certain English words are used--with ample references to the OED to show the evolution of various terms. But let me illustrate some of my "links" through taking you through the text.

1. We would begin with the title--"Digitus Dei," or "The Finger of God.." The title goes on for several lines, which is familiar to any who have read 17th century texts, and it describes the apprehending, arraignment, conviction and execution of Richard Rogers for the murder of his "sweetheart" (this may have been the first usage of the term without a hyphen), Ruth Anton, "having first begotten her with Child of two Children"--i.e., she was pregnant with twins. It isn't immediately apparent why the document should be so titled. Later in the story, as Jennings brings forth evidence presented in the trial, he says that certain scratch marks on the defendant's hands that looked like nail scratches were difficult to account for. Rogers tried to explain them away as scratches gotten in mending hedges, but most agreed that they would have been consistent with the scratches a woman made in trying to defend herself. Thus, the scratches ended up working against Rogers. Then, Jennings' pithy statement: "though they (the scratches) were given ex manibus Ruthae, yet it was Digitus Dei." That is, although the scratches were from the hand of Ruth, they really were from the finger (i.e., the judgment) of God. Very nice.

2. Jennings begins the narrative with ample biblical and classical citations. We are, quoting Aristotle, "zoon politikon" or social/political beings. Murder is forbidden by the Decalogue, yet the book of Genesis (9:6) gives a biblical remedy for murder: "Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed again." Interestingly enough, that verse still functions in modern death penalty debates for proponents of the penalty. It would be interesting to study several narratives of murder, to see if it is customary in the 17th century to frame it religiously and, if so, by which verses. Then, it would be interesting to note when the religious tone dropped from such narratives.

Of the several biblical quotations or allusions used in the text, none is more winsome, for me, than when Jennings was discussing the gradual accumulation of evidence against Rogers. At first, the suspicion against him wasn't great, "for that though the suspition of him at his first taking into custody was like Elijas cloud, not so big as a man's fist, yet at last circumstances multiplied it into such a cloud of witnesses.." The latter reference, of course, is to the great passage in Hebrews 12, speaking of those saints who watch us on earth. The former is from the Elijah narrative in I Kings, and it relates specifically to Elijah's prayer for rain. Clouds first appeared no larger than a man's hand; then they grew larger. Then came the deluge.

On the last reference, I would only add one thing. During the late 1970s, when I was a teaching assistant for Prof. Phyllis Trible, when she was a visiting professor of Old Testament at Brown University, she brought into class on one occasion a New Yorker cartoon. I forget the particulars, but it talked about a cloud no larger than a man's hand. I don't know when that biblical reference entered into our common speech (it definitely has lost its way in 2011--that would be an interesting topic to study--perhaps we would need a link for that one!), but it shows not only that the Bible was central to providing literary images, but some of them came and went throughout our history...

3. He proceeds to tell us about Richard Rogers, who worked in the "calling" of "Husbandry," having taken up residence with an "honest family" not far from Heavitree. Rogers "demeaned himself" in the house "very fairly." We rarely use "demean" as a verb to mean "behave, conduct or comport oneself," but we could give examples from Shakespeare, about 50 years prior, and others around the same time ("We should..demean ourselves soberly and justly towards all..) to show its use.

4. Jennings' narrative focuses on the character of Rogers. Though he was not a "natural" drunk he was a "moral" drunk, whose "darling vice," however, was that of "unhappy sin of scoffing attended with effeminate wantonness." Isn't that an interesting description? After hearing a preacher's exposition of a text from St. Paul, he was heard saying that he, too, could be a preacher, if he could but forbear swearing. When he witnessed another's hanging with the condemned man having Psalm 51 recited, Rogers complained that because of his foolish tongue it would be more proper to have Psalm 36 recited when he was hanged. Ah...a great opportunity to reflect on/research biblical quotations used throughout these narratives and as the last verses of life.

5. The description of his amorous connection to Ruth Anton might prove useful for feminist scholars as they consider the language used to describe female victims. Rogers chanced to "enter some league with this Ruth Anton, being also a servant in this same family, which wench being both wanton, and fond of him, gave him occasion to commit folly with her." Well, she became pregnant and, because he considered himself a "handsome fellow," he figured he had better prospects than marrying Ruth. This led to a quarrel, her poisoning, her slow death, and finally his strangling her on Wednesday March 9, 1663. Wow..a great opportunity for those constructing calendars to test their knowledge by precise dates from the 17th century. Indeed, one might at this point create a link to other events happening at the same time in England, the Continent and beyond. One might try to create a bit of the "social history" of Devon and, as much as possible, of the little village of Heavitree, where all this happened.

Well, we are half done, and I hope you are having fun, too.

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