Aide Memoire – deaf contracts and a wedding in England 1576
It never occurred to me that sign language for the deaf must have existed before the modern era. Actually, when you think about it, it must have formed the basis of communication between humans before complex language. Just look at the tourist flailing abroad, those clever primates (our marvellous cousins) the chimps, children (also clever primates)… animated experession and hand movements is where we reach as default. If anything as a species we have studiously (maybe this is my inner Englishman speaking) suppressed physical expression over time.
So this is a fascinating piece… The deaf blacksmith who married in 1576
