A half-satisfied cat being better than none.
Moved mostly to post a couple of searches on which Google (and thus by extension this whole mighty interweb-thingie) failed me today. First, the Multnomah County Library has in storage a book with the tantalizing title: History of remarkable conspiracies connected with European history, during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, by Lawson, John Parker, d. 1852. But it’s in, as noted, storage, and anyway the library is closed on Mondays (thanks ever so much, Mr. Sizemore), so I couldn’t go on my lunch break to figure out whether or not I can pry it out of their hands for a week or so. But! Google would help! And instantly, to boot! Surely a book about so tantalizing a topic will have been read by someone somewhere, and thus naturally enough nattered on about on some obscure webpage. —I’ll at least have a better idea as to whether or not Mr. Lawson’s tome is worth the prying. But even the simplest variation of the title turns up bupkes, and John Parker Lawson, d. 1852 or not, fares little better.
Hmpf.
Second: enjoying immensely The Sword and the Centuries, by Alfred Hutton, FSA—he quotes primary sources extensively, is proving a wealth of delicious trivia about points of honor and fighting with long sharp sticks, and has that wonderful tang to his voice, that admixture of florid vocabulary and dry understatement that makes me weak in the knees. I mean, he uses words like supersticerie—
Well. Google turns up nothing, and the editors of the OED apparently hadn’t read Sword by 1971. —The meaning is clear enough from context:
A certain Gounellieu, a great favourite of the King, had incurred his hatred, and that justly, because this Gounellieu had killed, as it was said, with supersticery and foul advantage, a young brother of his…
...we have seen how various acts of “supersticerie” arose—how a wicked-minded man, feeling sure that his adversary was honest, would appear on the field with a good strong coat of mail concealed under his shirt…
Breaking the word and scrying its entrails helps, too (of course): super and sistere, to stand above, cf. intersices and superstition. Supersticerie does have a supernatural component, given the number of charms duellists would tuck about their person for a chance at that scant edge (and the vociferousness with which they then had to proclaim before God and King or Duke or Marshal they had done no such thing); and so one who depends upon such supersticery (as opposed, say, to mail coats hidden under shirts, or paying one’s buddies to waylay one’s opponent on the way to the duelling ground—also incidents of supersticery) is, of course, a bit superstitious. I like the quality of its movement in logic-space: appealing to extra-legal recourse is, in a sense, standing above the fray. And I like its linkage with another obsolete variant on super-sistere, which the OED had tumbled to in 1971: superstitie, the power of survival. —“The people are the many waters, he turn’d their froth and fome into pearls, and wearied all weathers with an unimpaired Superstitie.”
So there’s my contribution to the interweb-thingie, this week; give it a few days, and the next time someone goes hunting via Google for “supersticerie,” they’ll get something of an answer. One out of two ain’t bad.
But I’m still curious as hell about Lawson’s 150-year-old conspiracy theories. Anyone? Anyone?
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superstite means survivor or survival in italian - couldn't it have something to do with a dishonorable attempt to continue living, given the context?
(allwords.com and onelook.com - http://ultralingua.net/results.html?translation_action=it_en|italian|italian&translation_letters=superstite)
also I'd hold out for a whole satisfied cat :D
Given the subject (fencing), I imagine (though here I'm out on a limb) supersticerie (or supersticery) to have been a vague attempt at Frankifying that Italianate word to gussy it up for pretentious Anglophones. Superstitie (and superstit) did try to worm their ways into English, but were left by the wayside ages ago—though they did make it into the OED. But supersticerie didn't even get that far. More's the pity. It's a better word.
(Also, a note: this post edited in the morning to correct a weird lapse of logic in the night. So there.)
And here I was hoping "Supersticerie" would be some sort of ultimate rotisserie. Alas.
"Supersticerie" looks to me like it was made up on the model of the OED words you cite, especially considering that the only quote under "superstitiate" spells it "supersticiate"; also, the meaning "power of survival" has a (?) and appears to be a guess based on the only quotation, so who knows what it means either there or in your quote?
As for the book, always look on book sites as well as Google; in this case, there are several copies for sale at Bookfinder, and while you're not going to want to spend $75 for it, you can get a little more description:
This work is divided into nine sections including "the assassination of James I of Scotland," "Death of James III of Scotland," "Conspiracy of John Lewis Fiesco...against Genoa," "Death of Don Carlos..Spain 1588," "Gowrie Conspiracy," "Gunpowder Plot," "Conspiracy of the Spaniards Against the Republic of Venice 1618," "Rise and Fall of ...
If kip is still loking for a copy of "remarkable conspiracies" I am putting a nice 1829 2 volume first edition on ebay for auction this week.
came across your site while tring to find out something about the author.
best wishes
Allan
Concerning "History of remarkable conspiracies connected with European history, during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries". It is mind boggling that some one would be curious about this book. I acquired 90% of volume 1 at a used book store a while back for $0.75. The stories are good and brutal but the long winded ramblings between the set up and the action is very trying. Also it is factual as opposed to unraveling intrigue.