Weird medieval manuscripts3/25/2023 ![]() ![]() Writers of medieval bestiaries generally depicted birds in a positive way, and the hercynia was no exception. Hercynia Hercynia, Northumberland Bestiary Ms. But if the man’s sickness is one from which he will recover, the bird looks him in the face and takes the entire illness upon itself it flies up into the air, towards the sun, burns off the sickness and scatters it, and the sick man is cured.” 4. “If, therefore, a man’s illness is fatal, the caladrius will turn its head away from the sick man as soon as it sees him, and everyone knows that the man is going to die. Spotless with pure white feathers, they could predict whether an ill person would die and heal him or her of the sickness. As the writer of the Aberdeen Bestiary explained, That, however, was not the only thing that made the birds extraordinary. Maybe medieval writers had an obsession with animal excrement, because a caladrius’ dung was believed to cure cataracts. Caladrius Caladrius, Aberdeen Bestiary folio 57r (courtesy of the University of Aberdeen) Instead of following Pliny’s description, medieval writers stated that the beast’s dung could cover a three-acre span and ignite anything it touched! 3. Contact with the dung burns pursuers as though they had touched fire.”īy the medieval period, the legend of the bonnacon had become further exaggerated. According to Pliny the Elder, a Roman first-century writer, “It runs away, while releasing a trail of dung that can cover three furlongs. Because their horns were curled, bonnacon couldn’t use them for defense and instead depended on something much more outlandish. Writers often characterized it as a bull-like creature with a horse’s mane and curled horns. Like the amphisbaena, the bonnacon appears to have been first mentioned in the first century. Bonnacon Bonnacon, Northumberland Bestiary Ms. Isidore of Seville, a seventh-century monk, described their unusual mode of locomotion: “It advances with both heads leading, its body trailing in a loop.” In the Middle Ages, manuscript illuminators illustrated amphisbaena even more whimsically, giving them wings and clawed feet. Amphisbaena were believed to be serpents with glowing eyes and two heads, one in the normal location and one on the tail. Mentions of amphisbaena date as far back as the first century A.D./C.E, but by the seventh century, depictions had become fairly standardized. Amphisbaena Amphisbaena, Aberdeen Bestiary folio 68v (courtesy of the University of Aberdeen) In celebration of the holiday, here’s a list of ten weird medieval beasts! 1. Even some of the real animals were depicted with special powers (like in number 6 on this list). Most of the creatures portrayed actually existed, but presented alongside them were numerous mythical beasts with fantastical abilities. In many cases, they drew allegorical connections between nature and spiritual concepts applicable to the average person. Medieval writers often attempted to explain the characteristics and names of the beasts that appeared on their pages. ![]() However, it is their sections on animals, called “bestiaries,” that we most often remember. ![]() Topics ranged from the Genesis story to the nature of God to people and their daily activities. A Twitter account is now collecting them all.Īs Liucija Adomaite and Gabija Palšytėhe explain in their article for BoredPanda, the Twitter account “ Weird Medieval Guys” offers a glimpse into these medieval oddities by gathering and posting weird medieval stuff: skeletons drinking wine, menacing bunnies, boars riding camels, and other eccentricities that reveal some of the most interesting aspects of medieval society, politics, theology, and economics.With Halloween rapidly approaching, we’re well into the season of monsters and the bizarre, but if we look back through time we’ll see that humans have been interested in strange creatures for millennia.Įncyclopedias that described the natural world gained popularity in the Middle Ages. In fact, these oftentimes mysterious and grotesque drawings and doodles have been the object of numerous studies, including Jurgis Baltrusaitis’ classic Fantastic in the Middle Ages: Classical and Exotic Influences on Gothic Art. This explains, although only to a certain extent, the many rarities found in medieval illustrations. As Cory Doctorow wrote in his piece on BoingBoing, “the margins of medieval manuscripts were a playground for bored monks with crude senses of humor.” Also, it is understandable that some of these copyists were just exhausted, and probably not always gifted enough as to produce exceptional pieces of work every single time. It is only natural that some of these scribes were willing to fill those margins with bizarre scenes. Cat in water, france, 15th century /xa0vZ0zIX4- weird medieval guys May 6, 2022 ![]()
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