Count Robert’s “Pet” Wolf
What the count of Artois did do after the wolf’s ravening of the peasants’ livestock in the spring of 1302 could not have been what the villagers wanted. It reads like a joke…
The Language of Birds in Old Norse Tradition
Special individuals capable of understanding the language of birds are spread throughout the medieval Icelandic literary corpus. This phenomenon has received surprisingly little academic attention and is deserving of detailed, extensive, and interdisciplinary study. Capable of flight and song, birds universally hold a special place in human experience. Their effective communication to people in Old Norse lore offers another example of their unique role in humanity’s socio-cosmic reality.
The Fox: A Medieval View, and Its Legacy in Modern Children’s Literature
In the medieval bestiaries, which were considered to be authorities on zoological truths, the fox was described as a fraudulent and ingenious animal.
When a Knight meets a Dragon Maiden: Human Identity and the Monstrous Animal Other
The amount of research into the field of medieval monsters has been growing within the past few decades, but the monster has not always been accepted as a worthwhile topic of serious study
Monstrous transformations: loyalty and community in four medieval poems
I will examine two forms of transformation, the werewolf transformation and the monstrous human transformation, both of which feature shape shifters who presumably cannot be trusted
“A Swarm in July”: Beekeeping Perspectives on the Old English Wið Ymbe Charm
At the same time, however, their differing responses to the remedy attest both to the variation of beekeeping practices and the multivalence of Wið Ymbe itself. The fact that two beekeepers interviewed within two days and two hundred miles of each other can respond differently to the charm’s advice on swarms suggests that we reevaluate unilateral assertions regarding what the text might have meant across the hundreds of years that we now know as the Anglo-Saxon period.
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament – a Review
What is Medieval Times? Medievalists.net decided to see for ourselves and go to the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament in Toronto, Canada. Here is our review of the show:
The warhorse and military service under Edward III
How, for example, are we to assess the likely extent and distribution of campaigning profits (and, indeed, costs) in society – or the impact of military service on the workings of shire administration, or the influence of war on the retaining practices of the nobility and gentry – without first establishing the identities of those who served in the king’s armies during this period? There can be few major research undertakings in the field of late medieval English history that would offer such wide-ranging benefits as a full-scale reconstruction of the military community.
Homicidal Pigs and the Antisemitic Imagination
This is not parody. It is not carnival. It is not a bestiary. The case of the black-snouted sow of Senlis is an actual legal document – one of upwards of thirty-five such cases known-in which various beasts were tried, convicted, and punished for criminal acts of brutality.
Ancient DNA analysis indicates the first English lions originated from North Africa
Although the Royal Menagerie and its animals are known from documentary records, few physical re- mains survive (O’Regan et al., 2005). Amongst the rare exceptions are two lion skulls that were recovered from the moat of the Tower of London during excava- tions in 1936-1937. These skulls were recently radio- carbon-dated to AD1280-1385 and AD1420-1480.
Herding horses: a model of prehistoric horsemanship in Scandinavia – and elsewhere?
This article discusses a possible system of horse keeping, used in prehistoric Scandinavia, with focus on the Late Iron Age.
Looking at animals in human history
Taking in a wide range of visual and textual materials, Linda Kalof unearths many surprising and revealing examples of our depictions of animals.
Guinea Pigs were popular pets during the Renaissance, study finds
The guinea pig was introduced to Europe during the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors. A Belgian archaeozoologist has found new evidence which suggests that the guinea pig was kept as pets by the wealthier middle class.
The use of unicorn horn in medicine
The unicorn is unusual among the mythical animals in that people still believed in its existence up to and after the Renaissance.
The Basilisk and Rattlesnake, or a European Monster Comes to America
This article looks at legends of the basilisk, a fabulous creature of ancient and medieval lore that was believed to kill with a glance, and shows how many characteristics of the basilisk were transferred to the rattlesnake in the New World.
Plague And Changes In Medieval European Society And Economy In The 14th And 15th Centuries
Standards of hygiene in the Middle Ages appeared high enough to prevent diseases as medieval Europeans, contrary to popular beliefs, bathed quite often. However, contact with domestic animals, which were frequently kept in the part of the house reserved for human activity, exposed people to animal-related diseases passed to humans via insects.
Christ or Aristotle: Where did this book come from?
Although easily dismissed for its casual attention to detail, poor scholarship, and flair for the fantastic, the medieval bestiary offers a wealth of information – not, perhaps, about animals themselves, but about the people who wrote about them.
Famine and Pestilence in the Irish Sea Region, 500–800 AD
Michelle Ziegler examines the questions on why does plagues seemed so much worse in the Middle Ages. Why did medieval populations die so much more frequently? Was it because of malnutrition?
The Rabbit and the Medieval East Anglian Economy
The rabbit was a rare beast in medieval England, and much sought after for both its meat and its fur.
Aberdeen Bestiary goes on public display for the first time
The Aberdeen Bestiary, a beautifully illustrated manuscript that dates back to the twelfth century and which once belonged to King Henry VIII, can now be seen by the public for the first time at the the University of Aberdeen
The Palio in Italian Renaissance art, thought, and culture
The palio and its associated feast days provided impetus for extensive artistic production. The palio derives its name from the banner awarded to the winner of the horse race.
A Quiet Revolution – The Horse in Agriculture, 1100-1500
The partnership of man and horse on the land goes back a long time, but, as John Langdon shows, it was not until after the Conquest that the horse really began to come into its own.
The archaeological record of domesticated and tamed birds in Sweden
This paper is based on a review of approximately 520 sites with subfossil bird remains in Sweden (ERICSON & TYRBERG in press). This comprises essentially all published sites plus a majority of the sites where the avian remains have been determined but not yet published.
The genetic and historical linkage between the Old Norwegian Sheep, the Icelandic Sheep and the Navajo Churro
It may be possible to substitute a readily available double coated sheep fleece from the American Southwest for the original Scandinavian double coated fleece in order to make suitable vadmal fabric for clothing