What was it like to be a Cow? History and Animal Studies
This essay outlines where the history of animals is now, and suggests where it and the historiographical issues raised by the inclusion of animals in a study of the past might go in the future.
Local and Traditional on the Millennial Scale: Sustainable Waterfowl Management from Viking Age Iceland
Inhabited by Vikings since approximately 600 AD, the islands hosts an abundant, but terribly fragile resource, puffins, flightless birds that nest on rocky exposed cliffs, in easy range of the islanders other prime food source, pigs.
Medieval Horse Stable: The Results of Multi Proxy Interdisciplinary Research
A multi proxy approach was applied in the reconstruction of the architecture of Medieval horse stable architecture, the maintenance practices associated with that structure as well as horse alimentation at the beginning of 13th century in Central Europe.
Reality x Fiction: The Image of the Tiger in the Bestiaries of Medieval England
The present article intends to make an analysis of the way that how the tiger, an animal native from Asia, was represented in the bestiaries of the Medieval English literature (XIIth to XVth centuries), in a time that the European knowledge about Asia still was very loose.
Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps
Chet Van Duzer, author of the recent book Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, will trace the history of sea monsters on European maps, beginning with the earliest mappaemundi on which they appear in the tenth century and continuing to the end of the sixteenth century.
Tropical fire ants traveled the world on 16th century ships
Thanks to a bit of genetic sleuthing, researchers now know the invasion history of the tropical fire ant, the first ant species known to travel the globe by sea.
The Hare and its Alter Ego in the Middle Ages
This article deals with the topic of hares and rabbits in Creation scenes and Naming of the beasts scenes in bestiaries and other medieval manuscripts.
Can You Guess Which Animal This Is?
Here are 25 images of animals from the Middle Ages – can you figure out which creature they are?
Ten Strange Medieval Animals You Might Not Have Heard Of
A fish that can stop a ship and a bull that passes gas to defend itself – these and more strange animals from the Middle Ages!
Mermaids in the Middle Ages
Florentine writer Brunetto Lattini explains what mermaids are in his Book of Treasures.
Toxicology and Treatment: Medical Authorities and Snake-bite in the Middle Ages
By end of the thirteenth century, surgeons and university-trained physicians in Western Europe had a plethora of authorities from the Greco-Roman and Arabic tradition from which to consult for the treatment of snake-bites.
The Kraken: when myth encounters science
Hundreds of years ago, sailors were terrified by the Kraken, a dreadful sea monster capable of sinking ships and with a taste for human flesh.
The Sounds that Animals Make – the Medieval Version
It seems that every parent at one time or another teaches their children the sounds that animals make. They did it in the Middle Ages too.
Animals in the Middle Ages: The Monkey
‘Monkeys are animals that like to imitate everything they see men doing. They feel happy when there is new moon, and with the full and waning moon, they get sad and filled with melancholy.’
Nourishment for the Soul – Nourishment for the Body: Animal Remains in Early Medieval Pomeranian Cemeteries
Late medieval sources clearly refer to souls, which in traditional folk beliefs were periodically returning to feed and warm themselves by the fires made by the living. This kind of conception can be merged with Slavic eschatology. There is multiple evidence to confirm that belief some form of spirit or soul was spreading amongst the people, who in the early medieval period, bordered directly with Pomerania.
De Herinacio. On the Hedgehog
Obrazki nunu and Discarding Images have teamed up to create a great video based on a medieval bestiary.
The Importance of Parks in Fifteenth-Century Society
In this paper, my aim is to consider the role of parks in the fifteenth century.
Animal bites in the Middle Ages
Medieval authors suggested varied treatments for bites. The initial act usually was to distinguish between the bites of venomous beasts (snakes, scorpions and rabid dogs were included here) and non-venomous animals (hares, cats and non-rabid dogs, for example)
Ten Strange Medieval Ideas about Animals
Vipers killing each, panthers and their sweet breath, and how deer cure themselves of illness – the medieval bestiary and strange ideas about animals.
‘That melodious linguist’: Birds in Medieval Christian and Islamic Cosmography
“Birds,” writes Albertus Magnus, “generally call more than other animals. This is due to the lightness of their spirits.”
Animals in Saxon and Scandinavian England
In this book an analysis of over 300 animal bone assemblages from English Saxon and Scandinavian sites is presented. The data set is summarised in extensive tables for use as comparanda for future archaeozoological studies.
The use of animals in medicine of Latin tradition: Study of the Tresor de Beutat, a medieval treatise devoted to female cosmetics
The Tresor de Beutat is a medieval treatise written in the 14th century. It contains a set of medical and cosmetic recipes aimed exclusively at women.
Animals in the Middle Ages: The Elephant
Here are ten interesting notes about medieval elephants
The Wolf Miracle in Magnuss saga lengri
The account of the consumption and regurgitation by wolves of a murdered man, before he is revived by Saint Magnus, is to be found at the very end of the series of miracles tales which concludes Magnuss saga lengri