#MedievalAnimals - Social 📸 Photography

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Stephanie J Lahey, PhD @SJLahey@mastodon.social

A Dispute? (‘The Cloisters Apocalypse’; Normandy, c.1330)
#MedievalManuscripts #Manuscripts #Critters #MedievalAnimals #Dragon #Wyvern
@bookhistodons @medievodons

Lower left-hand corner of a medieval manuscript leaf: folio 20 verso in Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cloisters Collection, manuscript 68.174. At top, above a very deep margin, run 9 lines of Latin text copied in brown ink, the first 3 lines indented to accommodate an enlarged decorative initial ‘E’ rendered in blue and ornamented with fine scrolling pen-work in red. Several threads of pen-work, in red and blue, extend from the initial, a few reaching to the right, over the text, but most descending down the left side of the page into the lower margin. Here, next to the pen-work and drawn in the same red and blue ink, we find 2 critters: at left, a long-necked bird with blue wings and orange feet, a crimson plume gracing his head; at right, a red wyvern—a dragon with wings in lieu of forelegs—with a thick beard and long, pointed tongue. They face each other. The bird, beak agape and eyes round with rage, raises a taloned foot to strike. The wyvern hisses, narrowing its eyes menacingly.

Stephanie J Lahey, PhD @SJLahey@mastodon.social

On Thursday, I had the honour of introducing a Girton College student to Cambridge University Library and giving her a crash-course in handling #MedievalManuscripts. Here’s a highlight from one of them. #Demons #Critters #MedievalAnimals #Hunting
@bookhistodons @medievodons

Detail of a leaf in a medieval manuscript: folio 3 recto in Cambridge, University Library, manuscript Kk.1.23. Across the very top sprawls a 3 line annotation added by a modern hand in black ink. Below this, the original contents open with 3 lines of Latin copied in alternating red and green ink; following this are 9 lines of Latin copied in black ink. The first 7 black ink lines are indented to accommodate an enlarged decorative initial ‘T’ rendered in black, red, and green ink. The stylized initial takes the form of a demonic creature clad in human garb: a scarlet cape over a grass green tunic, with a scarlet headband. Although he has the body of a man, one of his feet is a ruminant’s hoof; the other, a bird’s foot. His head is that of a goat with long, faintly spiralling horns. Standing upright, he spreads his arms out at shoulder level, grasping a sword in one hand and a panic-stricken rabbit in the other, while sounding the hunting horn protruding from his grinning mouth.

anubis2814 @anubis2814@friendica.myportal.social

#medievalanimals #medieval #rabbits

Stephanie J Lahey, PhD @SJLahey@mastodon.social

Teddy bear picnic? A scene from a copy of Gaston Phoebus’ (1331–1391) Livre de Chasse, the famed medieval hunting manual. #MedievalManuscripts #Manuscripts #Critters #MedievalAnimals #Bears #Wilderness
@bookhistodons @medievodons

Detail of a medieval manuscript leaf: folio 27 verso in Bibliothèque nationale de France, manuscrit Français 616. A spiky, gilded border extends up the left side of the page. The image’s lower third bears 12 lines of French in 2 columns, copied in black and red, and opening with an ornate initial ‘O’ in blue and pink atop shiny gold leaf. Above this sits a square miniature, painted in colours and gold in a naturalistic style. It depicts a lushly verdant landscape of flower-dotted grass strewn with trees and shrubs in endless hues of green—jade, pine, olive, sage—weird, pallid rock formations twisting in the distance. Populating the scene are no less than 15 bears: creatures of every lumbering size and stage of life; beetle-eyed beasts furred in inky black and rich, dark brown. They wrestle and climb and bicker, nurse their cubs, emerge from dens to wander off, sit aside quietly sniffing a paw—all with snowy teeth gleaming keenly in their scarlet mouths.

Stephanie J Lahey, PhD @SJLahey@mastodon.social

Happy little bird in a 14th century manuscript. #MedievalManuscripts #Manuscripts #Critters #MedievalAnimals #Birds #Birding #Avians #Nature
@bookhistodons @medievodons

Detail a leaf in a medieval manuscript, page 5 in St Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 582. Ten lines of Latin script copied in red and black ink. The first 8 lines are indented to accommodate a large initial ‘U’ rendered in blue and red ink, and ornamented with delicate, lacy pen-work in black, red, and purple. Extending from the letter’s upper left corner is a tiny roundel bearing a sketch of a dragon against a purple and red background. The letter ‘U’ itself is infilled with a cheerful depiction of a happy-looking yellow bird with a crimson head, and green, white, and crimson wings. From its open beak pours a splendid swirl of curling blue vines bearing blue leaves and scarlet and yellow flowers (perhaps a visual representation of birdsong).

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