The Phoenix: on the Importance of Symbols & Myths

12 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Bestiaries, Myths, Symbols and Emblems

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Ave Phœnice, Évangéline, Job, Lactantius, mythology, myths, pays de Québec, symbols and emblems

“The Phœnix,” The Aberdeen Bestiary

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the myth of the phœnix did not exist, we would probably invent it. Mythical creatures are usually born of a human need, which, in this case, is the need for rebirth. Moreover, given that the Phœnix is a transcultural and nearly universal figure, we can presume that the need for rebirth is widely and profoundly rooted in the human imagination.

Our phœnix is the mythical singing bird that is reborn from its ashes. It [le phénix] is associated with a 170 elegiac-verse poem written by Lucius Cæcilius Fiminature Lactantius, an early Christian author (c. 240 – c. 320) and an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I. The Ave Phœnice is about the death and rebirth of a mythical bird, a bird that rises from its own ashes. This poem was retold in English as The Phœnix, an anonymous Old English poem composed of 677 lines, based on Lactantius’s Ave Phœnice.

Given that the phœnix rises from its ashes, it constitutes a powerful symbol that one can associate with survival, as is the case with Évangéline and Maria Chapdelaine‘s mythic “pays de Québec.” The phœnix is a source of hope to the inhabitants of lands decimated by wars or natural disasters. As a symbol of rebirth, the phœnix also brings hope to those who, like Job, who have lost everything. This is how it appears in the Hebrew Bible:

I thought I would end my days with my family/ And be as long-lived as the phœnix. (Job.29:18) [i]

Mythical and Mythological Animals

Although it appears in the Bible, I am tempted to consider the phœnix as a mythical rather than mythological figure. Mythological figures have ancestors and descendants, or a lineage, which can hardly be the case with the immortal phœnix. However, given that it can rise from its ashes and is therefore immortal and godlike, this distinction may be rather artificial and insignificant. In other words, whether mythical or mythological, the phœnix is a more powerful symbol than the dragon, the unicorn and the griffin, creatures that also lack a lineage, or mostly so.

In beast literature, he is zoomorphic in that he combines features borrowed from many animals, except obviously human features. Remember that Machiavelli’s centaur was half human and half horse. Our phœnix is an animal, albeit legendary.

In Greece, the phœnix (purple) was an “Arabian bird, the only one of its kind, which according to Greek legend lives a certain number of years, at the end of which it makes a nest of spices, sings a melodious dirge, flaps its wings to set fire to the pile, burns itself to ashes and comes forth with new life.”[ii]

The Phoenix (Bestiary.ca)

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica “in ancient Egypt and in Classical antiquity, [the phœnix] was a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phœnix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry.[iii] Besides, it had a life span of no less than 500 years and “[a]s its end approached, the phœnix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phœnix, which, after embalming its father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re.”[iv] The Egyptian phœnix symbolized immortality.

Phoenix depicted in the book of mythological creatures by F. J. Bertuch (1747-1822).

F. J. Bertuch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Islamic mythology the phœnix was identified with the ‘anqā,’ also a bird, but one that “became a plague and was killed.”[v]

Fantasy Literature and elsewhere

The phœnix was used by J. K. Rowling in the fifth book of the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phœnix, 2003. It is also featured in Jean de La Fontaine, “Le Corbeau et le Renart,” (Book I.2), or the “Raven and the Fox,” where the Fox tells the crow that because of its beautiful voice, it is a phœnix among the guests of forests: “Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois.” In French, blackmail is translated by le chantage. The fox makes the corbeau sing and the cheese drops.

Even the ageless Cinderella narrative has phœnix-like dimensions. The word Cinderella (Cendrillon) is derived from ashes: cinders and cendres. Through the mediation of her fairy godmother, the ash-girl, reduced to that role by jealous sisters and a mean stepmother, a second wife, becomes the princess of fairy tales.

Christian Symbolism

Moreover, we cannot leave aside the phœnix as a Christian symbol. For Christians, the immortal bird represents the resurrection of Christ. On the third day, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead as the phœnix rises from his ashes. In the liturgical year, Christians go from Ash Wednesday to the Resurrection: Easter.

Mere Mortals

We cannot escape death as we are mere mortals, but life is nevertheless perpetuated. Outside my window there are naked trees, but they will again be adorned. And even if one’s land is a paper land, a literary homeland, that too is a land. In 1889-1890, Henri-Raymond Casgrain, the author of Pèlerinage au pays d’Évangéline was President of the Royal Society of Canada and quite lucid. Yet there is no “real” Évangéline. She was created by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1847.

The manner in which humanity copes with its condition often leads to mythification and once the myth is in place, it can be as real and powerful as is Évangéline to Acadians and her “pays de Québec” to Maria Chapdelaine.

Phoenix, from Aberdeen Bestiary

[i] Donald Ray Schwartz, Noah’s Ark: an Annotated Encyclopedia of Every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000), p. 400, p. 405, pp. 408-409.

[ii] “phœnix,” in Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Adrian Room (London: Cassel House, 2001[1959]).

[iii] “phœnix.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/457189/phoenix>.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

composer: Igor Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)

piece: “The Firebird” first performed for Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes (1910)

performers: Vienna Philharmonic (Salzburg Festival, 2000)

conductor: Valery Gergiev

photograph: Igor Stravinsky

©Micheline Walker
1 February 2012
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Dogs, a long time ago

12 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Beast Literature, Bestiaries

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Aesop's Fables, Arany Zoltán, Ashmole Bestiary, David Badke, Dog - faithful & healer, Illuminated Manuscripts, Jan M. Ziolkowski, King Garamantes, Legendary Animals, Medieval Bestiary, The Physiologus

Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1511, Folio 25r (Ashmole Bestiary)

Three elegant dogs stand ready. F 25r (folio 25 recto)

Bestiaries

A bestiary is a compendium of beasts most of which have identical characteristics from bestiary to bestiary. In Europe, bestiaries are mostly a product of the Middle Ages, the 12th and 13th centuries in particular. Exceptionally beautiful are the Aberdeen Bestiary MS 24) and the Ashmole Bestiary (MS 1462 & MS 1511), both dating back to the late 12th and 13th century.

They are illuminated manuscripts and, in this regard, resemble books of hours. They therefore contain images complemented by superb calligraphy that could vary from bestiary to bestiary, some of which are ancestors to our “fonts.”

Bestiaries were usually transcribed by monks in a scriptorium, a recess in a wall, and were executed on vellum (calfskin) or parchment (calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin). Both the Aberdeen Bestiary (MS 24) and the Ashmole Bestiary MS 1462 (Bodleian Library, Oxford) were written and illuminated on parchment. However, the Ashmole Bestiary MS 1511 (Bodleian Library) was executed on vellum.

Real and Legendary Animals

Not all animals described in bestiaries are real animals. The authors of natural histories often relied on information obtained from individuals who had travelled to the Orient or elsewhere. Thus was born the unicorn. The rhinoceros is a real animal that has one horn, but the unicorn, the monocerus in Greece, is a both an anthropomorphic and zoomorphic animal.

Zoomorphic animals combine the features of several beasts and may be part human and part beast. Such is the case with centaurs and the minotaur. The lower half of a centaur is a horse, the upper, a man. The minotaur’s body is human, but its head is that of a bull.

The Physiologus: the main Source

The best-known “natural history” is the Physiologus (“The Naturalist”), written in Greek in the 2nd century BCE. Authorship of the Physiologus has not been determined, but it was translated into Latin in about 700 CE, our era. It was the main source of information for persons who wrote and illuminated bestiaries.

The Physiologus described an animal, told an anecdote about that animal and then gave the animal moral attributes (See Physiologus, Wikipedia). In the Medieval Bestiary, the anecdote for dogs was “The Dog and Its Reflection.” Natural histories, however, made animals allegorical rather than humans in disguise. The Physiologus is allegorical and emblematic, but in structure, it resembles the fable.

Professor Ziolkowski[i] writes that the

fable consists of a narrative with a moral, Physiologus of nature observation with moralization.

The most famous copy of the Physiologus is the Bern Physiologus.

Dogs

In the case of dogs, the Medieval Bestiary (http://bestiary.ca/) describes the animal, tells an anecdote, the “Dog and Its Reflection,” and then informs readers that the dog is the most loyal of animals. The dog may be able to kill but, as the lore goes, it is man’s best friends and therefore emblematic of loyalty. We learn as well that the dog licks wounds.

According to Pliny the Elder (23 BC – 25 August 79 BCE), one of many authors of natural histories, “[t]he domestic animal that is most faithful to man is the dog.” The iconography, images, tells a similar story, but also shows us many greyhounds, as do 20th-century fashion illustrators.

The Gallery

So here are some pictures of faithful dogs who lived in the Middle Ages. The dog featured at the very bottom of this post is about to avenge his master’s murder, but is also a healer. The bestiary in which it is depicted is housed at the Royal Library in Copenhagen. It is an illumination (enluminures) executed on the front page, the folio, of a Bestiary. The front of the folio (the page) is called recto vs verso, the back.

Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, Folio 48v

Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, Folio 49r

A pair of dogs, possibly greyhounds? F 48v (verso: back)
Two dogs, possibly greyhounds or other hunting dogs. F 49r (recto: front)

Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 6838B, Folio 12v

British Library, Royal MS 12 F. xiii, Folio 30v

Morgan Library, MS M.81, Folio 28r

Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 6838B, Folio 12r

A dog refuses to leave the side of its dead master. F 12v
King Garamantes, captured by his enemies, is rescued by has pack of dogs. f 30v
At the top, a dog attacks the man who killed his master, thus pointing out the guilty. At the bottom, the faithful dog refuses to leave the body of its dead master. f 28R
King Garametes, captured by his enemies, is rescued by his dogs. f 12r

Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris, FR)

Bodleian Library (Oxford, UK)

British Library (London, UK)

Morgan Library (New York, US)

Royal Library (Copenhagen, DK)

This is the description given dogs in the Medieval Bestiary

“Dogs are unable to live without men. There are several kinds of dogs: those that guard their master’s property; those that are useful for hunting wild animals or birds; and those that watch over sheep. A dog cures its own wounds by licking, and a young dog bound to a patient cures internal wounds. A dog will always return to its vomit. When a dog is swimming across a river while holding meat in its mouth, if it sees its own reflection it will drop the meat it is carrying while trying to get the meat it sees in the reflection.

Several stories are told about the actions of dogs. King Garamantes, captured by his enemies, was rescued by his dogs. When a man was murdered and there were no witnesses to say who did it, the man’s dog pointed out the slayer in the crowd. Jason‘s dog was said to have refused to eat and died of hunger after his master’s death. A Roman dog accompanied his master to prison, and when the man was executed and his body thrown into the Tiber River, the dog tried to hold up the corpse.

A dog that crosses a hyena‘s shadow will lose its voice.

Hungry dogs are used to pull up the deadly mandrake plant.” David Badke[ii]

(“Jason” and “Tiber River” are links I have added)

Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 151, Folio 21v

King Garamantes is kidnapped by enemies; the king’s dogs find him and attack the kidnappers; the king leads his dogs home. F 21v

Kongelige Bibliotek, Gl. kgl. S. 1633 4º, Folio 18r

A dog mourning the murder of its master, and possibly pointing out the murderer. F 18r, or

A young dog bound to a patient cures internal wounds

RELATED ARTICLES

La Fontaine’s “The Dog that dropped the Substance for the Shadow” (10 September 2014)
Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism (25 August 2013)

Sources and Resources

The Medieval Bestiary: site owned and maintained by David Badke[iii]
King Garamantes: scroll down to July 27th, 2014
King Garamantes rescued by dogs agefotostock.com
King Garamantes and his dogs, the British Library
Nothin’ but a Hound Dog, the British Library ♥
http://bestiary.ca/ (The Medieval Bestiary)

Kindest regards to all of you.

_________________________

[i] Jan M. Ziolkowski, Talking Animals: Medieval Latin Beast Poetry, 750 – 1150 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 34.

[ii] David Badke, The Medieval Bestiary (bestiary.ca) Web.

[iii] David Badke, The Medieval Bestiary (bestiary.ca) Web.

Arany Zoltán

12 September 2014

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Kongelige Bibliotek, Gl. kgl. S. 1633 4º, Folio 19r

Syria, cont’d

04 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in The Middle East, United States

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, al-Assad, chemical weapons, interview, Le Figaro, provocation, Rwandan genocide, Syria, The Middle East, the United Nations, war as the greater evil

The Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776, by John Trumbull, 1817 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Drumbull (6 June 1756 – 10 November 1843)

When I posted my previous article on Syria, I was afraid. I thought that my colleagues at WordPress would not look upon my post as a call for peace. I was wrong. Many of my WordPress colleagues also think the US should not enter into war. Banishing the use of chemical weapons can be addressed without entering into a military conflict.

However, I then watched CNN and heard many individuals express the view that America should saddle up — knights in shining armour — and enter Syria as though it were America’s mission to save the World. It is not America’s mission to save the world and I still feel the gassing to death of 1,429 Syrians by fellow Syrians could be provocation.

Provocation

Given the confidence the Syrians are expressing, I suspect they have powerful allies. It is therefore possible that the intended “narrow” intervention of a coalition led by the United States would escalate into a war and that the United States would again be seen as the “ugly American” who meddles into the affairs of the Middle East. Under Barack Obama’s Presidency, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won diplomatic victories that should not be jeopardized.

An Illegal Act of War

It is incumbent upon the World to make sure the “criminals” who gassed to death 1,429 innocent individuals are brought to justice. “Punishing” criminals is legitimate. Nobody wants a reenactment of the Rwandan genocide. However, attacking a sovereign “nation” could be construed as an illegal act of war.

The International Community

Consequently, it remains my opinion and conviction, that the US should continue to leave the Middle East, where it has long been despised, and let the World deal with the criminal acts committed under al-Assad’s dictatorship. The World has institutions, the UN and other agencies, whose duty it is to look after such matters.

I can understand that President Obama and his administration are motivated to intervene because 1,429 innocent individuals were gassed to death near Damascus. But it could be that 1,429 innocent citizens were gassed to death so President Obama and his administration would be motivated to intervene?

All things considered and as horrible as this may sound, war is a greater evil than the despicable gassing to death of 1,429 individuals. In the event of a war, there would soon be 14,429 victims, and then 144,299 victims.

Howard Chandler Christy‘s Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, 17 September 1787 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Howard Chandler Christy (10 January 1873 – 3 March 1952)

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was interviewed by France’s Le Figaro.

“President Assad: From my perspective, power lies in your ability to prevent wars not in igniting them. Power comes from ones ability to stand up and acknowledge their mistakes; if Obama was strong, he would have stood up and said that there is no evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, he would have stood up and said that the right way forward is to wait for the results of the UN investigations and work through the UN Security Council. However, as I see it, he is weak because he succumbed to internal pressure from small groups and threatened military action. As I said strong leaders are those who prevent wars not those who inflame them.

Malbrunot: What do you say to members of congress whose vote will determine whether or not there will be any military action?

President Assad: Members of congress are entrusted to serve in the best interests of their country. Before they vote, they need to weigh up their decision in the interests of their own country. It is not in the interests of the US to perpetuate instability and extremism in the Middle East. It is not in their interests to continue – what George Bush started – spreading wars in the world.

If they think logically and in the interests of their country, they will not find any benefits to these wars. However many of them they have not mastered the art of logic in their political decision-making.

Malbrunot: How will you respond to these strikes, should they happen?

President al-Assad: If we think of the Middle East as a barrel of explosives close to a fire that is coming ever closer, then it becomes clear that the issue is no longer contained to a Syrian response, but rather what will happen after the first strike. The architects of the war can define the first strike – in other words they can determine what they will do, but beyond that it is impossible for anyone to predict what will follow. Once the barrel explodes, everyone loses control; nobody can determine the outcome, however what is certain is the spread of chaos, wars and extremism in all its forms everywhere.”

http://www.syriaonline.sy/?f=Details&catid=12&pageid=7073

4 September 2013

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The Ashmole Bestiary

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Beast Literature, Bestiaries

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Ashmole Bestiary, Beasts, Bestiary, Bodleian Library, illuminated manuscript, Manuscript, Middle age, Oxford

Tiger (Folio 12v). A mother tiger is distracted by a mirror in which she thinks she sees her stolen cub, while the hunter escapes with the cub. (Photo credit: The Medieval Bestiary)

Online Manuscript:

http://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/The-Ashmole-Bestiary

The Ashmole Bestiary is housed in the Bodleian Library [Oxford University], MS. Ashmole 1511
It is a 13th-century (1200s) illuminated manuscript, as is the Aberdeen Manuscript.
It consists of 122 folios measuring 27.5 cm (height) by 18 cm (width)
The parchment is Vellum (calfskin)
The calligraphy is Littera textualis formata (font)
Codex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex

—ooo—

The Ashmole Manuscript

First, I must apologize. My post on the Aberdeen Bestiary had lost several paragraphs when I published it. I did not notice that my text was incomplete until later in the day. I have now rewritten the missing paragraphs and have posted my article again.

The current post deals with the Ashmole or Ashmolean Bestiary (the two names are used) and it is believed that it was illuminated by the same artist as the The Aberdeen Manuscript which originated in England and was probably illuminated in Lincolnshire or Yorkshire. But, the current post also contains information regarding the history of books.

The Story of Books

The Parchment: sheepskin, goatskin and calfskin

I have written about the paper, or parchment, used by artists illuminating books: sheepskin, goatskin and calfskin. The Aberdeen Bestiary was written and illuminated on sheepskin or goatskin. However, the Ashmole Bestiary was written and illuminated on calfskin, or vellum, which is the superior paper.

Wax Tablets: Early Folio

(please click on the image to enlarge it)

Woman holding wax tablets in the form of the codex. Wall painting from Pompeii, before 79 AD.

Woman holding wax tablets in the form of the codex. Wall painting from Pompeii, before 79 D.

Bookbinding: the Codex

Both the Aberdeen and the Ashmole manuscripts are codices, the plural form for codex. Codices are books as we know them, i.e. we go from page to page sequentially. However, the binding used in the Middle Ages was of better quality. The pages were connected to one another using a thread. Some illuminated manuscripts were left unbound so one could see the illuminations in full. But, the pages were eventually bound together, which had one important advantage: pages could not be stolen. The Aberdeen Bestiary has incisions, i.e. someone cut out part of certain folios (feuilles, leaf). That’s unfortunate, but we at least know that part of the page is missing. How can we tell when the entire page has been taken away?

The Folio

Codices contained sequential folios (leaf, page), which was not the case when books were written as scrolls.

(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)

The Joshua Scroll, Vatican Library, illuminated scroll, created in the Byzantine empire

« The Joshua Scroll », Vatican Library, example of an illuminated scroll, probably of the 10th century, created in the Byzantine empire (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Codex and the Scroll: volumen, rotulus & recto-verso

Codices (the codex) were introduced in Late Antiquity and continued developing until the Middle Ages. The scroll was probably replaced by the 6th century AD. Scrolls were read from side to side (volumen) or from top to bottom (rotulus). Ironically, when we read information on the internet, we use the scroll!

According to Wikipedia, “The scholarly study of these manuscripts from the point of view of the bookbinding craft is called codicology; the study of ancient documents in general is called paleography.” (Codex, Wikipedia.)

There was a time, moreover, when only one side of the folio (the page) was illuminated and written on (calligraphy). In other words, the sequential codex did not have a recto-verso. The terms Recto and Verso predate the printing-press. (Recto and Verso, Wikipedia.)

The Ashmole Bestiary

The Ashmole Bestiary is a an early Gothic (Christianized) manuscript. By and large, it features animals that cannot be found in Europe, except for a few. As we know, Bestiaries provided depictions of mythical and mythological, or both, animals. In the case of real animals, information was often obtained from the written accounts of travelers to foreign lands. Such accounts did not provide artists with information that could lead to accurate portrayals of various beasts, a case where the proverbial “picture is worth a thousand words” applies. Short of a picture, a tiger might not look like a tiger.

I should think, however, that former portrayals of exotic animals often sufficed. If literature is written in the context of literature (intertextualité), the same is probably true of animal lore, which is illustrated literature.

All bestiaries are derived from the Physiologus and from other rather old descriptions of animals. The authors of these descriptions have been listed: Isidore of Seville, Gaius Julius Solinus, Claudius Aelianus or Aelian, or earlier historians, mainly: Pliny the Elder, Aristotle and Herodotus. This is not a complete list, but I believe that providing other sources would be overwhelming and a little redundant. Moreover, my post would be too long.

However, if one clicks on The Ashmole Bestiary, one can see a depiction of animals presented in the Ashmole Bestiary. If one clicks on Treasures of the Bodleian, one will find a short description of the Ashmole Bestiary provided by a Bodleian scholar. As stated above, the Ashmole Bestiary is housed at Oxford, in one of the Bodleian libraries.

You may wish to look at Gothic art, which is the art associated with Cathedrals such as Notre-Dame de Paris and certain scripts used in Bestiaries. Gothic art followed Romanesque art, starting in the mid 1200s and was followed by Renaissance art. These are large categories, but I have always found it useful to begin with large categories. It simplifies the presentation of most subjects. The rest follows naturally. There will be, of course, an early Gothic and a late Gothic.

There are a few more points I wish to discuss concerning illuminated manuscripts. I have not discussed Richard de Fournival’s Bestiaire d’Amour. We may also wish to look at what was happening at the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204).

Tiny Gallery

(Please click on the images to enlarge them. It should work.)

(Photo credit: The Treasures of the Bodleian [above image] & The Medieval Bestiary [4])

Folio 78v: Treasures of the Bodleian (Dragon strangling an elephant.)

Folio 15v: Elephant (An elephant with a chain through its trunk carries a castle full of soldiers on its back.)

Folio 18r: Bonnacon (The hunters have come prepared with shields, so the bonnacon’s primary weapon has failed to save it from the spear.)

Folio 15v: Griffin (A griffin has caught an unfortunate pig.)

Folio 71r: Swan (The swan sings sweetest when it is about to die.)

Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921)

Le Carnaval des animaux (Le Cygne/The Swan)

1 March 2013

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The Aberdeen Bestiary: a Medieval Bestiary

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Beast Literature, Bestiaries

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Ashmole Bestiary, Bestiary, Marischal College, Royal Librarian, Thomas Reid, Westminster Palace

The Unicorn (F15r) the Aberdeen Bestiary

Folio: a page; 4: page number; v: verso as opposed to r: recto

Online Manuscript:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/1r.hti

Index of Animals:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/contents.hti

Photo credit:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/1r.hti

the Aberdeen Bestiary, Wikipedia

the Bestiary.ca: http://bestiary.ca/

The Aberdeen Bestiary is housed in the Aberdeen University Library, Univ Lib. MS 24
It is a 12th-century English illuminated manuscript, as is The Ashmole Bestiary
It consists of 103 folios measuring , 30.2 cm (height) 21 cm (width)
It is made of parchment (probably goatskin or sheepskin)
The calligraphy (not specified), probably littera textualis formata
The Aberdeen Bestiary includes an illustrated cycle of the Creation
Codex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex

Sources:

Aberdeen Bestiary (Wikipedia);

Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Project & The Medieval Bestiary).

Bestiaries

Bestiaries are allegorical illuminated manuscripts in which animals, plants and stones are therefore given a symbolic meaning. Bestiaries differ from Books of Hours and other illuminated manuscripts in that they are not devotional or liturgical in meaning. However, they are moralizing in tone and reflect the ideology of early Christianity. As indicated in Wikipedia’s entry, three days after their death, pelicans give their very blood to bring back to life their dead offsprings, just as Christ rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion, a martyrdom and death he suffered to redeem flawed and sinful humanity.

The meaning of each animal — I am excluding plants and stones — is pre-determined as each possess the attributes given in a

2nd-century BCE, a Greek compilation entitled the Physiologus.

Other sources are:

Rabanus Maurus (c. 780 – 4 February 856) the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis (On the Nature of Things) and De Universo, moralisations added to Isidore’s Etymologies;
Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 4 April 636 CE), the author of Etymologiae;
Saint Ambrose (c. 340 – 4 April 397 CE), a father of the Church and the author of the Hexæmeron, a fourth century commentary on the six days of creation;
early third-century Gaius Julius Solinus, the author of De mirabilibus mundi also known as the Collectanea rerum memorabilium (‘Collection of Curiosities’), and Polyhistor, a third-century travel guide, incorporating much of Pliny’s Natural History;
2nd-century Claudius Aelianus or Aelian, who authored On the Nature of Animals.

Other and older sources are:

Pliny the Elder, or Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 CE – August 25, 79 CE), the author of a Naturalis Historia; Greek philosopher
Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE), the author of Historia Animalium;
Herodotus, the author of Histories, who lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484 – 425 BCE) and is considered the “Father of History.”

Although the treatises of these gentlemen imposed a meaning on animals, they were not necessarily discussing real animals. In fact, among the animals featured in Bestiaries some do not exist or have a poetical reality: the unicorn, the phœnix, the dragon and the griffin are legendary animals and at least two, the unicorn and the dragon are cross-cultural beasts and two of which straddle the mythical and the mythological: the griffin and the phœnix. The others, such as the mythological Centaur, half man, half horse and, therefore, a zoomorphic as well as a mythological animal. In fact, even “real” animals have fantastical attributes. “Real” bears do not lick their cubs into shape.

Christ in Majesty, (F4v)
Creation, (F2r)

Christ in Majesty

However, there is a sense in which Christ in Majesty (F4v) belongs to a bestiary. The mythologies I am familiar with all feature Creation tales. Amerindians believed in a Manitou and the Haida Amerindians of the northwest Pacific Coast carve(d) totem poles that suggested animal ancestry, which may point to a belief in evolutionism, except that, as I have already mentioned, Amerindians also had a Manitou (as in Manitoba). These totem poles were at times so beautiful that patrons commissioned Totem poles as Jean de France (30 November 1340 – 15 June 1416) commissioned his Très Riches Heures. (See Totem pole s, Wikipedia.)

The Aberdeen Bestiary

The Paper: Parchment, but not vellum (calfskin)

The Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library, Univ Lib. MS 24)[i] is a 12th century English illuminated manuscript bestiary. It was first listed in 1542 in the inventory of the Old Royal Library at the Palace of Westminster in 1542. (See Aberdeen, History.) It was made on parchment (parchemin), which means that the paper used by the artists and scribes was probably sheepskin or goatskin. Although calfskin is called parchment, vellum (calfskin) is the superior parchment, and when vellum is used, the paper is called vellum. This does not lessen the quality of the Aberdeen Bestiary.

From the Old Royal Library to the Aberdeen University, via Thomas Reid

The history of the illuminated manuscript is somewhat mysterious. According to scholars and researchers involved in the Aberdeen Project, the manuscript was listed as No 518 Liber de bestiarum natura in the inventory of the Old Royal Library, at Westminster Palace (1542). This library was assembled by Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547), with the assistance of antiquary John Leland, to house manuscripts and documents rescued from the dissolution of the monasteries. However, the manuscript may have been part of the royal collection. Many books “escaped” from the Royal Library. (See Aberdeen, History.)

The Aberdeen Bestiary was probably given to Thomas Reid[ii] by Patrick Young, the son of Royal Librarian, Sir Peter Young. Thomas Reid was Regent of Marischal College, Aberdeen and Latin Secretary to James VI. As for Thomas Reid, he gave the precious illuminated manuscript, along with about 1350 books and manuscripts, to Marischal College in 1624-1625. In the 1720s, the books of Marischal College Library were reorganised into presses and the Aberdeen Bestiary was catalogued MS M 72, in 1726. When the Library was catalogued by Thomas Gray in c. 1670, the book had the shelfmark 2.B.XV Sc. Excisions were first recorded at that time, but mutilations stopped. “When Marischal College amalgamated with Aberdeen University in 1860, the Bestiary became part of the University collection[,]” which is probably the moment when the Aberdeen Bestiary acquired the shelfmark MS 24. (See Aberdeen Bestiary, Wikipedia.) However, this may not be exact as there is disagreement among scholars. (See Aberdeen, History.)

Sources

Isidori physiologia: Isidore of Seville‘s Etymologiae

When the Library was catalogued by Thomas Gray in c. 1670, the Aberdeen Bestiary was called Isidori physiologia, which suggests that many descriptions of animals were borrowed from Isidore of Seville rather than the compiler of the Physiologus. Isidore of Seville is the author of several books, the most famous of which is the Etymologiae, 184,[iii] “an encyclopedia of all knowledge.” (See Aberdeen, History.)

The Artist or Artists and the Patron

The Artist or artists: The Ashmole or Ashmolean Bestiary

We do not know who illuminated the Aberdeen Bestiary, but experts believe that the miniatures of the Aberdeen Bestiary were painted by the same artist, or artists, as the miniatures that adorn the Ashmole Bestiary. The Ashmole Bestiary[iv] (Bodleian Library [Oxford University] MS. Ashmole 1511) is a late 12th or early 13th century English illuminated manuscript Bestiary containing a creation story and detailed allegorical descriptions of over 100 animals. The anonymous artist probably lived near his patron, in Lincolnshire or Yorkshire.

As for the Patron of MS 24, the Aberdeen Bestiary, he is believed to have been an ecclesiastic on the basis of F32r (turtle doves), F34r (cedars of Lebanon). It seems our patron was Geoffrey Plantagenet, the illegitimate son of King Henry II and therefore half-brother to Kings Richard and John. Geoffrey Plantagenet was Bishop-elect of Lincoln (1173-82) and later Archbishop of York (1189-1212). Moreover, he owned the St Louis Psalter (Leiden U.L. MS 76A), which means he was wealthy. Luxurious illuminated manuscripts were usually commissioned by members of royal families.

Conclusion

When I discovered the Aberdeen Bestiary site, I felt I should perhaps refrain from writing a post on this famous bestiary. A few Aberdeen Bestiary illuminated folios are online. They can be investigated at leisure but images posted on the Bestiary cannot be used without violating copyright legislation. Fortunately Wikipedia has a site containing a good selection of the Aberdeen Wiki Commons.

There was an exceptional interest for animal fables and beast epics beginning with the publication of Nivardus of Ghent’s 1148 or 1149 Ysengrimus. The Ysengrimus (6,574 lines of elegiac couplet) is Reynard the Fox ‘s birthplace. Reynard is called Reinardus and his foe, the wolf, Ysengrimus. In Reynard the Fox, they become Reynard and Isengrim (Renart and Ysengrin [FR]). However, although the animals inhabiting medieval Beast Epics and Fables are anthropomorphic, i.e. humans in disguise, the wolf looks like a wolf and the fox, like a fox.

However, in illuminated Bestiaries not only are animals fanciful, but they are often grotesquely obscene. In fact, when I was a student, the various Reynard the Fox beast epics were not even mentioned in the curriculum. Nor were Bestiaries. If one visits Beverley Minster, in Beverley (Yorkshire), one wonders whether parents should allow their children to see the cathedral’s misericords. I was copiously entertained, but I was also busy looking up members of my husband’s ancestors several of whom have found their final resting place in Beverley Minster.

Bestiaries were commissioned by the wealthy for the wealthy and were not intended for children. Children were probably told children Æsop’s fables as these passed down from generation to generation in an oral rather than learned (written) tradition. In fact, bestiaries circulated in courtly milieux next to the Roman de la Rose, c. 1230, part of which Chaucer translated into English. Let us pause here.

Tiny Gallery

I cannot copy images from the Aberdeen Library site as I would be in violation of copyright laws. But you may see the illuminated manuscripts by clicking on Bestiary.ca. However, images are available at the above-mentioned Aberdeen Wiki Commons, Wikipedia. (Also see the the top of this post.)

Allegorical Illuminated Manuscripts: Medieval Bestiaries (michelinewalker.com)
Medieval Bestiaries: the Background (michelinewalker.com)
The Dragon East & West (michelinewalker.com)
The Phœnix: on the Importance of Symbols & Myths (michelinewalker.com)

______________________________

[i] Aberdeen Bestiary, Aberdeen

[ii] “Thomas Reid”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/496464/Thomas-Reid>.

[iii] Etymologiae (ljs184): 184 folios; height: 35.6 cm; width: 24.2 cm, located at the Annenberg Rare Book &
Manuscript Library (University of Pennsylvania), Philadelphia, PA, United States

[iv] Ashmole Bestiary, Wikipedia (The Ashmole Bestiary includes an illustrated cycle of the Creation)

Adam names the Animals (F5r)
The Unicorn and the Bear (F15r)
The Dragon and the Elephant (F65v)
The Lamb (F21r)
The Female Vulture (F44v)
The Yale (F16v)

The Yale F16v

26 February 2013

WordPress

The Physiologus & Animals Depicted in Bestiaries

25 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Beasts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Beasts, Bestiary, India, John Chrysostom, Medieval Bestiary, Middle age, Physiologus

The Physiologus

Bestiaries: sources

For the complete lists of animals featured in the Physiologus, see Physiologus, Wikipedia. For a shorter list of these animals as well as their attributes, go to Medieval Bestiary: http://bestiary.ca/manuscripts/manubeast1345.htm.

For pictures featured in the Physiologus, go to Medieval Bestiary, Gallery: http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beastgallery218.htm

To access manuscripts other than the Physiologus, click on tab labelled Manuscripts: Medieval Bestiary, Gallery: http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beastgallery218.htm

—ooo—

In a post dated 22 February, I indicated that writers and artists who produced the bestiaries of the Middle Ages used as their main source a book entitled The Physiologus (‘The Natural Scientist’). “It consists of stories based on the ‘facts’ of natural science as accepted by someone called Physiologus (Latin: “Naturalist”), about whom nothing further , and from the compiler’s own religious ideas.”[i]

There is no doubt concerning the authenticity of our unknown “naturalist,” i.e. the person who compiled the texts contained in the Physiologus. But there is some disagreement with respect to the authorship of the texts included in the Physiologus. The Physiologus “is ascribed to one or other of the 4th-century bishops Basil and Epiphanius.” Peter of Alexandria, Basil, John Chrysostom, Athanasius, Ambrose, and Jerome; even pre-Christian authors like Solomon and Aristotle were said to have written parts of it (Curley, p. xvi). (See Medieval Bestiary)

However, for our purposes, we need simply know that “medieval bestiaries ultimately are derived from the Greek Physiologus.”[ii] but that India “may also be a source:”

Some Indian influence is clear—for example, in the introduction of the elephant and of the Peridexion tree, actually called Indian in the Physiologus. India may also be the source of the story of the unicorn, which became very popular in the West.[iii]

The Popularity & Dissemination of the Physiologus

The Physiologus may not have been as popular as the Bible, but nearly so. “It was translated into Latin (first in the 4th or 5th century), Ethiopian, Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, and Armenian. Early translations from the Greek also were made into Georgian and into Slavic languages.”[iv] It was then translated into several other languages. However, the symbolism attached to these allegorical animals may have changed and new symbols may have been added as various manuscripts wound their way through translations and possible “editions” of some original Physiologus. A thousand years elapsed between the publication of the Physiologus and that of the Aberdeen Bestiary.

According to Britannica, The Physiologus would have “48 sections, each dealing with one creature, plant, or stone and each linked to a biblical text.” As for animals featured in the Physiologus, they are listed in Wikipedia. In its list, Wikipedia names the dragon and the unicorn, both of whom are “fantastic” animals, as are the griffin, the phœnix, and other animals . (See Physiologus, Wikipedia and Medieval Bestiary)

Griffin couchant facing throne at Knossos (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Dragon, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Phoenix

In the Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion, the Physiologus is described as “an exposition of the marvellous properties of some 50 animals, plants and stones, with a Christian interpretation of each.”[v] In this statement, the key word is “marvellous.” It matches the word used to describe the “fantastic” aspects of certain documents dating back to the French Middle Ages. Several mediavelists speak of the “merveilleux [marvellous] chrétien.”

Truth be told, among animals described in the Physiologus, some do not exist. The dragon and the unicorn, who are listed in Wikipedia’s entry on the Physiologus, are legendary animals that I call “mythical animals.” There are other mythical animals, two of whom are the afore-mentioned dragon and unicorn, but the Physiologus does not feature the phœnix, a mythical creature who was adopted as a symbol in Early Christianity. Nor does it mention the griffin. However, somehow I discovered the above fresco of the griffin while reading about the Physiologus. It is so lovely that I could not resist inserting it in this post. Although there are several mythical animals, the dragon, the griffin, the phœnix, and the unicorn are the more familiar. They are the four animals I call “mythical animals.”

Mythical vs Mythological Animals

Mythical animals may inhabit mythologies, east and west, but unlike the Minotaur of Greek mythology, they are legendary beasts who do not have a lineage. In this regard, they differ from Greek mythology’s Minotaur who is the son of a bull and Phasiphaë, the daughter of Helios and the wife of Theseus, the mythical and mythological — Greek mythology — founder-king of Athens. As for Pegasus, the winged horse, he is the offspring of Poseidon and Medusa. However, among the fifty or so beast Physiologus depicts, there is a Centaur, a zoomorphic — half human, half horse — mythological animal as well as the Siren of Greek mythology.

(please click on the image to enlarge it)

A phœnix depicted in a book of mythological creatures by F. J. Bertuch* (1747-1822)

*F. J. Bertuch

(please click on the image to enlarge it)

Theseus fighting the Minotaur by Jean-Etienne Ramey, marble, 1826, Tuileries Gardens, Paris

Theseus fighting the Minotaur by Jean-Étienne Ramey, marble, 1826, Tuileries Gardens,* Paris

*Jean-Étienne Ramey

A Poetical Reality

The reality of these “fantastic” animals is poetical. It is the reality that J. K. Rowling used when she wrote the Harry Potter series. For instance, she featured the mythical phœnix, who is described in the Physiologus as an animal that rises from its own ashes and therefore represents Christ rising from the dead three days after his crucifixion. Similarly, the legendary pelican kills its off springs and, three days later, revives them by feeding them her blood.[viii] The author of the Physiologus may have borrowed from “pagan” sources, but his interpretation of the 50 animals, plants and stones is a Christian interpretation, which would suit medieval and Christian authors of bestiaries and artists depicting the fanciful animals bestiaries featured.

The animals featured in the Physiologus are in fact all the more “marvellous” and poetical in that they are zoomorphic, i.e. combining human and animal features, which is the case with the Centaur. But mythical and mythological animals may also combine the features of several animals, which is the case with Pegasus, the winged horse. However, whatever their appearance, these animals all stand for human beings or all symbolize human attributes. They are not humans in disguise, but allegorical or animals depicting mankind.

Conclusion

I wanted to write on the Aberdeen Bestiary, but many of the animals featured in the Aberdeen Bestiary originate in the Physiologus, as does the symbolism attached to them. It would appear that the “religious sections of the Physiologus (and of the bestiaries derived from the Physiologus) are concerned primarily with abstinence and chastity; they also warn against heresies.”[ix]

However, what is most fascinating about these animals is that they are part of our world. They are fanciful and the iconography attached to them, mostly delightful, but it could be that we actually need the phœnix. If the phœnix rises from its ashes, we can also rise again, whatever ordeal has befallen us. As for the pelicans who stretch maternal love to the point of reviving dead off springs by feeding them their blood, they are quintessential motherhood. In other words, both the Physiologus and bestiaries it inspired tell our story, and that story is one we created.

The Physiologus is an “illuminated” manuscript. Artists and scribes transformed it into a work of art. Second-century artists may have used techniques that differ from the manner in which the Book of Kells and the Aberdeen Bestiary are illuminated, but the Lascaux Cave is a splendid testimonial to a motivation to “picture” our world and, in particular, the animals we require. Several manuscripts of the Physiologus have survived. The Bern Physiologus may well be the most notorious extant illuminated manuscript of the Physiologus. For pictures, click on Bern Physiologus (Wikimedia commons) and Medieval Bestiary: http://bestiary.ca/manuscripts/manubeast1345.htm)

Angels have wings, yet we swear on the Bible.

: Bellerophon riding Pegasus (1914); ‘Arrival to the Oxford market’: Anonymous (XIII century)

Main Source: Medieval Bestiary: http://bestiary.ca/manuscripts/manubeast1345.htm

Photo credit: Wikipedia (all images)

[i] “bestiary”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63117/bestiary>.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] “Physiologus”, Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion (Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, 2003).

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Donald Ray Schwartz, Noah’s Ark, An Annotated Encyclopedia of every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible (Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000).

[viii] “Physiologus”, Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion (Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, 2003)

[ix] Britannica, loc. cit.

The Unicorn in the Physiologus

(please click on the picture to enlarge it)

24 February 2013

WordPress

Medieval Bestiaries: the Background

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Illuminated Manuscripts

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Beasts, Book of Kells, British Isles, Insular art, Johannes Gutenberg, Kashefi's Lights of Canopus, La Conduite des Rois, The Panchatantra, Très Riches Heures

The Panchatantra, an illustration from a Syrian edition dated 1354. The rabbit fools the elephant king by showing him the reflection of the moon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Age of Illuminated Manuscripts

The fall of the Western Roman Empire

The Middle Ages is a period of European History that began in the 5th century CE. On the 4th of September 476, Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed by Odoacer, a Germanic chieftain. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire occurred gradually as nomadic tribes: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vikings, Vandals, Franks, Gauls, etc. invaded the various regions the Romans had conquered.

The new age, known as the Middle Ages and, pejoratively, as the “dark ages,” would last until the 15th century CE and was not entirely dark. In Western European countries, it was the golden age of illuminated manuscripts, many of which featured fanciful and even mythical beasts and are called bestiaries.

It would appear that Celtic monks were among the first artists to produce illuminated manuscripts, but the movement spread south and reached a pinnacle in the 15th century, in the current Netherlands, then known as the Franco-Flemish or Burgundian lands.

The Fall of the Byzantine Empire and the invention of the printing press

However, a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire, in 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks and, three years earlier, in 1450, the printing press had been invented. These two events changed the course of history. The fall of the Byzantine Empire brought about a rebirth (Renaissance) in European culture and it so happens that Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1395 – 3 February 1468) invented the printing press as the Greek scholars of the Byzantine Empire fled west, first to Italy, carrying precious Greek manuscripts. So the invasion of the Byzantine Empire, by the Ottoman Turks, the last invasion, ushered in a new age. Europe entered its Renaissance (literally: rebirth) and, as it did, works that had been hand copied mostly by monks in the scriptorium of monasteries would henceforth be printed at a rapid rate, putting an end, however, to the long reign of illuminated manuscripts.

The reign of illuminated manuscripts had, indeed, been a long one. The Book of Kells, a Gospel book in Latin, was created by Celtic Monks in c. 800. The Book of Kells is the finest illuminated manuscript belonging to Insular or Hiberno-Saxon art, the art of the British Isles, and predates the Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry (c. 1412 and 1416), a Book of Hours. Moreover, the Book of Kells had antecedents. It was a pinnacle.

Suleiman in a portrait attributed to Titian c.1530

Süleiman the Magnificent, in a portrait attributed to Titian c. 1530

Titian, Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576)

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450. (See Johannes Gutenberg, Wikipedia.) The Pope (1458 – 1464), Pius II (18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464) was delighted because the Bible could be printed quickly and disseminated widely. However, despite the invention of the printing press, illuminated manuscripts had a period of grace. Between 1450 and 1501, books could be printed, but blank spaces were left so the book could be illuminated. Books printed during this fifty-year period are called “incunables.”

The Aberdeen Bestiary

Medieval Beast Literature: two traditions

But the Aberdeen Bestiary, one of several medieval bestiaries, was not an incunable and it belonged to one of at least two traditions in beast literature and visual arts. Medieval beast literature includes allegorical bestiaries, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, beast epics and fables originating, to a greater or lesser extent, in India’s Panchatantra, written in the 3rd century BCE, if not earlier. The Panchatantra could belong to a learned tradition stemming from an oral, i.e. unwritten, tradition.

Aberdeen Bestiary, The Beaver (F11r)

**The Aberdeen Bestiary: an Allegory**

The Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library, Univ Lib. MS 24) is a 12th-century English illuminated manuscript bestiary that was first listed in 1542 in the inventory of the Old Royal Library at the Palace of Westminster. Bestiaries[i] are not Gospel books, nor are they Books of Hours. They are allegories, which means that each beast, plant or stone is a symbol. Britannica defines allegories as “a symbolic fictional narrative.”[ii] For instance, in Western literature, the Unicorn, a fantastical animal, represents Christ and the Phœnix, an immortal bird, represents the resurrection of Christ. Each animal is a symbol.

Reynard the Fox & Fables

Worldly Wisdom

However, as bestiaries — allegorical texts — flourished, so did various beast epics and fables. As noted above, this tradition is rooted, to a significant extent, in the Sanskrit Pañcatantra, [iii] attributed to Vishnu Sharma, translated into Pahlavi in 570 CE (AD), by Borzūya, and into Arabic, in 750 CE, by Persian scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa. Ibn al-Muqaffa’s translation is entitled Kalīlah wa Dimnah. A 12th-century version became known as Kalīleh o Demneh and would be the basis of Ḥoseyn Wāʿeẓ-e Kāshefī,[iv] or Kāshefī‘s 15th century the Lights of Canopus and The Fables of Bidpai (The Morall Philosophie of Doni [English, 1570]. (See Panchatantra, Wikipedia.)

Bidpai is the storyteller. Moreover, several Æsopic fables and the many versions of Reynard the Fox (Le Roman de Renart FR) are associated with that tradition, but not completely. Æ sop (c. 620–564 BCE), if indeed there was an Æsop, did borrow from Bidpai, but he also drew from several other sources. In his second volume of fables, Jean de La Fontaine retold fables by Bidpai. His source was, in all likelihood, Kāshefī’s Lights of Canopus, translated by Gilbert Gaulmin, a pseudonym, and entitled Le Livre des lumières ou La Conduite des Rois (1644). (See Pañcatantra FR, Wikipedia.)

The Education of the Prince

Interestingly, tales stemming from the five books of the Pañcatantra (pancha: five; tantra: treatises) are, first and foremost, about “the wise conduct of life,” i.e. a nītiśāstra, and, consequently, closer to Machiavelli‘s Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli [3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527]) Prince than to allegorical medieval bestiaries. (See Pañcatantra, Wikipedia.)

Reynard the Fox, first written in the 12th century, is filled with trickster tales and tales pointing to the need to consider the consequences of one’s actions, the moral of countless fables. Fables are moralizing, but in a worldly fashion, as befits stories that will guide a prince. As mentioned above, the Panchatantra, or Pañcatantra, has been linked to Machiavelli’s Prince. Yet, the Pañcatantra is not unethical, nor, for that matter, is The Prince, if one keeps in mind that the world Machiavelli lived in was factious and that his prince would have to live in that very world. Machiavelli had worked for the Medici family who were bloodthirsty and in whose quest for power “the end justifie[d] the means.”

Aberdeen Bestiary, The Yale (F16v)

Animals, Plants and Stones as Symbols

There are, nevertheless, similarities between the allegorical bestiary, where animals are symbols, and beast stories rooted, in part, in the Pañcatantra. In both traditions animals are anthropomorphic. The word anthromorphism is derived from the Greek ánthrōpos, meaning human, and morphē, meaning shape. In other words, literary beast are humans in disguise and, in both traditions, they are also stereotypes. The fox is wily and the phœnix symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.

However, bestiaries differ from Reynard the Fox. In bestiaries, we have zoomorphic animals, or animals that combine human and animal features (satyrs, the Centaur and the Minotaur of Greek mythology) or animals that combine the features of many animals (Pegasus, the winged horse). In other words, our allegorical animals are as fanciful as many of Jacobus de Voragine‘s saints and martyrs. Strictly rather than poetically speaking, there is no St George. Moreover, strictly rather than poetically speaking, there are no unicorns, griffins, or dragons. Yet, fantastic animals, the phœnix, unicorns, griffins, dragons and others, are the denizens of bestiaries and have a reality of their own, a poetical, symbolic reality.

Fanciful or “Fantastic” Animals

Most of the artists who created illuminated bestiaries had never seen the animals they depicted. In fact, historians themselves relied on the reports of travelers, from ancient Greece down to Marco Polo (15 September 1254 – 9 January 1324). The Travels of Marco Polo (Il Milione and Le Livre des merveilles du monde) and the accounts of other travelers no doubt contained descriptions of animals, but a picture is worth a thousand words. There is a Marco Polo sheep, but it could be that a traveler described an animal with one horn, not two. That animal might have been a rhinoceros, a real animal, but, short of a picture, our animal could take on characteristics that transformed it into a unicorn, a mythical, or fantastical, animal.

The Physiologus: A Source

Therefore, our artists based their illuminations mostly on descriptions found in books. Their most important source was a 2nd-century CE Greek book entitled the Physiologus. In the Physiologus, the pelican feeds her young with her own blood, the phœnix rises from its own ashes, etc. They were symbols before entering bestiaries. Authors of bestiaries also borrowed from Isidore of Seville‘s (c. 560 – 4 April 636) Etymologiae or Origins. Finally, although they may not have been accurate, there were books on animals written by historians. The main ones are listed in From Bestiaries to… Harry Potter.

Conclusion

I must close, but we have the backdrop. My next post will be on the Aberdeen Bestiary.

Love to everyone. ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

Allegorical Illuminated Manuscripts: Medieval Bestiaries (22 February 2013)
The Golden Legend Revisited (12 February 2013)
From Bestiaries to… Harry Potter (29 October 2011)

_________________________

[i] bestiary”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63117/bestiary>.

[ii] “allegory”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/16078/allegory>.

[iii] “Panchatantra”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440899/Panchatantra>.

[iv] “Hoseyn Wa’ez-e Kashefi”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2013

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/312873/Hoseyn-Waez-e-Kashefi>.

Kalīlah wa Dimnah

colophon

21 February 2013

WordPress

Allegorical Illuminated Manuscripts: Medieval Bestiaries

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Beasts, Myths

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Allegories, Ashmole Bestiary, Beasts, Bestiary, Book of Hours, Book of Kells, Illuminated Masnuscripts, Insular art, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

Illumination from the Ashmole Bestiary, Monoceros and Bear (Folio21r)

We have seen Books of Hours and I provided a list of other illuminated manuscripts, most of which are liturgical and/ or devotional. However, we will now be looking at allegories called Bestiaries. In Bestiaries, an animal stands for jealousy, virginity, evil, aspects of love, depending on the subject of the masnuscripts.

So there are areas of illuminated manuscripts

Books of Hours: Les Très Riches Heures, etc. (Flemish, 1415-1416);
liturgical and devotional books, The Book of Kells, a gospel book (Insular art [British Isles], 800s);
allegories, one of which depicts aspects of love.

We will concentrate on

the Aberdeen Bestiary, (12th century), Insular art [Celtic, mostly]),
the Ashmole Bestiary (12th and 13th century, English) and
Richard de Fournival‘s “Bestiaire d’Amour” (Love Bestiary, 13th century, France).

We already have a post on the Phœnix (listed below) and a very short post on the Aberdeen Bestiary, the richest illuminated bestiary, and at the same time we will look at the history of printing and the history of books. We know that illuminations became our illustrations, common in children’s literature. We also know that medieval calligraphy gave us many of the fonts we still use, but there are other elements.

CLOSELY RELATED ARTICLES

From Bestiaries to… Harry Potter (29 October 2011)

The Phœnix: on the Importance of Symbols and Myths (2 February 2012)

The Dragon East & West (4 February 2012)

—ooo—

20 February 2013

WordPress

Ashmole Bestiary, The Unicorn

(Please click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Monsters By Email – A New Level of Bestiary (rpg-creatures.blogspot.com)
The Book of Barely Imagined Beings (callumjhackett.com)
From Bestiaries to… Harry Potter (michelinewalker.com)
The Phœnix: on the Importance of Symbols and Myths (michelinewalker.com)
The Dragon East & West (michelinewalker.com)
The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (michelinewalker.com)
Other Illuminated Manuscripts (michelinewalker.com)
Books of Hours, a Rich Legacy (michelinewalker.com)

More on Boëthius & rising to someone’s defense

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Literature, Music, Sharing

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Alfred Dreyfus, Émile Zola, beauty, Boëthius, Louis XIII, Marcus Aurelius, rising to someone's defense

The Yale, the Aberdeen Bestiary

Aberdeen Bestiary

More on Boëthius

Surfing the net in search of appropriate pictures and music for Boëthius, I was surprised to find that he had many admirers.

Among the material I discovered on You Tube is a German-language account of his death. I have put a link to this website at the very bottom of this post. It provides a more detailed account of his life than mine.

For instance, I did not mention that Boëthius was accused of treason when and perhaps because he rose to the defense of ex-consul Cæcina Decius Faustus Albinus who had just been accused of treasonous correspondence with Justin I, the Byzantine emperor. Boëthius pointed out that if Albinus could be accused of treason, so could he, which is precisely what happened.

Rising to someone’s defense

So poor Boëthius learned, for the duration of his imprisonment, that one does not question the judgment of the “great.” Given his rank and the nature of his position, it could be that Boëthius believed he was at liberty to defend Albinus. But the nature of his position also allowed communication between Boëthius and Justin I. Boëthius was an accomplished Hellenist.

We are now better protected against false accusations, but the fact remains that rising to the defense of an unjustly accused person is dangerous, which may explain why so many of us will not help victims of an injustice. By and large, people in high places will not lift a finger to help a person who is the victim of an injustice

Émile Zola: the Dreyfus affair

When Émile Zola published his: “J’accuse” in an effort to help Dreyfus, an army captain falsely accused of treason, he [Zola] was tried and convicted but managed to flee to England. The traitor was Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy (16 December 1847 – 21 May 1923) who never had to face punitive measures.

And it goes on and on. This morning, I posted a short message on President Obama’s Facebook page and was immediately deluged with mostly unsavoury mail. When President Bush discovered the US was facing a financial collapse, averted by TARP, I lost a third of my pension fund. President Bush was bailed out by the Democrats and my situation has improved, but I thank God and Lady Fortune for the fact that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and that I was born in a country that has social programs.

Finally I thank Boëthius for writing The Consolation of Philosophy (524 ce). He could not avoid torture and death but he reminded us that the scenario is always the same: from ashes to ashes. And he also reminded us that life which sometimes brings the worst can also bring the best. It can be ornamented.

The above picture has both nothing and everything to do with this blog. It is a thing of beauty, naïve beauty, and therefore a small pleasure. When I receive unsavoury messages, I turn to beauty wherein I find a temporary refuge. Marcus Aurelius looked upon his soul as his best refuge. It could be that my soul is also my best refuge, but I need a guardian angel as I struggle to reach it.

How does a blogger say to her readers that she is there for them?

Der Tod des Boëthius (524 n. Chr.)

Bourbon Louis XIII (1601–1643 ): Ballet de la Merlaison

(please click on titles to listen)

22 February 2012

The Phoenix: on the Importance of Symbols & Myths

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Beast Literature, Bestiaries, Medieval Bestiary, Mythology, Myths, Symbols and Emblems

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Ave Phœnice, Évangéline, Job, Lactantius, legengary animals, mythology, myths, pays de Québec, symbols and emblems

“The Phœnix,” The Aberdeen Bestiary

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aberdeen Bestiary

If the myth of the phœnix did not exist, we would probably invent it. Mythical and legencreatures are usually born of a human need, which, in this case, is the need for rebirth. Moreover, given that the Phœnix is a transcultural and nearly universal figure, we can presume that the need for rebirth is widely and profoundly rooted in the human imagination.

Given that the phœnix rises from its ashes, it constitutes a powerful symbol that one can associate with survival, as is the case with Évangéline and Maria Chapdelaine’s mythic “pays de Québec.” The phœnix is a source of hope to the inhabitants of lands decimated by wars or natural disasters. As a symbol of rebirth, the phœnix also brings hope to those who, like Job, who have lost everything. This is how it appears in the Hebrew Bible:

I thought I would end my days with my family/ And be as long-lived as the phœnix. (Job.29:18) [i]

Mythical, Mythological and Legendary Animals

Because of his features, the phœnix is a zoomorphic. It combines features borrowed from other animals. Given that he is not a real animal, one is tempted to call it a mythical creature, but it appears in the Bible, and Greek mythology. Mythological figures have ancestors and descendants, or a lineage, which can hardly be the case with the immortal phœnix. However, given that it can rise from its ashes and is therefore immortal and godlike, the phœnix is a more powerful symbol than the dragon, the unicorn, the griffin, creatures that lack a lineage, or mostly so. See List of Legendary Creatures, Wikipedia)

The Phœnix (Photo credit: Bestiary.ca)

Phœnix depicted in the book of mythological creatures by F. J. Bertuch (1747-1822) (Photo credit: Wikipadia)

In Islamic mythology the phœnix was identified with the ‘anqā,’ also a bird, but one that “became a plague and was killed.”[v]

Fantasy Literature and elsewhere

The phœnix was used by J. K. Rowling in the fifth book of the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phœnix, 2003. It is also featured in Jean de La Fontaine, “Le Corbeau et le Renart,” (Book I.2), or the “Raven and the Fox,” where the Fox tells the crow that because of its beautiful voice, he is a phœnix among the guests of forests: “Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois.” In French, blackmail is translated by le chantage. The fox makes the corbeau sing and the cheese drops.

Christian Symbolism

Mere Mortals

We cannot escape death as we are mere mortals, but life is nevertheless perpetuated. Outside my window there are naked trees, but they will again be adorned. And even if one’s land is a paper land, a literary homeland, that too is a land. In 1889-1890, Henri-Raymond Casgrain, the author of Pèlerinage au pays d’Évangéline was President of the Royal Society of Canada and therefore lucid. Yet there is no “real” Évangéline. She was created by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1847.

Phoenix, from Aberdeen Bestiary

[i] Donald Ray Schwartz, Noah’s Ark: an Annotated Encyclopedia of Every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000), p. 400, p. 405, pp. 408-409.

[ii] “phœnix,” in Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Adrian Room (London: Cassel House, 2001[1959]).

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

composer: Igor Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)

piece: “The Firebird” first performed for Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes (1910)

performers: Vienna Philharmonic (Salzburg Festival, 2000)

conductor: Valery Gergiev

photograph: Igor Stravinsky