Lapides Igniferi, Unicorns!

Bestiaries are quickly becoming something of a fascination for me. Put briefly, they are compendia of medieval knowledge on what they considered to be the natural world. In practise however, they mix everyday animals and related facts with stuff that is clearly mythological or just plain weird. For example, they believed that certain types of geese grew on trees next to rivers, hanging upside down on trees like bats, and then fell into water when they were mature. Those that landed on land died and were thus safe to eat. Similarly, they believed whales would float silently on top of the water waiting for a boat to pass. When one did, they would pretend to be an island, and the sailors would land on its back. After they had lit a fire, the whale would throw them off and eat them all. But they didn't really need to do this, because another part of the story is that whales have very pleasant breath which attracts small fish.(Which must be based on those ones that trawl up plankton like there's no tomorrow) In order to confuse the issue completely, every description of an animal has its own religious gloss, explaining the implications of its behaviour on Christianity and the lessons we must learn from it.

How much people actually believed this stuff its difficult to know, but its still a heady mix of practical and religious normality, and batshit insane stuff about lynx's urine turning into precious stones. (probably amber)

Anywhere, here are a few of my favourites, the pictures, but not always the text being from the bestiary i went to see in the Bodleian last year.


Fire stones:

"On a certain mountain in the east, there are fire-bearing stones which are called in Greek terrobolem; they are male and female. When they are far from each other, the fire within them does not ignite. But when by chance the female draws near to the male, the fire is at once kindled, with the result that everything around the mountain burns. For this reason, men of God, you who follow this way of life, stay well clear of women, lest when you and they approach each other, the twin flame be kindled in you both and consume the good that Christ has bestowed upon you. For there are angels of Satan, always on the offensive against the righteous; not only holy men but chaste women too."

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Unicorn:

Isidore of Seville - 7th century in his "Etymologies" : The Greek word rhinoceros, meaning "with horn in nose," refers to the same beast as the names monoceros or unicorn. This is a four-footed beast that has a single horn on its forehead; it is very strong and pierces anything it attacks. It fights with elephants and kills them by wounding them in the belly. The unicorn is too strong to be caught by hunters, except by a trick: if a virgin girl is placed in front of a unicorn and she bares her breast to it, all of its fierceness will cease and it will lay its head on her bosom, and thus quieted is easily caught.


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