05 December 2012
Lions, Monkeys and Bears - Oh, My! The Bohun Psalter and Hours
Historated initial 'D'(omini) at the Penitential Psalms: the priests give Judas money (Luke 22:5), Christ sends Peter and John to prepare the passover (Luke 22:8), the Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden, and the Last Judgment in the border, from the Bohun Psalter and Hours, England, second half of the 14th century, Egerton MS 3277, f. 133r.
The Bohun Psalter and Hours (Egerton MS 3277) is, as Lucy Freeman Sandler describes it, 'virtually a royal manuscript'. It was probably produced for Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton (d. 1373), who was the great-grandson of King Edward I, and the father of Eleanor (who married Thomas of Woodstock, son of Edward III), and of Mary (the wife of Henry of Bolingbroke, who later became Henry IV).
This Psalter is part of a larger group of at least 10 manuscripts that were created for various generations of the Bohun family by a scriptorium and workshop in residence at the main Bohun home of Pleshey Castle, Essex. It is unclear whether this sort of arrangement existed with other noble families of this time, but this may have been a comparatively common practice for the English aristocracy.
Historiated initial 'S'(alvum) at the beginning of Psalm 68 ('Salvum me fac Deus'), with scenes of the Ark's arrival in Jerusalem, and to the left of the initial, King David standing holding his harp, with a small hybrid musician playing under his feet, from the Bohun Psalter and Hours, England, second half of the 14th century, Egerton MS 3277, f. 46v.
The Bohun Psalter and Hours was probably written around 1361, and the first campaign of illumination – verse initials and line fillers – was likely completed at this time. Little appears to have been done on the manuscript until the 1380s, when work on the Bohun Psalter and Hours was resurrected and the major initials and other miniatures were completed. The original programme of illumination contained nearly 400 subjects, both large and small, although a number of decorated pages were later excised – get in touch if you see anything similar at a car boot sale! As Lucy Freeman Sandler has pointed out, the various 'minor' components of illumination, such as the marginalia, often complement or respond to the 'main' meaning of the historiated initials. For example, see the large historiated initial on f. 29v (which was the opening on display during the Royal exhibition).
Historiated initial 'D'(ixit) of four scenes in the life of David: Saul entering the cave in which David and his men are hiding to relieve himself; David cutting a corner of Saul's robe; David calling after Saul with the corner of his robe and Saul speaking to David, confessing that he believes David will soon be king, at the beginning of Psalm 38, The Canticle of David, from the Bohun Psalter and Hours, England, second half of the 14th century, Egerton MS 3277, f. 29v.
The initial 'D'(ixit) at the beginning of Psalm 38 (above and below) was one of the major divisions of the Psalter, and was commonly marked out for special decoration at this period. The iconography in this scene is remarkable. On the outer edges of the initial are four human and hybrid musicians, playing the viol, horn, cymbals and harp – all instruments mentioned in the Psalter.
Detail of an historiated initial 'D'(ixit) of four scenes in the life of David, at the beginning of Psalm 38, The Canticle of David, from the Bohun Psalter and Hours, England, second half of the 14th century, Egerton MS 3277, f. 29v.
In the centre of the initial are four scenes taken from I Kings: 24 (1 Samuel: 24 in the current division of the Bible). This book narrates the conflict between King Saul and David, and the first scene in the upper left shows Saul and his army searching for David and his men in the wilderness of Engedi. Saul enters a cave in which, unknown to him, David and his men are hiding. Saul is described in various translations of the Bible as needing to 'cover his feet', 'relieve nature', or even 'go to the bathroom', as can be seen in the upper right. David is shown standing behind the vulnerable Saul and, according to the text, his men urge him to kill the king, but instead David cuts off part of Saul’s cloak. After Saul leaves the cave, David approaches him, in the lower scene on the left. David holds out the cut cloth and tells Saul that although he had the opportunity to kill him, he did not, as Saul is his king and the Lord’s anointed. Saul sees this as evidence of David’s righteousness, and proclaims that David will be his successor for the kingdom of Israel; on the lower right David swears fealty – interestingly, with his hand on a book – and Saul anoints him as future king.
Besides depicting this unusual scene from the Bible, this miniature makes a number of ideological points. Bear in mind that this was painted during the Hundred Years' War. If you look on the right, you can see the arms of France in the initial frame, which aligns Saul with the French ruler. On the left part of the initial are the arms of England as well as those of the Bohun family, which are similarly aligned with the ultimately-prevailing King David.
Detail of an historiated initial 'D'(efecit) of the Ark of the Covenant being carried into the Temple, with an ape and a bear in the margins, from the Bohun Psalter and Hours, England, second half of the 14th century, Egerton MS 3277, f. 84r.
On f. 84r (above) is an historiated initial 'D'(efecit in salutare meum anima mea), or 'My soul hath fainted after thy salvation'. This is at Psalm 118:81, a subdivision of what is a very long Psalm indeed. Inside this initial, King Solomon is shown accompanying the Ark of the Covenant, which looks like a chest of pirate booty, into the Temple of Jerusalem (from III Kings 8:6). Similarly, the upright ape standing on the initial is also carrying a bag of money, and seems to mimick the procession below. He is carrying an owl, which would have been understood by medieval readers as a reference to a fairly well-known saying: 'Pay me no less than an ape, an owl, and an ass', although of course the ass is absent.
This ape focuses attention on the piety displayed in the initial, but it may refer to those who laboured to create the manuscript itself, as artists at the time were often described as 'apes of nature'. Further evidence of this can be seen above – look at the bear who sits uncomfortably on the lower extender of the initial, and who appears to be licking a pen, in preparation for working on a scroll of music. This may be intended to represent the scribes who worked on this manuscript.
Detail of a marginal illumination of a bear-scribe writing on a scroll, from the Bohun Psalter and Hours, England, second half of the 14th century, Egerton MS 3277, f. 13v.
Lest you think this bear-scribe is too fanciful, see one final detail from f. 13v, the last folio of the first quire. There are a number of bears to be found elsewhere in the Bohun Psalter and Hours, but this one does not seem to be directly related to the text nearby. This bear stands holding a quill and working on a scroll. Behind the bear is a goose, in the act of literally goosing the bear. The first word on this bear's scroll is 'screbere' which is conveniently split so that the second word is bere – of course a reference to the creature itself. But the rest of the text is not so immediately apparent: following 'screbere' is some indecipherable scribbling, and then the names 'mar / tinet' and 'robi / net', and on the back is 'pi / erz'. So these are the names Martin, Robert and Piers – presumably the names of three scribes who worked on this very manuscript.
But what might seem like a self-reference is more complicated, because this image was created not by the scribes but by an artist whose name does not survive. Perhaps he was poking fun at those with whom he worked closely to produce such a well-integrated manuscript? Perhaps this is a partial explanation for the disrespectful goose? A larger question is for whom this sort of humour was intended. Lucy Sandler has noted that the artist responsible for much of this Psalter continued working for the Bohun family for decades after the manuscript was finished, so it is hard to imagine that they objected to this in-joke. An inventory made of the library at Pleshey Castle at the end of the 14th century includes more than 120 books, including a number of Bibles and other religious texts. Indeed, it is likely, knowing what we do of the Bohuns, that they would have appreciated this clever interplay between human and animal, text and image.
- Sarah J Biggs
01 December 2012
A Calendar Page for December 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for December, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18882, ff. 12v-13
These December calendar pages feature another relatively tame version of Capricorn - a lone, rather wistful-looking goat rather than the more common half-goat, half-fish (see last year's December page for another example). Below Capricorn, on the first calendar page, livestock are being slaughtered. Two men on the left are about to deliver the coup de grâce to a standing steer, while on the right two other men are cutting a pig's throat (and collecting its blood in a nearby pan). Behind can be seen a stretched and butchered carcass. On the right two butchers are at work in a shed; outside is a market square with a long row of tables for the meat to be sold to waiting customers (including another nun - perhaps the same one that can be seen in the November scene?).
16 November 2012
British Library Manuscripts Featured in New Getty Exhibition
Miniature of Christ in glory holding a globe and blessing the Virgin (on the following page); miniature of the Virgin kneeling (towards Christ on the previous page), from the Address in verse to Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, from the town of Prato in Tuscany (the Carmina regia), illuminated by Pacino di Buonaguida, central Italy (Tuscany), c. 1335 - c. 1340, Royal MS 6 E. ix, ff. 4v-5r.
An exciting new exhibition has just opened at the Getty Center in Los Angeles: Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance: Painting and Illumination, 1300-1350. Please see here for a fabulous review of the Getty exhibition.
An important British Library manuscript, the Carmina regia, an address by the city of Prato to Robert of Anjou (Royal MS 6 E. ix) is featured in the exhibition (see here for an earlier blog post abot the Carmina). This manuscript was also showcased in the Library’s recent Royal Manuscripts exhibition, but visitors to the Los Angeles exhibition will be able to see a different image, that of Christ Enthroned (f. 4v, see above, and at the bottom for a version of the image used to promote the exhibition).
The Carmina regia is now also available to be viewed in full on the Digitised Manuscripts website (see here).
Miniature of Agnes enthroned flanked by two musician angels, with scenes from her life below. Beneath the miniature is a single four-line red stave, musical notation and a single line of text in gold capitals 'Sancta Agnese da dio'. Illuminated by Pacino di Buonaguida, Italy (Florence), c. 1340, Additional 18196, f. 1
The Library has also lent two leaves to the exhibition, which were both originally part of a single manuscript: Additional 18196, f. 1, with scenes from the life of St Agnes (see above), and Additional 35254B, with part of a hymn to St Michael. These leaves have been reunited in the exhibition with others from the same book of songs (or laudario) made for the Compagnia di Sant'Agnese, which was based at the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. 28 leaves or fragments of this book survive, and 25 of them are featured in the exhibition.
Miniature of the Apparition of Michael. Beneath the miniature is a single four-line red stave, musical notation and a single line of text in gold capitals 'Exultando in Gesu'. Illuminated by Pacino di Buonaguida, Italy (Florence), c. 1340, Additional 35254B
The curator of the exhibition, Christine Sciacca, explains that this book was originally 'the most spectacular Florentine manuscript commission' from the first half of the 14th century. (Christine Sciacca, 'Reconstructing the Laudario of Sant-Agnese', in Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance, ed by Christine Sciacca (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012), pp. 219-35 (p. 219)).
All three loaned works were painted by Pacino di Buonaguida, who was active in Florence in the first half of the 14th century.
- Kathleen Doyle
14 November 2012
Rediscovering Malory: Digitising The Morte Darthur
First page of the section on Arthur's Roman wars ('Hyt befelle whan kyng Arthur had wedded quene Gwenyvere...'); from Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur, England, c. 1471-1483, Add. MS 59678, f. 71r.
The Morte Darthur by Sir Thomas Malory has been, for the English literary tradition, the most influential presentation of the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It directly inspired Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court –- and all that before the rediscovery of the only extant manuscript copy of the text, in 1934.
Malory was as much a translator and adaptor as an author, and his book gathers together and sets in order a comprehensive retelling of the full Arthurian story, from Arthur's conception and birth to his death, the fall of Camelot, and the deaths of Guinevere and Lancelot. Malory's sources range from English poetic texts (like the Alliterative Morte Arthure, about Arthur's continental campaign against the fictional Roman emperor Lucius) to the great French 'Vulgate Cycle', a monumental, multivolume prose work about (among other things) Lancelot, Galahad and the quest for the Holy Grail.
Last page of what was Book IV in Caxton's edition, with a colophon identifying the author as 'a knyght presoner Sir Thomas Malleorre'; from Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur, England, c. 1471-1483, Add. MS 59678, f. 70v.
Prior to 1934, the Winchester manuscript was not 'lost', but was part of the Winchester College Library. But no one had realized its importance: its text had not been identified with the book published by the pioneering English printer William Caxton in 1485. Before the manuscript's rediscovery, Caxton's early edition had been our only witness for Malory's text, the basis for all subsequent printed versions. But the Winchester manuscript (now British Library, Add. MS 59678) was a slightly earlier copy, written c. 1480. Indeed, while it is not the manuscript Caxton used as the basis for his edition, the printer did consult it. Close examination of the manuscript's pages has revealed smudges left by the still-wet ink of freshly printed pages left lying on the book –- in a typeset identified as Caxton's (an article by Lotte Hellinga and Hilton Kelliher in the British Library Journal gives the full story of this discovery).
A page from the Tale of Sir Balin, including two marginal notes calling attention to the exploits of Garlonde the invisible knight, and a pointing hand indicating something of interest in the text; from Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur, England, c. 1471-1483, Add. MS 59678, f. 29v.
Finding the manuscript revolutionised our understanding of what had been believed to be a well-known book. Caxton had made slight changes to the text, sometimes rewording or abridging what Malory had written, in order to fit the correct amount of text onto each page. Caxton's changes were particularly significant in the portion of the text derived from the Alliterative Morte Arthure. Malory's prose reworking of the poem retained much of the alliteration and metre of the original, to a far greater degree than was reflected in Caxton's version.
Page from the Tale of Sir Tristram, including a marginal note calling attention to a 'fayre Brachette', or hunting dog, given to Tristram by the daughter of the King of France; from Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur, England, c. 1471-1483, Add. MS 59678, f. 152r.
To 'rediscover' the Winchester manuscript for yourself, visit Digitised Manuscripts, where a full digital version of the manuscript has just been made available! The experience of reading the book in its manuscript form is quite different from that offered by modern editions, even those based on the Winchester version of the text. Most striking is the liberal use of red ink, with nearly every proper name in the manuscript written in red, in a slightly more formal script. Scholars do not yet agree on why this was done, but everyone concurs it makes for a very striking visual presentation.
Page from the 'Sankgreal' (Holy Grail), including a marginal sketch of a cross, perhaps related to the adjoining story of Sir Galahad and Sir Melyas at a crossroads, with a cross signposting, on the right, the path of 'a good man and a worthy knyght', and, to the left, a way where they 'shall nat there lyghtly wynne prouesse'; from Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur, England, c. 1471-1483, Add. MS 59678, f. 357v.
Nicole Eddy
05 November 2012
Beautiful Contraband: The Queen Mary Psalter
We are thrilled to announce the long-awaited upload of the Queen Mary Psalter to our Digitised Manuscripts site (click here for the full manuscript). We discussed the Psalter last year in our post Rival Queens, Precious Books, but here is a bit of a recap...
Miniature of the Crucifixion, with eight niches occupied by male figures, with an historiated initial 'A'(d), with a pope, king, bishop and two others kneeling before an altar, with a bas-de-page scene of Christina cast into the sea and rescued by angels, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 256v
The Psalter is named, as you might imagine, for Queen Mary Tudor (1516 - 1558), daughter of King Henry VIII, but the manuscript was not made for her - in fact, it was produced nearly 200 years before Mary's birth. The Psalter was created in England, probably in London or East Anglia, between 1310 and 1320. Some scholars argue that it was made for Isabella of France (1295 - 1358), Queen of England and consort of Edward II, but unfortunately there is no certainty about this point. The Psalter was certainly created for an aristocratic patron, and possibly a royal one, but the lack of any colophon or coats of arms in the manuscript means that it has been impossible to conclusively link it to any original owner.
Miniature of the Tree of Jesse, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 67v
More is known about the manuscript itself, which was put together with an enormous amount of care. The Psalter opens with a unique cycle of Old Testament miniatures, which details events from the Fall of Lucifer to the death of Solomon and is accompanied by an Anglo-Norman commentary found nowhere else; it was probably commissioned particularly for this manuscript. This is followed by a calendar, the Psalter (Book of Psalms) proper, Canticles, and Litany, and virtually all of the manuscript is in the hand of one scribe.
Miniature of Christ in the Temple speaking to the doctors, with the Virgin and Joseph behind, and six niches with prophets, accompanying the text of Psalm 52, with a bas-de-page scene of a mounted man and two mounted women hawking, with a man on foot holding a lure, and a hawk attacking a duck, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 151r
The layout of the text was meticulously planned to fit almost seamlessly with the nearly unparalleled program of decoration in the Psalter. The sheer number of images throughout are staggering; there are 223 Old Testament images, 24 calendar scenes, 104 half- or full-page miniatures, 23 historiated initials, and 464 marginal or bas-de-page drawings. Most remarkably, every image in the manuscript was produced by a single highly-skilled artist, now known as the Queen Mary Master.
We know very little about where the Queen Mary Psalter was during the first two centuries of its existence. By the early 1550s it had come into the hands of Henry Manners, the 2nd earl of Rutland (1526 - 1563), who as a devout Protestant was arrested by Mary in May of 1553, shortly after she took the throne. A much-erased note on f. 84r reads: 'This boke was sume tyme [under erasure: the Erle of Rutelands], and it was his wil / that it shulde by successioun all way / go to the [under erasure: lande of Ruteland] or to / [partially erased: him that linyally succedis by reson / of inheritaunce in the seide lande'].
It is uncertain what happened to the Psalter after Rutland's arrest, but in October of 1553 it was seized by an eagle-eyed and opportunistic customs officer named Baldwin Smith; there presumably had been an attempt to remove the manuscript from England. Smith inscribed his name and the circumstances of this seizure at the end of the manuscript (see f. 319v) and then presented it as a gift to Queen Mary. Mary clearly valued the Psalter very highly; she had it rebound to include the pomegranate device that she had inherited from her mother (see above, now much worn), and there is some evidence to suggest that she used it in her personal devotions.
If you would like more information about the Queen Mary Psalter, it is among those manuscripts featured in the Royal app, which is still available for download. We hope that you enjoy paging through this treasure on Digitised Manuscripts (online here); a few of our favourite images are below.
Miniature of God the Creator holding a compass with angels and cherubins, and Lucifer with fallen angels and devils, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 1v
Detail of a miniature of two centaurs with bows, aiming their arrows at nearby birds (for the zodiac sign Sagittarius), from a calendar page for November, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 82r
Detail of a miniature of the three Magi before Herod, with a bas-de-page scene of a bear on a chain springing at a woman, while a man is whipping him, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 131r
Detail of a bas-de-page scene of two hybrid grotesques (each half-fish), with shields and lances, jousting with one another in the ocean, from the Queen Mary Psalter, England (London or East Anglia), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 143v
- Sarah J Biggs
01 November 2012
A Calendar Page for November 2012
For more details on calendar pages of the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for November, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 11v-12
A common scene for November calendars is the fattening of pigs for the winter. The page on the left shows a typical example, with a peasant knocking acorns down from trees to feed a group of hungry animals, while a man on the right seems to be trying to coax a less-eager pig to eat. On the right is a market square, bordered by tall buildings (including perhaps a church) and watched over by a centaur-archer, the traditional depiction for Sagittarius. In the square a group of men (and a single nun, strangely enough) are engaged in the sale of cattle and pigs.
29 October 2012
Off With Her Head! Pictures from the Prose Tristan
Miniatures of (above) Tristan and his mentor arriving at a castle and (below) Tristan arriving in Cornwall by ship; from Roman de Tristan en prose, last quarter of the 13th century or first quarter of the 14th century, Italy (Genoa), Harley MS 4389, f. 15v.
Tristan and Isolde are two of the great lovers of medieval
literature, and their doomed affair was retold in several different versions. The
British Library's Harley MS 4389 contains an incomplete copy of the Roman de Tristan in French prose, enlivened
by a large number of coloured drawings illustrating the story. They are not
the highly finished productions of elite illuminators, but nevertheless they
hold tremendous appeal.
The overall impression given by these pictures is of
movement and dynamism. The most common subjects are battles (between two
knights or as part of a chaotic mêlée) and travel. Ships recur again and again:
carrying passengers, approaching castles, even standing in the background of a
combat. In one stretch of six consecutive miniatures, only one does not contain
a ship. The visual emphasis on Tristan's travel transforms him into an
itinerant figure, wandering through the world of Cornwall,
Ireland and Gaul.
Detail of a miniature of Tristan (left) fighting Morholt; from Roman de Tristan en prose, last quarter of the 13th century or first quarter of the 14th century, Italy (Genoa), Harley MS 4389, f. 18v.
The drawings are sometimes simple and formulaic,
particularly when depicting battles between knights. The repetition creates a visual
continuity, as knights travel by ship through a landscape dotted with
opportunities for combat. But the illustrations do not wholly eschew the
specific, and some are immediately identifiable. Below, for example, is the
story of Tristan's birth. Tristan's parents were also ill-fated lovers: when
his father's kingdom was attacked, his mother fled in secret. Their story ended
with the king killed in battle, and the queen dead in childbirth. In this
picture, Tristan's mother lies dead in a field, and her waiting woman, holding
the infant Tristan, has been found by two knights who will take him to be
raised in exile by loyal retainers.
Detail of a miniature of the death of Tristan's mother; from Roman de Tristan en prose, last quarter of the 13th century or first quarter of the 14th century, Italy (Genoa), Harley MS 4389, f. 5r.
The best-known part of Tristan's story, in the Middle Ages
as well as today, was his love for Isolde. Tristan had been sent to Ireland
to retrieve the princess Isolde, his uncle King Mark's betrothed. On the way
back, the two fell in love when they unwittingly drank a love potion intended
for Isolde to share with her future husband. Their subsequent clandestine
affair became a source of great tension between Tristan and his uncle, who
suspected the truth and periodically plotted against Tristan, the most skilled
knight in his court.
Detail of a miniature of Isolde (far left, in a rare appearance) and the Beautiful Giantess, watching the duel between Tristan and Brunor (far right); from Roman de Tristan en prose, last quarter of the 13th century or first quarter of the 14th century, Italy (Genoa), Harley MS 4389, f. 59v.
In the illustrations of Harley 4389, however, this iconic
affair is given very little attention. Isolde appears only rarely, even as
other women are given greater attention. Two miniatures, for example, are
devoted to the story of the Beautiful Giantess. Tristan and Isolde have travelled
to a country where it is the custom that the lord, Brunor, cut off the head of
any lady less beautiful than his own love, the Beautiful Giantess. Tristan kills
Brunor, but afterwards the people demand that he uphold custom and decapitate
the Beautiful Giantess, as Tristan showed himself the stronger knight and all
agree Isolde is the more beautiful lady. Tristan does not wish to, but, when
threatened with his own death, complies. The illustrators' choice of what to
draw, and what not to, creates a distinct reading of the text.
Detail of Brunor lying dead while Tristan decapitates the Beautiful Giantess; from Roman de Tristan en prose, last quarter of the 13th century or first quarter of the 14th century, Italy (Genoa), Harley MS 4389, f. 60v.
Nicole Eddy
24 October 2012
Bad News Birds
Detail of an owl in a decorative border; from a description of the Holy Land by Martin de Brion of Paris, France, 1540, Royal MS 20 A. iv, f. 3v
Everyone knows the image of the wise old owl. But the bird had a very different reputation in the Middle Ages. At that time, it was a bird of ill-omen, believed to frequent tombs and dark caves. It would fly only at night, and, according to some sources, flew backwards. On the rare occasions when the owl ventured out during the day, it got no better treatment from its fellow birds than it did from medieval bestiaries: they would raise a terrible clamour and attack in a mob.
Detail of a miniature of an owl being mobbed by other birds; from a bestiary, England, 2nd quarter of the 13th century, Harley MS 4751, f. 47r
With the allegorical gloss typical of bestiary descriptions, the owl's preference for darkness over light made it a figure of the unbeliever, who had yet to embrace the light of the Christian gospel. This hidden significance, as well as its distinctive, sometimes goofy appearance, no doubt prompted its use in decorative motifs and among the marginal grotesques of books of hours.
Miniature of an owl being mobbed by other birds; from The Queen Mary Psalter, England, 1310-1320, Royal MS 2 B. vii, f. 128v
Among its other faults, the owl was considered an extremely dirty animal, invariably soiling its nest. Because of this, as well as its other unpleasant associations, it was strongly identified with sickness. The term bubo, derived from the Greek word for the groin, was the term for a type of swelling symptomatic of colorectal cancer. The Latin word for 'owl' was also bubo (although the two uses are etymologically unrelated), and due to the bird's unsavoury associations, it was believed that the swelling had taken its name from the animal, as a filthy and unpleasant affliction, as well as a bad omen for the patient's prognosis.
Detail of a miniature of an owl; from the Liber medicinarum by John of Arderne, England, 2nd half of the 15th century, Harley MS 5401, f. 46r
This explains the appearance of the owl in the margins of some medical manuscripts. In the image above, a rather jaunty little horned owl stands beside the passage describing the medical bubo. Such an image would likely function as a mnemonic aid and reference tool. The physician or medical student, paging through the book, would see bubo the owl and immediately know he had located the passage on bubo the ailment, a functional play on words.
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