hey bear! stop eating that! 

‘The Rutland Psalter’, England ca. 1260.

British Library, Add 62925, fol. 51r

archery training 

above: Psalm 85:14 ‘Deus, iniqui insurrexerunt super me, et synagoga potentium quesierunt animam meam: et non proposuerunt te in conspectu suo’ (‘O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them’)

‘The Rutland Psalter’, England ca. 1260.

British Library, Add 62925, fol. 87v

bagpiping dog 

(playing during the funeral procession of Reynard the Fox… above prayers to the Holy Mary and St. John the Evangelist from the Hours of Jesus Crucified)

book of hours, England ca. 1300 (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, Ms. W.102, fol. 75v)

bear mom and her cubs 

‘Ursus fertur dictus quod ore suo formet fetus quasi orsus. Nam aiunt eos in formes generare partus et carnem quandam nasci. Quod mater lambendo in membra componit. Sed hoc inmaturitas facit partus. Denique tricesimo die generat, unde evenit ut precipitata fecunditas informis procreatur’ 

(‘The bear is said to get its name because the female shapes her new-born cub with her mouth [ore] giving it, so to speak, its beginning [orsus]. For it is said that they produce a shapeless fetus and that a piece of flesh is born. The mother forms the parts of the body by licking it. The shapelessness of the cub is the result of its premature birth. It is born only thirty days after conception, and as a result of this rapid fertility it is born unformed’ - transl. Colin McLaren, Aberdeen Bestiary Project)

‘the Rochester Bestiary’, England ca. 1230 (British Library, Royal MS 12 F XIII, fol. 22v)

four little pigs 

Bestiary, England 13th century.

Biritish Library, Harley 4751, fol. 20r

Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound 

Petrus Comestor, Historia scholastica (‘Ashridge Petrus Comestor’), England ca. 1283-1300.

British Library, Royal 3 D VI, fol. 234r

cats’ habits 

Bestiary, England 13th century.

Bodleian Library, MS. Bodl. 764, fol. 51r

eggman

Le livre de Lancelot du Lac & other Arthurian Romances, Northern France ca. 1275-1300.

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, MS 229, fol. 31r

Palm Sunday!

entry of Christ into Jerusalem (detail), ‘Comment jhesucrist entra en jherusalem’ 

‘Livre d’images de madame Marie’, Hainaut or Brabant ca. 1280-1290.

BnF, Nouvelle acquisition française 16251, fol. 29r

lion reviving his cub

‘The third characteristic of the lion is that when a lioness gives birth to her cubs, she produces them dead and watches over them for three days, until their father comes on the third day and breathes into their faces and restores them to life.’ (‘Tertia natura eius est, cum leena parit catulos suos generat, eos mortuos, et custodit eos tribus diebus donec veniens pater eorum tertia die insufflat in faciem eorum et vivificat eos.’ - translation Colin McLaren - The Aberdeen Bestiary Project)

Bestiary, Thérouanne ca. 1270.

LA, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. Ludwig XV 3, fol. 68r

war elephant

bestiary, England 13th century.

Bodleian Library, MS. e Mus. 136, fol. 19v

hey cat. stop licking your butt on the Book of Maccabees or you’ll get an arrow!

see also: Gospel Cat and Apocalyptic Cat

below the cat: 1Maccabees 16:18-20 ‘Et scripsit hæc Ptolemæus, et misit regi ut mitteret ei exercitum in auxilium, et traderet ei regionem, et civitates eorum, et tributa. Et misit alios in Gazaram tollere Joannem: et tribunis misit epistolas, ut venirent ad se, et daret eis argentum, et aurum, et dona. Et alios misit occupare Jerusalem et montem templi’ (‘And Ptolemee wrote these things and sent to the king that he should send him an army to aid him, and he would deliver him the country, and their cities, and tributes. And he sent others to Gazara to kill John: and to the tribunes he sent letters to come to him, and that he would give them silver, and gold, and gifts. And he sent others to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple’)

Biblia Porta, France 13th century.

Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Lausanne, U 964, fol. 376r

rodent’s revenge

Bestiary, England 13th century.

British Library, Royal 12 F XIII, fol. 43r&43v

girl power! - head of Holofernes hanging from the walls of Bethulia

Judith 14:1 ‘Dixit autem Judith ad omnem populum: audite me, fratres: suspendite caput hoc super muros nostros’ (‘Then said Judith unto them, Hear me now, my brethren, and take this head, and hang it upon the highest place of your walls’)

Biblia Porta, France 13th century.

Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Lausanne, U 964, fol. 179v

marginal kitteh

above Acts 10:38-39 ‘[et sanando omnes] oppressos a dyabolo, [quoniam Deus erat] cum illo. Et nos testes [sumus omnium quae fecit]’ (‘and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did’)

lectionary, Cambrai ca. 1266.

Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 190, fol. 72r