Curious medieval images

[admin]

The rest of Honnecourt's images are available on the BNF website and are really pretty to look at. Weird how the medieval architect's mind was arranged.

[Payson]

Luckily for the mediaeval mason they didn't have architects! The people doing the design work also had the skill set to do the work. Very much unlike today. Maybe that is why their buildings survive the ravages of time and history and we get the Millenium dome (after the millenium, mind).

[admin]

Fighting the Kraken?

[Bulot]

I have no idea of what is supposed to be going on here, but this pic fills me with inexplicable joy.


British Library, Harley 4425, f. 140.

[Magnus Hagelberg]

could it be a way of showing how you "make" babies? parrents use to struggle in their explanations.

[Bulot]

Well, you're clearly doing it wrong. That's how you unmake them.

[Ariella Elema]

Saturn tries Fiore's third play of grappling, but Jupiter squares up and ...oh dear.





Évrart de Conty, Les Échecs amoureux, France 1496-1498.
BnF MS fr. 143, f. 28
image via "discarded image" (discarding images.tumblr.com)

[admin]

Good lord!

[Bulot]

Behold the flesh-eating kings of the men-horses.

(Manuscript of the Apocalypse, ca. 1330)

[Jonathan Waller]

About the swastika? It's a common sun/good luck symbol, found all over from Japan to England and interestingly enough in some synagogues....

From the same French source:

Oh dear, first thing I noticed was the swastika structure, can someone please help me....

[Bulot]

Zombies. It never gets old.

[Bulot]

Not medieval but :


Franz Helm, Buch von den probierten Künsten, Germany 1535.
Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 128, fol. 74r

[mackenzie cosens]

He is haveing and easier time then I remember

[Sheila Sanchez]

I am curious with those zombies on what they were doing.

[Gil-Galadh]

Why killing the living of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre
There were some very interesting articles on the undead in medievalists.net

Or for those of you who have played Heroes of might and magic - here we see an excellent example of Necropolis attacking Castle. The undead hero has just cast Fear on the human footmen

[Bulot]

The original Swordfish

[Monzambano]

I came across this image (which may or may not show bucklers) from a 14th C Bolognese manuscript containing a commentary by Azo on the Corpus Iuris (in the Foundation Martin Bodmer Cologny, http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/cb/0014/102v/medium), bottom of the page:



The next one, a few pages on (http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/cb/0014/194v/medium) had me stumped:

[Monzambano]

Another bizarre image we came across recently was an altar picture by Hans Leu the Elder (late 15th C) from the Augustinerkirche in Zurich, now in a special exhibit at the Landesmuseum in Zurich on late Gothic art, showing St. Eligius:



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St. Eligius, as you will recall, was a master blacksmith and proud of his art. One day, a fellow shows up and shows Eligius (then not yet promoted) a new way to shoe a horse: He chops off the horse's leg, allowing Eligius to comfortably shoe the hoof, and once Eligius is done, the fellow pops the leg back on and leaves. Eligius tries this approach with the next horse and is mysteriously unable to re-attach the leg. Eligius realises that the first fellow was God, and He was teaching Eligius a lesson in humility.

No idea what tweaking the woman's nose is about.

Maybe this just resonates with us...

[gaukler]

From http://www.catholic-saints.info/patron- ... ligius.htm:
"One day, when a horse was required to be shod, he plunged and kicked so much, that it was said he had the devil in him. St. Eligius was then appealed to, but instead of exorcising the devil he quietly cut off the animal's leg, placed it on an anvil and shod it properly, after which he replaced the leg by merely making the sign of the Cross."
The painting you show seems to have part of St. Dunstan's legend conflated into it as well. It looks like the saint has gripped the woman's nose with his pliers because she is the devil in disguise.
mark

[Monzambano]

Hi, Gaukler, that version makes a whole lot more sense, as it would explain why he got sainthood. Can't say I haven't been tempted to try that on occasion, but I'm no saint. Thanks for the lesson!