Archive for the ‘Bartholomew Anglicus’ Category

The Wisdom of Bartholomew Anglicus – On Wild Boars

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Bartholomew Anglicus

English Franciscan, Bartholomew Anglicus, lived and wrote in the middle of the thirteenth century, probably before1260. His writings speedily traveled over Europe. It was translated into French by order of Charles V. (1364-81) in 1372, into Spanish, into Dutch, and into English in 1397.

Medieval Lore for the Cosmopolitan Interest

“The boar is so fierce a beast, and also so cruel, that for his fierceness and his cruelness, he despiseth and setteth nought by death, and he reseth full piteously against the point of a spear of the hunter. And though it be so that he be smitten or sticked with a spear through the body, yet for the greater ire and cruelness in heart that he hath, he reseth on his enemy, and taketh comfort and heart and strength for to wreak himself on his adversary with his tusks, and putteth himself in peril of death with a wonder fierceness against the weapon of his enemy, and hath in his mouth two crooked tusks right strong and sharp, and breaketh and rendeth cruelly with them those which he withstandeth.”

“And useth the tusks instead of a sword. And hath a hard shield, broad and thick in the right side, and putteth that always against his weapon that pursueth him, and useth that brawn instead of a shield to defend himself. And when he spieth peril that should befall, he whetteth his tusks and frotteth them, and assayeth in that while fretting against trees, if the points of his tusks be all blunt. And if he feel that they be blunt, he seeketh a herb which is called Origanum, and gnaweth it and cheweth it, and cleanseth and comforteth the roots of his teeth therewith by vertue thereof.”

- Bartholomew Anglicus

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Reenacting – Medieval Reality? The Science of the Middle Ages

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

medieval lore, medieval history, medieval creatures, medieval reenacting, bartholomew, anglicusIn any historical society authenticity is always the goal. We’re not here to portray a fantasy realm of elves and gnomes, but yet in the authentic medieval mind fantasy and reality can overlap. As an example dragons, which have been officially declared fictitious, were simply a scientific fact. The existence of dragons wasn’t just merely proven, but also explained through eyewitness observations of the creatures throughout the world by a vast array of people of diverse cultures and geography. To deny the existence of dragons was like denying the existence of yourself; an outrageous and ignorant statement.

Perhaps the best source for researching this fascinating aspect of medieval reality is in the works of the English Franciscan Bartholomew Anglicus. Bartholomew’s writings hark from the mid-thirteenth century and quickly became an immensely popular scientific textbook for the next two hundred or more years.

My historical persona, Lothar Von Degen, being well educated at the University of Trier, would most likely have purchased one of the then ten available printed editions for his studies. Perhaps he might have been considered intellectual to discuss the griffins that breed in the mountains of Hyperborean and protect a massive wealth of gems and precious stones?

Did you know that elephants collect herbs to cure their sick and raise their heads to pray to their god? Hyenas change gender every year, and sometimes dragons quench their burning thirst by flying with an open mouth against the sails of ships to catch the cold wind.

Modern science knew all these facts well, and the general populace thrilled to learn. Such information, not being a 20th/21st century interpretation but rather the actual thirteenth century accounts by learned men, can do much for us as historical reenactors to understand the medieval mind. Oftentimes the dry history books we read miss these interesting and socially influential beliefs that were held common in their day.

The true challenge of authenticity lies in the ability to distinguish the true medieval lore from the modern fantasy-theme view.

“If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.”
-common 15th century English proverb.

Medieval Reenactor

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Bartholomew Anglicus – On Rainbows

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Bartholomew Anglicus

English Franciscan, Bartholomew Anglicus, lived and wrote in the middle of the thirteenth century, probably before1260. His writings speedily traveled over Europe. It was translated into French by order of Charles V. (1364-81) in 1372, into Spanish, into Dutch, and into English in 1397.

Medieval Lore for the Cosmopolitan Interest

“The Rainbow is impression gendered in an hollow cloud and dewy, disposed to rain in endless many gutters, as it were shining in a mirror, and is shapen as a bow, and sheweth divers colours, and is gendered by the beams of the sun or of the moon. And is but seldom gendered by beams of the moon, no more but twice in fifty years, as Aristotle saith. In the rainbow by cause of its clearness be seen divers forms, kinds, and shapes that be contrary. Therefore the bow seemeth coloured, for, as Bede saith, it taketh colour of the four elements. For therein, as it were in any mirror, shineth figures and shapes and kinds of elements.”

“For of fire he taketh red colour in the overmost part, and of earth green in the nethermost, and of the air a manner of brown colour, and of water somedeal blue in the middle. And first is red colour, that cometh out of a light beam, that touches the outer part of the roundness of the cloud: then is a middle colour somedeal blue, as the quality asketh, that hath mastery in the vapour, that is in the middle of the cloud. Then the nethermost seemeth a green colour in the nether part of a cloud; there the vapour is more earthly. And these colours are more principal than others.”

- Bartholomew Anglicus

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The Wisdom of Bartholomew Anglicus – On Dogs..

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Bartholomew Anglicus

English Franciscan, Bartholomew Anglicus, lived and wrote in the middle of the thirteenth century, probably before1260. His writings speedily traveled over Europe. It was translated into French by order of Charles V. (1364-81) in 1372, into Spanish, into Dutch, and into English in 1397.

Medieval Lore for the Cosmopolitan Interest

“Nothing is more busy and wittier than a hound, for he hath more wit than other beasts. And hounds know their own names, and love their masters, and defend the houses of their masters, and put themselves wilfully in peril of death for their masters, and run to take prey for their masters, and forsake not the dead bodies of their masters. We have known that hounds fought for their lords against thieves, and were sore wounded, and that they kept away beasts and fowls from their masters’ bodies dead. And that a hound compelled the slayer of his master with barking and biting to acknowledge his trespass and guilt. Also we read that Garamantus the king came out of exile, and brought with him two hundred hounds, and fought against his enemies with wondrous hardiness.”

“Other hounds flee and avoid the wood hound as pestilence and venom: and he is always exiled as it were an outlaw, and goeth alone wagging and rolling as a drunken beast, and runneth yawning, and his tongue hangeth out, and his mouth drivelleth and foameth, and his eyes be overturned and reared, and his ears lie backward, and his tail is wrinkled by the legs and thighs; and though his eyes be open, yet he stumbleth and spurneth against every thing. And barketh at his own shadow…. ”

- Bartholomew Anglicus

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The Wisdom of Bartholomew Anglicus? Anglicus On Wine..

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Bartholomew Anglicus

English Franciscan, Bartholomew Anglicus, lived and wrote in the middle of the thirteenth century, probably before1260. His writings speedily traveled over Europe. It was translated into French by order of Charles V. (1364-81) in 1372, into Spanish, into Dutch, and into English in 1397.

Medieval Lore for the Cosmopolitan Interest

“The worthiness and praising of wine might not Bacchus himself describe at the full, though he were alive. For among all liquors and juice of trees, wine beareth the prize, for passing all liquors, wine moderately drunk most comforteth the body, and gladdeth the heart, and saveth wounds and evils. Wine strengtheneth all the members of the body, and giveth to each might and strength, and deed and working of the soul showeth and declareth the goodness of wine. And wine breedeth in the soul forgetting of anguish, of sorrow, and of woe, and suffereth not the soul to feel anguish and woe. Wine sharpeth the wit and maketh it cunning to enquire things that are hard and subtle, and maketh the soul bold and hardy, and so the passing nobility of wine is known. And use of wine accordeth to all men’s ages and times and countries, if it be taken in due manner, and as his disposition asketh that drinketh it.”

“Red wine that is temperate in its qualities, and is drunk temperately and in due manner, helpeth kind and gendreth good blood, and maketh savour in meat and in drink, and exciteth desire and appetite, and comforteth the virtue of life and of kind, and helpeth the stomach to have appetite, and to have and to make good digestion. And quencheth thirst, and changeth the passions of the soul and thoughts out of evil into good. For it turneth the soul out of cruelness into mildness, out of covetousness into largeness, out of pride into meekness, and out of dread into boldness. And shortly to speak, wine drunk measurably is health of body and of soul.”

- Bartholomew Anglicus

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