Medieval Animals Heritage

Medieval Animal Safari Wildwood 21st May 2022

This Saturday two intrepid groups of Medieval explorers waded into the Wildwoods! We saw bears, beavers, lynxes and owls and marvelled at the amazing wildlife facts shared by our guide, the fabulous Langan
Turner of the Wildwood Trust.

There was a thriving tile industry in Canterbury that churned out beautiful and highly decorative tiles for churches and palaces alike. They were gorgeously designed and not only made your average medieval building a lot more sanitary (no more rushes strewn to hide the dog poo and leftovers from last nights dinner! Easy clean!) but also made them look far more beautiful too! Medieval tiles from Canterbury were so fabulous they helped inspire later artists like the Victorian William Morris!

We looked at examples of locally produced tiles, as well as some Persian ones. We discussed why certain animals had been chosen to decorate the tiles. Who doesn’t love a lion to show strength and courage?! Why not have a hare to show how swift you are? A chough, why it’s the noble bird of Canterbury!

We had a go at making our own real tiles from plaster stamps that were copies of original medieval ones from Kent. Some people also made some amazing beasts of their own with the clay!

There was colouring in and creating of magical and non magical beasts, as well as the decoration of clay pots with medieval animals and themes. These pots are to be filled with flowers and herbs and donated to the In-Dwellers of St Thomas’ Hospital in Canterbury, elderly retired clergy who sadly haven’t been out much lately due to Covid 19.

The children were all thrilled at the idea of sharing their work with these people and we were really touched by how much care and thought went into their pots!

So, another amazing Medieval Animals Safari day at Wildwood! Lots of fun, lots of laughter and lots of learning!

Medieval Animals Safari at Maison Dieu Dover 28th May 2022

This Saturday we were lucky enough to have a behind the scenes tour of Dover’s Maison Dieu building with the amazing Martin Crowther!
Maison Dieu has been standing at the heart of Dover since 1203 and has been everything from a “Hospital” for Pilgrims (a free place to sleep and eat for the night on your pilgrimage, but not nearly as nice as an hotel as you’d only get straw to sleep on and a bit of bread!) to a supplies depot for the navy, to a dance hall and functions venue! It has been closed for restoration for many years now but we were allowed a sneaky peek behind the doors to investigate the building’s many medieval inspired animals!
From hidden lions to tiny dragons and even butterflies, medieval inspired animals are all over Maison Dieu. They were part of a renovation scheme undertaken in Victorian Times, when medieval gothic was very fashionable, and they still look fabulous!
The whole afternoon felt like a Scooby Doo adventure, exploring secret passages and hidden cupboards, even locking people up in the Victorian jail! We even had a mock trial in the courtroom with judge, jury and police on standby.
We also got to handle ancient artefacts from the building, make medieval inspired tiles and grotesques just like the ones decorating the building!
On the week of the Queen’s jubilee we even got to see the special toilet installed for the Queen’s mum when she visited Maison Dieu many years ago! It is currently used as a store cupboard and was very low as the Queen Mother was very tiny. It did amuse us and got us all to thinking whether Her Majesty needs a special loo when she goes to places?
It was a truly amazing afternoon and we all learned so much!

Medieval Animal Safari at Quex Park, 30th May 2022

Imagine having a whole museum just to yourself to explore and run about in! Well the Medieval Animals gang had just that this Monday at the Powell
Cotton museum, plus a real vet to lead us in animal skeleton handling and a personalised guided tour by the amazing museum staff!
We had an amazing day exploring the dioramas of wild beasts, putting together the most interesting jigsaw puzzle I’ve ever seen - a real badger skeleton!
We learnt so much about the amazing world of animals.
Why it was totally understandable that medieval people thought owls flew backwards - their shape in a dark night sky looks the same head to tail and tail to head!
We also discovered so much about animal bio-mechanics, how their skeletons work and why, thanks to our amazing vet Jeremy.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the day a huge success!

Three's the charm! The Third Nature of the Lion in medieval bestiaries is that the father resuscitates his newborn cubs after 3 days, by breathing life (and hope) into them: wonderful theme for

Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 318: Physiologus Bernensis (https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bbb/0318)

🦁
The SECOND NATURE of the Lion shows him sleeping with his eyes open.
Rather, the Lion is awake even when he seems to be sleeping – , much like Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean with his painted eyelids. 👀

Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 318: Physiologus Bernensis (https://e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bbb/0318).

Welcome to our monthly 🦁

We shall introduce three segments of the Creature each week from the very first medieval Latin bestiary or Book of Beasts from England - which has never before been translated into English.

The month of May is the LION...
The Lion is the King of all the animals, and he is a magnificent creature. As seen in later medieval books, the Lion is illustrated to have 3 NATURES.

The FIRST NATURE shows the Lion walking in the high mountains and sweeping away his pawprints with his tail so that hunters cannot track him.

Originating from Kloster Hautvillers OSB near Reims, around 830.

Source listed below:
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 318: Physiologus Bernensis (https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bbb/0318).

The second and third natures soon to come!

Medieval Animals Heritage updated their information in their About section.