#medieval myths

[cuties-in-codices]

an anthropomorphic mandrake being dug up with the help of a dog tied to its feet/roots

in "pseudo-antonius musa: de herba betonica", latin manuscript, late 9th century

source: Kassel, UB, 2° Ms. phys. et hist. nat. 10, fol. 34v

[castle-calypse]

Have y’all heard of the tale of Erec and Enide by Chretien de Troyes? I came across it in the book Legends of Chivalry: Medieval Myths.

Very very basic recap: Erec wants to fight a big knight he saw so he follows him and stays with a poor old man who has a daughter. She’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen (obviously). Erec has to fight the big knight so he can marry her. He does and wins and marries her (nice).

But the last paragraph about this story is making me giggle so much:

“But such was Erec’s love that he lost interest in all other things, even forsaking the acts of chivalry for which he was famed. He no longer went in search of adventure or even fought in tournaments. Most days, in fact, the couple did not leave their bed until noon. Erec’s reputation was soon in tatters and people began to mock the once-proud knight behind his back, spreading rumors that he had become nothing more than a coward.”

Bro fucked off to become a wife guy. And then everyone talked shit about him. That’s so fucking funny to me I love it so much.

[milkywayan]

I love this guy, and everything he says is true! Please watch this (and also take a look at his other videos, they are fun and educational and he is living the life i want to have)

[hecatesdelights]

Goblin

[atrumvox]

The Legend You Didn't Know: EXCALIBUR and the SWORD in the Stone Explained

Did you know that Excalibur and the sword in the stone are not the same weapon? Dive into the fascinating Arthurian legends to discover the true story behind King Arthur's two swords. Learn how Arthur came to possess Excalibur, the magical sword given to him by the Lady of the Lake, and why the sword in the stone was not the legendary Excalibur. Uncover the hidden details of these iconic weapons and explore their significance in Arthurian lore. Subscribe for more intriguing tales from mythology and history!

[fakehistoryhunter]

The Middle Ages according to Historians VS the Middle Ages according to Hollywood. More about myths & general misconceptions about the middle ages here;

https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2019/09/10/medieval-myths-bingo/

Follow me on Twitter here;

https://twitter.com/fakehistoryhunt

[fallbabylon]

Devils and the Mouth of Hell details from South Leigh doom painting 15th C- South Leigh, UK

[isopodcore]

underworld ouppy :)

commissions are open! saving for top surgery

[sawbeaver]

[shellsnroses]

Comic for “The Ruin” a poem written by an unknown author in the 8th or 9th century

How wondrous, this wall stone,

Shattered by fate.

Castles are smashed,

The work of giants, crumbled.

Ruined are the roofs,

Tumbled the towers.

Broken the barred gates.

Frost in the plaster,

Ceilings a-gaping.

Torn away, fallen,

Eaten by age.

[cuties-in-codices]

people with beaks

in "the travels of sir john mandeville", translated into german by otto von diemeringen, ca. 1470

source: Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek, Cod. theol. et phil. 2° 195, fol. 175v

[the--firevenus]

"Ah, look at all the lonely people."

Pulled something real quick for this game, it's eating my brain

[snakesandstone]

[mask131]

The missing Arthurian knight - rediscovered in 2019

Well the title is a slight lie - the missing knight wasn't rediscovered in 2019, it was earlier than that, but he didn't became public until 2019.

So what's this "missing knight" about? Well as the title says. There was a knight part of the Arthurian myth, and he had been missing ever since the Middle-Ages, and he was only recently rediscovered.

Or rather, to be exact - there was an Arthurian novel centered around a knight that existed and was a famous and well-known part of the Arthurian literature in the Middle-Ages, but that completely disappeared, and was forgotten by culture (as much popular culture as the scholarly one). Until very recently.

This rediscovered novel has been a hot topic of all Arthuriana fans in Europe for a few years now - and yet I do not see much talk about this onto this website, despite Tumblr being a big place for Arthurian fans?

So I will correct this by doing a series of posts about the subject. And this post will be the first one, the introduction post presenting to you "Ségurant, le chevalier au dragon" ; "Segurant, the knight of the dragon". A French medieval novel part of the Arthurian literature (hence the "chevalier au X" title structure - like Lancelot, the knight of the cart or Yvain the knight of the lion from Chrétien de Troyes), the reason this story was forgotten by all medievalist and literary scholars is - long story short - because it never existed in any full manuscript (at least none that survived to this day). It was a complete story yes, with even variations apparently, but that was cut into pieces and fragments inserted into various other manuscripts and texts (most notably various "Merlin's Prophecies").

The novel and the Knight of the Dragon were rediscovered through the work of Emanuele Arioli, who rediscovered a fragment of the story while looking at an old manuscript of a Merlin Prophecies, and then went on the hunt for the other fragments and pieces scattered around Europe, until he finally could compile the full story, that he then published in 2019, at the Belles Lettres publishing house, in 2019.

Arioli reconstructed the text, and translated it in both modern French and Italian for scholarly and professional editions (aka Honoré Champion in France, a reference for universities)...

... But also for a more "all public, found in all libraries" edition - the famous 2019 edition at Les Belles Lettres.

And not only that, but he also participated to both a comic book adaptation with Emiliano Tanzillo...

... and an adaptation as an illustrated children novel!

Finally, just a few weeks, the Franco-German channel Arte released a documentary about the reconstitution and content of this missing novel called "Le Chevalier au dragon: Le roman disparu de la Table Ronde". (The Knight of the Dragon - The missing novel of the Round Table). The full documentary is on Youtube in French for those that speak the language, here. And in German here for those who speak German.

Unfortunately there is no English version of the documentary that I know of, nor any English publications of the actual text - just French and Italian. But hey, I'll try to palliate to that by doing some English-speaking posts about this whole business!

[worldhistoryfacts]

We still see a lot of Dionysus, especially in Egypt, long after the emperor Theodosius had made Christianity the official state religion of Rome in 380. In the 400s, 500s, and 600s, Egyptians were still producing textiles like this, which shows Dionysus, holding a bunch of grapes aloft, with a satyr and maenads (his female revelers):

Here’s another, showing the god’s worshippers frolicking:

This one shows figures from the Dionysian myths — his tutor, Silenius, Pan, and some of his female worshipers:

{WHF} {Ko-Fi} {Medium}

[maverick-werewolf]

Folklore Fact - Gryphons/Griffins

Gryphons, griffins, griffons, however you prefer to spell it (I personally use gryphon) - let's talk their folklore and mythology!

(Attic pottery depicting a satyr and a griffin and an Arimaspus from around 375-350 BC, Eretria.)

You probably already know the common popular culture concept of a gryphon: a big, vicious beast that attacks people and probably eats them and/or carries people away to its nest to feed them to its babies. Not much about it has changed in legend, though in a lot of popular culture today, it has seemed to lose its divinity. Gryphons - griffins, whatever you prefer - have quite the robust history, like so many creatures of myth and folklore. Unlike some, however, they have changed very little over time.

Note that this article a general overview of concepts, not a detailed history.

Let's start with etymology, because I just love that stuff. The word "griffin" comes from the Greek word "gryps," which referred to a dragon or griffin and literally meant "curved [or] hook-nosed." Late Latin spelled it "gryphus," a misspelling of grypus, a Latinized version of the Greek (source: https://www.etymonline.com/, one of my favorite websites).

Griffins are said to have the head and wings of an eagle and body of a lion. They may or may not also have pointed ears, depending on the depiction (they more often did, overall, though the griffin of Crete is a notable exception). They were said to guard the gold in the mountains of the north, specifically the mountains of Scythia. The one-eyed Arimaspian people rode on horseback and attempted to steal the griffins' gold, causing griffins to nurture a deep hatred of and hostility toward horses.

A Scythian pectoral, thought to have been made in Greece, depicting - among other things - griffins slaughtering horses. Griffins really, really hate horses.

The famous griffin in the palace of Knossos at Crete, from the Bronze Age (restored).

Griffins appear in truly ancient civilizations, not only Greece but also ancient Egypt and civilizations to the east, including ancient Sumeria. Griffins were later said to also dwell in India and guard gold in that region, and they continued to appear in art throughout ancient Persia, Rome, Byzantium, and into the Middle Ages throughout other regions such as France; they were depicted in ancient Greece with relative frequency and occasionally of considerable importance.

Griffins appeared in many ancient Greek writings, including Aristeas in the 7th century BC. Herodotus and Aeschylus preserved and continued these writings in the 5th century BC, including lines such as,

"But in the north of Europe there is by far the most gold. In this matter again I cannot say with assurance how the gold is produced, but it is said that one-eyed men called Arimaspoi (Arimaspians) steal it from Grypes (Griffins). The most outlying lands, though, as they enclose and wholly surround all the rest of the world, are likely to have those things which we think the finest and the rarest." Herodotus, Histories 3. 116. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.), source: https://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/Grypes.html (a wonderful site)

Physical descriptions of the griffin were not commonplace until some later works, and even then, their appearance wasn't always agreed upon. Even the notion of griffins having wings was sometimes disputed. Some scholars even got pretty wild, claiming griffons had no wings at all but instead skin-flaps that they used to glide. They apparently hated awesome things, so it turns out there were always boring people who thought they knew everything, wanted to explain everything "logically," and generally assume they were the smartest ever while also ruining mystique. They would make great scientists today.

Griffins were, however, often said to be holy in nature. They were referred to as the "unbarking hounds of Zeus" by Aeschylus, who warned others never to approach them. Gryphons were also considered sacred to several gods, including prominently Apollo, who was said to depart Delphi each winter, flying on a griffon (griffin, gryphon, etc, I keep swapping this around, I know; my brain spells it differently because I've read way too many sources), and he also is occasionally depicted as hitching griffins to his chariot in addition to riding one. This was particularly prominent in the cults of Hyperborean Apollo, one of the many endless and fascinating cults of ancient Greece.

Medieval bestiary depiction of a griffin slaughtering a horse.

Even by the Middle Ages, gryphons still hated and slaughtered horses and guarded gold, elements that certainly persisted throughout their legends. They also killed men and carried them away to their nests, similar to the manner in which Aeschylus warned people to stay away from gryphons even back when. We can obviously assume griffons were never cuddly, so that isn't much of a change.

Griffins also did not entirely lose their divine relations even into the Middle Ages. Christianity often used positive portrayals of griffins to represent and uphold certain positive tenets of Christian faith; likewise, they became important symbols of medieval heraldry, used to represent a Christian symbol of divine power, as well as general courage, strength, and leadership, especially in a military sense. The depiction of the griffin as a powerful and majestic creature - killing horses and men or not - throughout its history is no doubt because they are a combination of two beasts often considered noble symbols of bravery, power, and divinity: the lion and the eagle, kings of land animals and birds, respectively.

That's a general overview! As you can see, griffins aren't always so bad, at least not compared to some of the other creatures out there from folklore and myth.

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