Medieval monsters in pictures

Monsters, though never seen in the flesh, were widely considered to exist in Medieval times, mostly due to the Bible’s mention of them and the existence of unexplored regions of the earth. As these beings were not wholly human or animal, religious people wondered about their position in God’s hierarchy of creatures.




Panotti

Medieval geographers placed Jerusalem in the centre of a flat world because of its biblical significance. Places not yet visited by Europeans were considered to be populated by strange versions of humanity, radically altered in shape and form by hot or cold climates. Therefore Medieval writers gave themselves licence to invent entire races, such as the Panotti, a supposedly shy people who had big ears with which to keep warm or fly.



Blemmyae

Sir John Mandeville, a (most likely fictional) knight who travelled, on his crusade, through Ethiopia, China and India, wrote a fictitious account of what he saw, which became a bestseller in its day. Blemmyae were described as a race of headless people with faces on their chest. They were supposedly harmless. Serious explorers such as Christopher Columbus consulted Mandeville’s book and took it with them around the world.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10



Blemmyae

It was only in the last few hundred years that natural history completely divorced itself from legend and myth. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder believed there to be "miraculous" people on the edge of the old Roman Empire; though often pagan, classical authors were still treated as authorities. Robert Burton’s 1621 volume The Anatomy of Melancholy was considered a scientific treatise, even though it counted mythic characters such as Venus and Orpheus within its fabric of studies and facts. No wonder Medieval people, hundreds of years before, took Mandeville seriously.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library



Sciopods

Sciopods were a race believed to populate China. They reportedly had long legs and one huge foot which was used to shield them from the sun.
Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library

 

Sciopods

When people started travelling all over the world on mercantile business or otherwise, many of these myths were questioned, if not fully put to bed. The Franciscan monk John of Marignolli travelled to China in the early 14th century and proposed that previous travellers saw the Chinese carrying sun parasols and “converted this… into a foot”.
Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library



Sirens

Even in today’s world of scientific advancement, most of the ocean remains unexplored. For Medieval people it was even more mysterious, the sea being home to a number of monsters which had appeared in myths since the dawn of storytelling. The Sirens appeared to Jason, Orpheus and Odysseus in Greek myth, where they lured sailors to their deaths with beautiful music.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library



Sirens

At first they were envisaged as having beautiful female faces with the bodies of birds. The Greek historian Dinon said they existed in India. By the Medieval period the myth had grown to accommodate fish-like bodies as well as that of birds.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library



Unicorns

Another animal believed by ancient Greek historians to live in India. For Medieval Christians they were fearsome and a symbol of Christ, able to be tamed only by a virgin. It doesn’t seem too farfetched that medieval people would imagine a horse with a single horn. Marco Polo believed that he had discovered a unicorn when he first saw a rhinoceros. Unicorn horns were alleged to have medicinal properties, and the spiralling tusks of narwhals were sold in their place.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library



Werewolves

They’re big in Hollywood now, but werewolves have always played a big part in the mythological history of the British Isles. The 12th-century priest and Royal chaplain Gerald of Wales wrote the Topographia Hibernica, or Topography of Ireland, about his time travelling with the future King John. As well as describing Irish people as savages and therefore contributing to the historic hostility between the two countries which would last for hundreds of years, Gerald also populates Ireland with exotic and mythical beasts. In one episode he tells the story of cursed people who must transform into wolves every seven years.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library

 

Werewolves

In Gerald’s story, the werewolves have the power of speech even in their transmogrified animal form. In the image above, a priest has been convinced to administer Last Rites to a dying werewolf by her husband.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library



Cynocephali

Cynocephali were supposedly men with dog’s heads, and were believed to exist in Lombardy, one of the many Medieval states that now make up modern Italy. Paul the Deacon, the eighth-century monk and historian of the region, said in his book that the Lombard army tricked a rival state into thinking they had Cynocephali among them, and so avoided an attack from a much bigger force.

Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert is published by the British Library at £10

Picture: ©The British Library