MEDIEVAL BESTIARIES
by Joyce DiPastena
Bestiary: a collection of drawings or paintings of animals,real or imagined, accompanied by their physical and allegorical descriptions.
Illumination: The medieval art ofdecorating books with miniatures or ornamental designs painted in brilliantcolors or silver or gold leaf to “illuminate” or bring light to the pages.
Medieval bestiaries play a small role in mymedieval romance, Illuminationsof the Heart. My heroine’s brother “illuminates” abestiary to prove to his illuminator father that he’s ready to be advanced fromapprenticeship in their shop. After her brother and father die, my heroine,Siri, practices her own drawing skills in the gardens of her new guardian, Tristonde Brielle, while sitting with Triston’s young son Perrin and cousin Acelet.While conversing with them both about her new home, she draws a bee with acrown hovering above it in the air, and explains to Perrin that swarms of beesare led by a king bee. Yes, it’s the very opposite of what we know about beestoday, and a friend who read my book challenged my writing of this scene. I hadto explain to her that in the Middle Ages, people not only believed that beeswere lead by a king rather than a queen, but that bees, like most of the animalkingdom, represented some kind of allegory, or moral story, to the people ofthe Middle Ages.
The scene in my story, with the allegory ofthe bee, went like this. (A note: The Young King refers to the eldest son ofKing Henry II of England, who was crowned co-ruler with Henry in his lifetime.)
Politics were neverspoken of at the table. But Acelet knew no such restraint when he joined Siriin the garden.
“I caught a glimpse ofhim once,” Acelet said one morning.
He lay sprawled in thegrass beside the dog Talbot, while Perrin leaned against Siri and watched hersketch a swarm of honeybees hovering over an array of flowers. This time Acelethad added vertical slashes to the breast of his surcote as well as the sleeves,exposing the bright green tunic beneath. It was, he had informed Siriearnestly, the way the young knights had dressed at the Court of Poitiers whenhis mother sat in the Queen’s circle. Lucianna muttered over her stitchery thatthey must have looked like devils. Siri thought lunatics a more apt word. Shedistracted herself with Perrin before the laughter that bubbled inside hercould escape.
“Soon I will show youmy paints,” she told the boy. “Then we will turn these flowers yellow and redand green. Who did you catch a glimpse of, Acelet?”
“The Young King. Threeyears ago, just after I came to Vere. Triston had been commanded to join DukeRichard’s siege of Chateauneuf, but he was ill, so he sent his brother,Etienne, in his place. The Young King was at Chateauneuf as well. When wordcame that he left before the siege was over and that Etienne and some otherPoitevins had left with him, Triston sent me to inquire as to the rumor’struth. I found Etienne with Sir Raynor de Molinet in the Young King’s camp.Etienne refused to return, and as I watched them ride away, I saw the YoungKing in the forefront.”
His voice hushed, asif in awe of his memories. “He was glorious, rubies sparkling from his coronet,his gold hair gleaming in the sun, his tall frame draped in scarlet and gilt…His every movement was one of charm and grace, and when he turned his head andI saw the beauty in his face—”
“Why did you do that,Lady Siri?” Perrin pulled on Siri’s sleeve as she finished drawing a smallcrown over one of the bees. She guessed that he had heard his cousin’sbreathless recital too many times before to be impressed with it now.
“Because bees are ledby a king, as are we,” she said, ignoring the resentful glance Acelet sent atthe boy. “He is a most benevolent ruler, leading by example and never turninghis sting upon malefactors. He has only to demonstrate to them the error oftheir ways, and in shame they will turn their own stings upon themselves.”
“Papa says King Henryis a benevolent ruler.”
“Ha!” Acelet’sscornful laugh woke the dozing Talbot. The hound gave a bark. Acelet pulledgently on one of Talbot’s ears, but said, “The old king is a tyrant, crushingour people through his war-hungry son. We were a free people before theAngevins came. Now they seek to take away our liberties, and because we do notwant to surrender them, the King sets Duke Richard to ravage us like a wolfamong the sheep.”
In the medieval world, each animal, like thebee, represented some sort of moral example or symbolism that humans wereencouraged to follow if the symbolism was good (like the bee), or avoid if thesymbolism was bad (like the crocodile, which represented hypocrisy with the“false tears” it shed after eating any unfortunate human who stumbled acrossits path).
In her book, Medieval Beasts, Ann Paynerecreates a medieval bestiary complete with over seventy full-colorillustrations borrowed from actual medieval bestiaries found in The BritishLibrary. She covers animals (lion, tiger, elephant, camel, hedgehog, ants, the mythicalleucrota—bred from a hyena and a lioness!—and more); birds (eagle, vulture, ostrich, phoenix, siren,bats and bees—yes, the latter two were considered to fall into the “birdfamily”—and more); reptiles (viper, asp, boa, salamander, dragon, basilisk, and more); and fish (fish, sera, dolphin, and whale).
If you are interested in sampling a modernreproduction of a medieval bestiary, MedievalBeasts by Ann Payne is a delightful place to start!
ABOUT ILLUMINATIONS OF THE HEART:
“Clothilde.”
He spoke the name on a breath like a prayer. Then he loweredhis head and kissed her.
Her heart is lost in that first embrace, her world shaken toits foundations. There is just one problem. Her name is not Clothilde. It isSiriol de Calendri.
Trained in the art of illumination in the far off city ofVenice, Siri is directed by her late brother’s will to the county of Poitou inFrance, where she enters the guardianship of her brother’s friend, Sir Tristonde Brielle. Once in Poitou, Siri hopes to find employment in an illuminator’sshop—until Triston unexpectedly snatches her heart away with a kiss.
Triston is a man of quiet honor and courage, but the guilthe carries for the death of his late wife, Clothilde, has left him numb andhesitant to love again. Worse yet, Siri bears an uncanny resemblance to hislost love. Or does she? Her merry laughter and twinkling eyes are verydifferent from his late wife’s shy smiles and quiet ways. Yet when he gazesinto Siri’s face, all he is able to see is Clothilde.
Then Triston’s past returns to threaten them both. Will histragic life with Clothilde be repeated with Siri? Trapped between the rivalryof the king’s sons on the one hand and a neighbor out for vengeance on theother, Triston realizes it would be safer to send Siri away. But how can hebear to lose her again?
Siri is determined not to be cast off and not to live inanother woman’s shadow. She has illuminated many a priceless book with pen andpaint. But can her own vibrant spirit illuminate the darkness in Triston’s souland make his heart beat for her alone?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Joyce DiPastena moved from Utah to Arizona at the age of twoand grew up to be a dyed-in-the-fur desert rat. She first fell in love with theMiddle Ages when she read Thomas B. Costain’s The Conquering Family inhigh school. She attended the University of Arizona, where she graduated with adegree specializing in medieval history. Joyce loves the Arizona RenaissanceFestival, where she does annual book signings, and which she has not missedonce in its twenty three years of existence. (She was making annual treks longbefore she had a book to sign.)
Illuminations of he Heart tells the story of Triston, acharacter from Joyce’s first medieval romance, Loyalty’s Web. Her thirdmedieval romance, Dangerous Favor, will be released in January 2012. You can readmore about her books on her website at http://www.joyce-dipastena.com,find out “what she’s up to now!” on her JDP NEWS blog (http://jdp-news.blogspot.com) orfollow along while she researches her novels at Medieval Research with Joyce (http://medievalresearch.blogspot.com).
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