let's dance

found at http://discardingimages.tumblr.com

Start your Sunday with this trio of performers and their lovely lightness of foot and paw. 
Here's a closeup:

This scene is found in the manuscript known as "The Maastricht Hours" on folio 112.  Here's the whole page.  You might also enjoy this blog post on "Medieval Dog Tricks" - I did.

doodlecats

found at discardingimages.tumblr.com

These scribbled little buddies hang out in a manuscript of theological miscellany dating from the 15th century (Saint-Denis, Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, ms. 988, fol. 124r).  I tried to find the original manuscript page to link and show you, but I do not search well in French, it turns out.  Here is the link to the Bibliotheque Mazarine - I bet you'll do better than I did!

running golden, 11th c

www.metmuseum.org Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1964

This earthenware bowl dates from Fatimid-era (909-1171 CE) Egypt, a time and place of dynamic, luxuriant creation in Islamic art.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies it at first quarter 11th century, yet the metallic luster painting of this running hare remains bright with barely any wear.  The exact significance of rabbits in this culture is not precise, but I did find this passage that proposes that rabbits, like mankind, seek to preserve their life. Rabbits do it by running away; humans do it by any means they can devise, including running away, and in that we're in fellowship with our fellow creatures.  Not a bad thing to remember as you dine from your gold-enhanced bowl.

to charm your bees

thanks pixabay (CC0 creative commons)

I know bees aren't normally considered pets, but they are important to human well-being.  Every so often I come across a bee reference that is too good not to share.  Today it's an old Anglo-Saxon charm to keep your bees from swarming.

AGAINST A SWARM OF BEES
Take earth, with your right hand throw it under your right foot, and say: --
"I take under foot; I have located it.
Lo, earth is potent against every sort of creature,
And against hatred and against forgetfulness,
And against the mighty spell of man."
Throw gravel over them when they swarm, and say:
"Alight, victory-dames, sink to the ground!
Never fly wild to the woodland!
Be as mindful of my profit
As is every man of food and home."

-- Grendon, Felix.  The Anglo-Saxon Charms (New York: Journal of American Folklore, 1909), p. 169.

bunny bowl, 12thc iran

Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery.  Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore

This bowl measures 3 3/8 x 7 3/16 in. (8.5 x 18.2 cm), a good size for soup or a salad, perhaps.  I wonder who owned this bowl back in 12th-century Iran, what they liked best to have served in it, and whether they asked specially to have such a graceful, vine-entwined rabbit painted on it.  It was made in Seljuk Period Iran (1038-1194), a period of prosperity and thriving arts (here's the Metropolitan Museum of Art on that).  I was also able to find a reference that suggests the rabbit/vine motif celebrates the goodness of life now and to come. 

a dog watches over words

public domain, courtesy of the british library. link to page here

This floppy-eared boy lies in watch over one page of a Dutch Book of Hours dating c. 1420 and very likely belonging to a nun.  He shares duty with a dragon, so he's not too worried.

From the British Library, below:
Book of Hours, with the Hours of the Virgin, the Short Hours of the Holy Cross, Prayers and Suffrages (ff. 8-179v), imperfect. Netherlands, N. (Utrecht or Guelders), c. 1420, Dutch, by The Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle. Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.

give a dog a bone, c 1320

thanks discardingimages.tumblr.com

From the Hours of Saint-Omer, France ca. 1320  (Want to see the book he comes from?  British Library, Add 36684, fol. 34r).

the white dog of the faith

actually an edward lear illustration (PD)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Cistercian abbot of twelfth-century France, is sometimes portrayed with a white dog; here's why. . . 

However it be, he verified the Interpretation of his Mother's dream. She dreamed, when she was of Child with him, she should be delivered of a white Dog, whose barking should be very sonorous. Being frighted at this Dream, she consulted an honest Monk, who said to her, Be of good Courage; you will have a Son, who shall keep God's House, and bark much against the Enemies of the Faith. St Bernard did more, than the Prediction imported; for he barked sometimes against chimerical Enemies, against Errors, which were either meer Trifles, or unjust Interpretations of the Words and Thoughts of others...

-- From Bayle, P. (1734-38). The dictionary historical and critical of Mr. Peter Bayle. The 2d ed., carefully collated with the several editions of the original ... To which is prefixed, the life of the author, rev., corr., and enl., by Mr Des Maizeaux ... London: J.J. and P. Knapton [etc.]. p. 772-3.

dog lock

thanks finds.org.uk DEN-0F2C87 CC BY 2.0

When a countryside has been inhabited for a very long time, it stands to reason that as you go about your business - digging up your carrots, putting in that new septic tank - you might well find stuff left behind by someone.  Left when, though?  In the Flintshire district of Wales in 2008, a metal detector turned up this dog-shaped lock. (Or lion shaped, but I think it looks like a Newfoundland myself.)  It's been hanging about since approximately 1200 A.D.
I found it on the Portable Antiquities Scheme website, a project funded by the UK government to "promote the voluntary recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales."  You should go look at it. It's cool.
Animal imagery played a huge part in medieval art, not least for its symbolism; I can well imagine a protective padlock would be made in the shape of a guard dog.  Here is an essay at the Met website on the subject.

would you like to read a book that belonged to henry viii?

Thanks to the University of Aberdeen, now you can.
The Aberdeen Bestiary was created in England around 1200.  At one time it was housed in the Old Royal Library at Westminster Palace, a collection gathered by King Henry VIII (after nicking most of the books out of the monasteries then being dissolved).  The University of Aberdeen in Scotland has cared for the bestiary for over 400 years, and has now uploaded a high-definition digital version that you can page through online.
Many curious and beautiful images await the animal enthusiast in this manuscript.  There are cats doing their thing, including grooming, on a page that includes a sleek brown weasel.  There are several pages on dogs; on this one the translated text reads in part, "Often, also, when a murder has been committed, dogs have produced clear evidence of the guilt of the accused, with the result that their unspoken testimony is for the most part believed."  You may also marvel at this leopard.  Better yet, go to the index and find yourself a favorite.

"life according to one's desire"

digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program

That's what the banner at the top of this page - and the words on the dog's collar - say when translated from the French; at the bottom, you see the words "Plus que jamais" (More than ever).  The illuminator Jean Fouquet created this frontispiece for a Book of Hours commissioned by Simon de Varie, a court official under France's Charles VII and Louis XI. The woman and dog appear to be simply pictorial brackets for the coat of arms, and not a part of them.  This book is by far the best thing known about de Varies.  

Object information from the Getty:

Jean Fouquet (French, born about 1415 - 1420, died before 1481)
Coat of Arms Held by a Woman and a Greyhound, 1455, Tempera colors, gold paint, gold leaf, and ink on parchment
Leaf: 11.4 × 8.3 cm (4 1/2 × 3 1/4 in.)
Partial gift of Gerald F. Borrmann

cats: getting in your stuff since...ever

discarding images, via pinterest

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 404, fol. 156v:  it's difficult to get any hand-spinning done when you're trying to get the cat away from a bowl of delicious whatever.

-- Fun fact: According to the breakdown of the manuscript at the Beinecke, fol.156v is one of a set of pages containing "Excerpts from Proverbs 11.1-15.4."  

new lions, new life

courtesy the british library (cc0 1.0 universal PD)

Not pets (I should hope not), but too strange and beautiful to pass up.  This illustration of lions breathing life into their cubs is found at the British Library, a manuscript cataloged as Royal 12 C XIX (citation page here): a bestiary dating from the 1st quarter of the 13th century.  Want to see the entire bestiary chapter?  You can.
What's even more charming about this is the deeper meaning behind the illustration.  Newborn lions were often believed to sleep as one dead for their first three days of life, until their parents roared to bring them to life (or, as here, breathed it within them).  This was used as an illustration of the Resurrection, not only of Christ, but of all those saved.  For examples of various bestiaries' entries on lions, check out this page over at The Medieval Bestiary.

possibly a roman cat?

thanks discardingimages.com

This tubby fellow with Patton Oswalt lips is found in a French illustrated manuscript dated 1454: Jean Mansel, "La Fleur des histoires ou les hystores rommaines abregies." This seems to be a book about the history of Roman princes, and I've no idea whether this guy's presence in the margin of folio 257r has any relation to the subject. Would you like to see the entire page he's on? I think I have it linked here.

an illuminated kat

thanks discarding images

That face. It's The Kat Von D, sometime after 1500, holding down a piece of a French book of hours. (Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms 654, fol. 5r)

cat helmet

found at http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/117694644983/kitty-crested-helmet-zurich-armorial-zurich-ca

Yes, I found this manuscript illustration over at one of my favorite Tumblrs, Discarding Images, and I couldn't resist. Assuming this magnificent helmet truly existed, I wish I could have seen it. Seems a little top heavy, but who cares? Oh, wait, here's one.  (Citation as given at the site:  Found in a Zürich armorial, Zürich ca. 1340, Zürich, Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum, AG 2760, fol. 1r.) I see this is a lion rampant (both paws raised to strike) or sejant erect, if he's supposed to be on his haunches- would you like to learn more about possible lion poses?  Perhaps your family crest has a lion in it, or you're designing one.  Wikipedia has a page on all your possible lions.

medieval kitchen implement: cat

thanks discardingimages 

So it's the middle ages and you finally got the pears picked through the sweat of your brow.  Now you've got to see about preserving them for the winter and . . . what are these tiny toothmarks on the fruit? Yuck.  Get the cat.
From Antonius von Pforr, Buch der Beispiele (Book of Examples), Swabia ca. 1475-1482, at the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 84, fol. 232v.  Are you any good at German when it's printed in Fraktur?  You can read an abridged version of this book of fables here at Archive.org.

smile kitty

Conrad of Megenberg, ‘Buch der Natur’, Germany ca. 1434.  Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Ms.2.264, fol. 85r. 

This is an illustration from an early 15th century copy of Conrad of Megenburg's Buch der Natur (Book of Nature), the first volume on natural history in the German language.  Where, precisely, this crazy-eyed feline pops up in the manuscript is not known to me, but he sure livens up a page.

ornament gatto

thanks discardingimages.tumblr.com

I could look at this all day. It's a decorative element from Nicolaus de Lyra super Bibliam, Italy ca. 1402.  (Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Latin MS 29, fol. 252v)  Don't you wonder how the book artists achieved such saturated and fresh color?  I think I found out a little on Wikipedia.

marginal puppy transport

courtesy discardingimages.tumblr.com. Pontifical of Guillaume Durand, Avignon, before 1390.

Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, ms. 143, fol. 174r

See, everybody loves baskets of puppies, even huge walking rabbit-men.
I wonder all the time what purpose was served by the odd, charming marginalia in manuscripts. Turns out I wasn't the only one wondering - but even the British Library hasn't got an answer, as you'll see in this readable and well-illustrated article.