Art works by Hirano Naoya

MS. Ashmole 753 fol. 032r, 13th century

Revelation 19:7-9: Let us rejoice and be glad     and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come,     and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean,     was given her to wear.”

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

“Yes thank you angel, could you maybe not rejoice right in my ear?”

the beast

La Somme le Roi, Normandy 1311

Golden girls - These four women exploited the opportunities presented when the plague struck

Agnes Ramsey: Mason

Agnes, who never used her husband’s name, was the daughter of the famous architect and mason William Ramsey, who was killed by the Black Death in 1349. Though married to another mason, Robert Hubard, Agnes continued to run her father’s business, entering into a contract with the dowager Queen Isabella, widow of Edward II, to build her fine tomb at the enormous cost of £100.

Alice Holford: Bailiff

Alice took over the post of bailiff of London Bridge on the death of her husband, Nicholas, in 1433, and continued in office for over 20 years. The bailiff collected the tolls due from boats passing through the bridge, and from carts that crossed it into London. The task was a complicated one – charges varied according to the goods and the person transporting them – and Alice must have had some literacy skills.

Johanna Hill: Bell-founder

On the death of her husband in 1440, Johanna took full charge of their bell-founding business till her own death in 1441. Seven of her bells still exist as far away as Ipswich, Sussex and Devon. Johanna continued to use her husband’s mark – a cross and circle within a shield – but surmounted with a lozenge to indicate that the workshop was now under her authority.

Ellen Langwith: Silkwoman

Ellen, who died in 1481, was a London silkwoman. When her first husband, cutler Philip Waltham, died she was left to train their three female apprentices. She later married a tailor, John Langwith, but continued with her own craft. She was recorded as buying gold thread and raw silk direct from Venetian merchants, and in 1465 supplied saddle decorations and silk banners for the coronation of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV. She was courted by both the Cutlers’ and Taylors’ companies.

King Solomon’s cat 

‘The king sat to sowper and othre, wyth whom sat marcolph, and had alle pryvely put into hys sleve thre quyk myse. There was norysshyd in the kinges house a catte, that every nyght as the king sat at sowper, was wont to holde betwyxt hyre fore feet a brennyng kandell upon the tabyll. Thanne lete marcolph oon of the myse go out of his sleve. As the catte that saugh, she wolde have lept aftyr: but the king gave hyr a wynke or countenaunce, that she bode stylle syttyng and removyd not. And in like wyse dede she of the secunde mowse. Thanne lete marcolph the thrydde mowse go, and as the katte sawe he cowde no lenger abyde, but kaste the kandell awaye and lept aftyr the mowse and toke it. And as marcolph that sawe; sayde to the king. Here I have now provyd before you that nature goth afore lernyng. The king sat to sowper and othre, wyth whom sat marcolph, and had alle pryvely put into hys sleve thre quyk myse. There was norysshyd in the kinges house a catte, that every nyght as the king sat at sowper, was wont to holde betwyxt hyre fore feet a brennyng kandell upon the tabyll. Thanne lete marcolph oon of the myse go out of his sleve. As the catte that saugh, she wolde have lept aftyr: but the king gave hyr a wynke or countenaunce, that she bode stylle syttyng and removyd not. And in like wyse dede she of the secunde mowse. Thanne lete marcolph the thrydde mowse go, and as the katte sawe he cowde no lenger abyde, but kaste the kandell awaye and lept aftyr the mowse and toke it. And as marcolph that sawe; sayde to the king. Here I have now provyd before you that nature goth afore lernyng.’

Hans Vintler, Die pluemen der tugent, Vienna 1450.

cat rider 

Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale, France ca. 1294-1297.

flame-farting bonnacon ‘In Asia an animal is found which men call bonnacon […] when it turns to flee, it discharges fumes from the excrement of its belly over a distance of three acres, the heat of which sets fire to anything it touches. In this way, it drives off its pursuers with its harmful excrement.’ (transl. The Aberdeen Bestiary Project) De Natura animalium, Cambrai ca. 1270.

bestiary image of three domestic cats: one sleeping, one catching a mouse, and another stealing a bird from a cage. england, circa 1225-1250, mss. bodley 764 f. 51r. (bodleian library, university of oxford)

in an early medieval irish law text titled catṡlechtae (cat-sections), a cat is valued at three cows if it could purr and hunt mice. a cat that could only purr was valued at one and a half cows.