Books: Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus

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Nothing is more busy and wittier than a hound, for he hath more wit
than other beasts. And hounds know their own names, and love their
masters, and defend the houses of their masters, and put themselves
wilfully in peril of death for their masters, and run to take prey for
their masters, and forsake not the dead bodies of their masters. We
have known that hounds fought for their lords against thieves, and
were sore wounded, and that they kept away beasts and fowls from their
masters' bodies dead. And that a hound compelled the slayer of his
master with barking and biting to acknowledge his trespass and guilt.
Also we read that Garamantus the king came out of exile, and brought
with him two hundred hounds, and fought against his enemies with
wondrous hardiness.

Other hounds flee and avoid the wood hound as pestilence and venom:
and he is always exiled as it were an outlaw, and goeth alone wagging
and rolling as a drunken beast, and runneth yawning, and his tongue
hangeth out, and his mouth drivelleth and foameth, and his eyes be
overturned and reared, and his ears lie backward, and his tail is
wrinkled by the legs and thighs; and though his eyes be open, yet he
stumbleth and spurneth against every thing. And barketh at his own
shadow.... Pliny saith that under the hound's tongue lieth a worm that
maketh the hound wood, and if this worm is taken out of the tongue,
then the evil ceaseth.... Also an hound is wrathful and malicious, so
that for to awreak himself, he biteth oft the stone that is thrown to
him: and biteth the stone with great woodness, that he breaketh his
own teeth, and grieveth not the stone, but his own teeth full sore.
Also he is guileful and deceivable, and so oft he fickleth and fawneth
with his tail on men that pass by the way, as though he were a friend,
and biteth them sore if they take none heed backward. And the hound
hateth stones and rods, and is bold and hardy among them that he
knoweth, and busieth to bite and to fear all other, and is not bold
when he passeth among strangers. Also the hound is envious, and
gathereth herbs privily, and is right sorry if any man know the virtue
of those herbs, as is also evil apaid if any strange hounds and
unknown come into the place where he dwelleth; and dreadeth lest he
should fare the worse for the other hound's presence, and fighteth
with him therefore. Also he is covetous and scarce, and busy to lay up
and to hide the relief that he leaveth. And therefore he commoneth
not, nor giveth flesh and marrow-bones that he may not devour to other
hounds: but layeth them up busily, and hideth them until he hungereth
again.... And at the last the hound is violently drawn out of the
dunghill with a rope or with a whip bound about his neck, and is
drowned in the river, or in some other water, and so he endeth his
wretched life. And his skin is not taken off, nor his flesh is not
eaten or buried, but left finally to flies, and to other divers worms.

In Pontus is a manner kind of beasts, that dwelleth now in land and
now in water, and maketh houses and dens arrayed with wonder craft in
the brinks of rivers and of waters. For these beasts live together in
flocks, and love beasts of the same kind, and come together and cut
rods and sticks with their teeth, and bring them home to their dens in
a wonder wise, for they lay one of them upright on the ground, instead
of a sled or of a dray, with his legs and feet reared upward, and lay
and load the sticks and wood between his legs and thighs, and draw him
home to their dens, and unlade and discharge him there, and make their
dwelling places right strong by great subtlety of craft. In their
houses be two chambers or three distinguished, as it were three
cellars, and they dwell in the over place when the water ariseth, and
in the nether when the water is away, and each of them hath a certain
hole properly made in the cellar, by the which hole he putteth out his
tail in the water, for the tail is of fishy kind, it may not without
water be long kept without corruption.

If the crocodile findeth a man by the brim of the water, or by the
cliff, he slayeth him if he may, and then he weepeth upon him, and
swalloweth him at the last.

The Dragon is most greatest of all serpents, and oft he is drawn out
of his den, and riseth up into the air, and the air is moved by him,
and also the sea swelleth against his venom, and he hath a crest with
a little mouth, and draweth breath at small pipes and straight, and
reareth his tongue, and hath teeth like a saw, and hath strength, and
not only in teeth, but also in his tail, and grieveth both with biting
and with stinging, and hath not so much venom as other serpents: for
to the end to slay anything, to him venom is not needful, for whom he
findeth he slayeth, and the elephant is not secure of him, for all his
greatness of body. Oft four or five of them fasten their tails
together, and rear up their heads, and sail over sea and over rivers
to get good meat. Between elephants and dragons is everlasting
fighting, for the dragon with his tail bindeth and spanneth the
elephant, and the elephant with his foot and with his nose throweth
down the dragon, and the dragon bindeth and spanneth the elephant's
legs, and maketh him fall, but the dragon buyeth it full sore: for
while he slayeth the elephant, the elephant falleth upon him and
slayeth him. Also the elephant seeing the dragon upon a tree, busieth
him to break the tree to smite the dragon, and the dragon leapeth upon
the elephant, and busieth him to bite him between the nostrils, and
assaileth the elephant's eyen, and maketh him blind sometime, and
leapeth upon him sometime behind, and biteth him and sucketh his
blood. And at the last after long fighting the elephant waxeth feeble
for great blindness, in so much that he falleth upon the dragon, and
slayeth in his dying the dragon that him slayeth. The cause why the
dragon desireth his blood, is coldness of the elephant's blood, by the
which the dragon desireth to cool himself. Jerome saith, that the
dragon is a full thirsty beast, insomuch that unneth he may have water
enough to quench his great thirst; and openeth his mouth therefore
against the wind, to quench the burning of his thirst in that wise.
Therefore when he seeth ships sail in the sea in great wind, he flieth
against the sail to take their cold wind, and overthroweth the ship
sometimes for greatness of body, and strong rese against the sail. And
when the shipmen see the dragon come nigh, and know his coming by the
water that swelleth ayenge him, they strike the sail anon, and scape
in that wise.

Horses be joyful in fields, and smell battles, and be comforted with
noise of trumpets to battle and to fighting; and be excited to run
with noise that they know, and be sorry when they be overcome, and
glad when they have the mastery. And so feeleth and knoweth their
enemies in battle so far forth that they a-rese on their enemies with
biting and smiting, and also some know their own lords, and forget
mildness, if their lords be overcome: and some horses suffer no man to
ride on their backs, but only their own lords. And many horses weep
when their lords be dead. And it is said that horses weep for sorrow,
right as a man doth, and so the kind of horse and of man is medlied.
Also oft men that shall fight take evidence and divine and guess what
shall befall, by sorrow or by the joy that the horse maketh. Old men
mean that in gentle horse, noble men take heed of four things, of
shape, and of fairness, of wilfulness, and of colour.

In his forehead when he is foaled is found Iconemor, a black skin of
the quantity of a sedge, that hight also Amor's Veneficium; and the
mother licketh it off with her tongue, and taketh it away and hideth
it or eateth it. For women that be witches use that skin in their
sayings, when they will excite a man to love.... The colt is not
littered with straw, nor curried with an horse comb, nor arrayed with
trapping and gay harness, nor smitten with spurs, nor saddled with
saddle, nor tamed with bridle, but he followeth his mother freely, and
eateth grass, and his feet be not pierced with nails, but he is
suffered to run hither and thither freely: but at the last he is set
to work and to travail, and is held and tied and led with halters and
reins, and taken from his mother, and may not suck his dam's teats;
but he is taught in many manner wise to go easily and soft. And he is
set to carts, chariots, and cars, and to travel and bearing of
horsemen in chivalry: and so the silly horse colt is foaled to divers
hap of fortune. Isidore saith, that horses were sometime hallowed in
divers usage of the gods.

Among beasts the elephant is most of virtue, so that unneth among men
is so great readiness found. For in the new moon they come together in
great companies, and bathe and wash them in a river, and lowte each to
other, and turn so again to their own places, and they make the young
go tofore in the turning again; and keep them busily and teach them to
do in the same wise: and when they be sick, they gather good herbs,
and ere they use the herbs they heave up the head, and look up toward
heaven, and pray for help of God in a certain religion. And they be
good of wit, and learn well: and are easy to teach, insomuch that they
be taught to know the king and to worship him, and busy to do him
reverence and to bend the knees in worship of him. If elephants see a
man coming against them that is out of the way in the wilderness, for
they would not affray him, they will draw themselves somewhat out of
the way, and then they stint, and pass little and little tofore him,
and teach him the way. And if a dragon come against him, they fight
with the dragon and defend the man, and put them forth to defend the
man strongly and mightily: and do so namely when they have young
foals, for they dread that the man seeketh their foals. And therefore
they purpose first to deliver them of the man, that they may more
securely feed their children and keep them the more warily....
Elephants be best in chivalry when they be tame: for they bear towers
of tree, and throw down sheltrons, and overturn men of arms, and that
is wonderful; for they dread not men of arms ranged in battle, and
dread and flee the voice of the least sound of a swine. When they be
taken, they be made tame and mild with barley: and a cave or a ditch
is made under the earth, as it were a pitfall in the elephant's way,
and unawares he falleth therein. And then one of the hunters cometh to
him and beateth and smiteth him, and pricketh him full sore. And then
another hunter cometh and smiteth the first hunter, and doth him away,
and defendeth the elephant, and giveth him barley to eat, and when he
hath eaten thrice or four times, then he loveth him that defended him,
and is afterward mild and obedient to him. I have read in Physiologus'
book that the elephant is a beast that passeth all other four-footed
beasts in quantity, in wit, and in mind. For among other doings
elephants lie never down in sleeping; but when they be weary they lean
to a tree and so rest somewhat. And men lie in wait to espy their
resting places privily, for to cut the tree in the other side: and the
elephant cometh and is not aware of the fraud, and leaneth to the tree
and breaketh it with the weight of his body, and falleth down with the
breaking, and lieth there. And when he seeth he may not help himself
in falling he crieth and roareth in a wonder manner: and by his noise
and crying come suddenly many young elephants, and rear up the old
little and little with all their strength and might: and while they
arear him with wonder affection and love, they bend themselves with
all their might and strength. ... Also there is another thing said
that is full wonderful: among the Ethiopians in some countries
elephants be hunted in this wise: there go in the desert two maidens
all naked and bare, with open hair of the head: and one of them
beareth a vessel, and the other a sword. And these maidens begin to
sing alone: and the beast hath liking when he heareth their song, and
cometh to them, and licketh their teats, and falleth asleep anon for
liking of the song, and then the one maid sticketh him in the throat
or in the side with a sword, and the other taketh his blood in a
vessel, and with that blood the people of the same country dye cloth,
and done colour it therewith.

Satyrs be somewhat like men, and have crooked nose and horns in the
forehead, and like to goats in their feet. Saint Anthony saw such a
one in the wilderness, as it is said, and he asked what he was, and he
answered Anthony, and said: "I am deadly, and one of them that
dwelleth in the wilderness." These wonderful beasts be divers: for
some of them be called Cyno[ce]phali, for they have heads as hounds,
and seem by the working, beasts rather than men, and some be called
Cyclops, and have that name, for one of them hath but one eye, and
that in the middle of the forehead, and some be all headless and
noseless, and their eyen be in the shoulders, and some have plain
faces without nostrils, and the nether lips of them stretch so, that
they hele therewith their faces when they be in the heat of the sun:
and some of them have closed mouths, in their breasts only one hole,
and breathe and suck as it were with pipes and veins, and these be
accounted tongueless, and use signs and becks instead of speaking.
Also in Scythia be some with so great and large ears, that they spread
their ears and cover all their bodies with them, and these be called
Panchios.... And other be in Ethiopia, and each of them have only one
foot so great and so large, that they beshadow themselves with the
foot when they lie gaping on the ground in strong heat of the sun; and
yet they be so swift, that they be likened to hounds in swiftness of
running, and therefore among the Greeks they be called Cynopodes. Also
some have the soles of their feet turned backward behind the legs, and
in each foot eight toes, and such go about and stare in the desert of
Lybia. The griffin is a beast with wings, and is four footed: and
breedeth in the mountains Hyperborean, and is like to the lion in all
the parts of the body, and to the eagle only in the head and wings.
And griffins keep the mountains in which be gems and precious stones,
and suffer them not to be taken from thence.

The hyena is a cruel beast like to the wolf in devouring and gluttony,
and reseth on dead men, and taketh their carcase out of the earth, and
devoureth them. It is his kind to change sex, for he is now found
male, and now female, and is therefore an unclean beast, and cometh to
hoveys by night, and feigneth man's voice as he may, for men should
trow that it is a man. Pliny saith: It is said he is one year male and
another female. And she bringeth forth her brood without male, as the
common people trow. But Aristotle denieth that. And hath the neck of
the adder, and the ridge of an elephant, and may not bend but if he
bear all the body about. And herds tell that among stables, he
feigneth speech of mankind, and calleth some man by his own name, and
rendeth him when he hath him without. And he feigneth oft the name of
some man, for to make hounds run out, that he may take and eat
them.... And his shadow maketh hounds leave barking and be still, if
he come near them. And if this beast hyena goeth thrice about any
beast, that beast shall stint within his steps. Pliny saith that the
hyena hateth the panther. And it is said that if both their skins be
hanged together, the hair of the panther's skin shall fall away. This
beast hyena fleeth the hunter, and draweth toward the right side, to
occupy the trace of the man that goeth before: and if he cometh not
after, he telleth that he goeth out of his wit, or else the man
falleth down off his horse. And if he turn against the hyena, the
beast is soon taken, as magicians tell. And also witches use the heart
of this beast and the liver, in many witchcrafts.

Some lions be short with crisp hair and mane, and these lions fight
not; and some lions have simple hair of mane, and those lions have
sharp and fierce hearts, and by their foreheads and tails their virtue
is known in the beast, and their stedfastness in the head: and when
they be beset with hunters, then they behold the earth, for to dread
the less the hunters and their gins, that them have beset about: and
he dreadeth noise and rushing of wheels, but he dreadeth fire much
more. And when they sleep their eyes wake: and when they go forth or
about, they hele and hide their fores and steps, for hunters should
not find them.... It is the kind of lions, not to be wroth with man,
but if they be grieved or hurt. Also their mercy is known by many and
oft examples: for they spare them that lie on the ground, and suffer
them to pass homeward that were prisoners and come out of thraldom,
and eat not a man or slay him but in great hunger. Pliny saith that
the lion is in most gentleness and nobility, when his neck and
shoulders be heled with hair and main. And he that is gendered of the
pard, lacketh that nobility. The lion knoweth by smell, if the pard
gendereth with the lioness, and reseth against the lioness that
breaketh spousehood, and punisheth her full sore, but if she wash her
in a river, and then it is not known. The lion liveth most long, and
that is known by working and wasting of his teeth: and when in age he
reseth on a man: for his virtue and might faileth to pursue great
beasts and wild. And then he besiegeth cities to ransom and to take
men: but when the lions be taken, then they be hanged, for other lions
should dread such manner pain. The old lion reseth woodly on men, and
only grunteth on women, and reseth seldom on children, but in great
hunger.... In peril the lion is most gentle and noble, for when he is
pursued with hounds and with hunters, the lion lurketh not nor hideth
himself, but sitteth in fields where he may be seen, and arrayeth
himself to defence. And runneth out of wood and covert with swift
running and course, as though he would account vile shame to lurk and
to hide himself. And he hideth himself not for dread that he hath, but
he dreadeth himself sometime, only for he would not be dreaded. And
when he pursueth man or beast in lands, then he leapeth when he reseth
on him. When he is wounded, he taketh wonderly heed, and knoweth them
that him first smiteth, and reseth on the smiter, though he be never
in so great multitude: and if a man shoot at him, the lion chaseth him
and throweth him down, and woundeth him not, nor hurteth him.... He
hideth himself in high mountains, and espieth from thence his prey.
And when he seeth his prey he roareth full loud, and at the voice of
him other beasts dread and stint suddenly: and he maketh a circle all
about them with his tail, and all the beasts dread to pass out over
the line of the circle, and the beasts stand astonied and afraid, as
it were abiding the hest and commandment of their king.... And he is
ashamed to eat alone the prey that he taketh; therefore of his grace
of free heart, he leaveth some of his prey to other beasts that follow
him afar.... And the lion is hunted in this wise: One double cave is
made one fast by that other, and in the second cave is set a whiche,
that closeth full soon when it is touched: and in the first den and
cave is a lamb set, and the lion leapeth therein, when he is an
hungered, for to take the lamb. And when he seeth that he may not
break out of the den, he is ashamed that he is beguiled, and would
enter in to the second den to lurk there, and falleth smell, if the
pard gendereth with the lioness, and reseth against the lioness that
breaketh spousehood, and punisheth her full sore, but if she wash her
in a river, and then it is not known. The lion liveth most long, and
that is known by working and wasting of his teeth: and when in age he
reseth on a man: for his virtue and might faileth to pursue great
beasts and wild. And then he besiegeth cities to ransom and to take
men: but when the lions be taken, then they be hanged, for other lions
should dread such manner pain. The old lion reseth woodly on men, and
only grunteth on women, and reseth seldom on children, but in great
hunger.... In peril the lion is most gentle and noble, for when he is
pursued with hounds and with hunters, the lion lurketh not nor hideth
himself, but sitteth in fields where he may be seen, and arrayeth
himself to defence. And runneth out of wood and covert with swift
running and course, as though he would account vile shame to lurk and
to hide himself. And he hideth himself not for dread that he hath, but
he dreadeth himself sometime, only for he would not be dreaded. And
when he pursueth man or beast in lands, then he leapeth when he reseth
on him. When he is wounded, he taketh wonderly heed, and knoweth them
that him first smiteth, and reseth on the smiter, though he be never
in so great multitude: and if a man shoot at him, the lion chaseth him
and throweth him down, and woundeth him not, nor hurteth him.... He
hideth himself in high mountains, and espieth from thence his prey.
And when he seeth his prey he roareth full loud, and at the voice of
him other beasts dread and stint suddenly: and he maketh a circle all
about them with his tail, and all the beasts dread to pass out over
the line of the circle, and the beasts stand astonied and afraid, as
it were abiding the hest and commandment of their king.... And he is
ashamed to eat alone the prey that he taketh; therefore of his grace
of free heart, he leaveth some of his prey to other beasts that follow
him afar.... And the lion is hunted in this wise: One double cave is
made one fast by that other, and in the second cave is set a whiche,
that closeth full soon when it is touched: and in the first den and
cave is a lamb set, and the lion leapeth therein, when he is an
hungered, for to take the lamb. And when he seeth that he may not
break out of the den, he is ashamed that he is beguiled, and would
enter in to the second den to lurk there, and falleth into it, and it
closeth anon as he is in, and letteth him not pass out thereof, but
keepeth him fast therein, until he be taken out and bound with chains
till he be tame.... The lion is cruel and wood when he is wroth, and
biteth and grieveth himself for indignation, and gnasheth with his
teeth, and namely when he hungreth, and spieth and lieth in wait, to
take beasts which pass by the way. He hideth himself in privy caves,
and reseth on beasts unawares, and slayeth them with his teeth and
claws, and breaketh all their members, and eateth them piecemeal: and
if he see any come against him to take away his prey, then he
beclippeth the prey, and grunteth and smiteth the earth with his tail,
and if he nigheth him he leapeth on him, and overcometh him, and
turneth to the prey. First he drinketh and licketh the blood of the
beast that he slayeth, and rendeth and haleth the other-deal limb-
meal, and devoureth and swalloweth it.

The leopard is a beast most cruel, and is gendered in spouse-breach of
a pard and of a lioness, and pursueth his prey startling and leaping
and not running, and if he taketh not his prey in the third leap, or
in the fourth, then he stinteth for indignation, and goeth backward as
though he were overcome. And he is less in body than the lion, and
therefore he dreadeth the lion, and maketh a cave under earth with
double entering, one by which he goeth in, and the other by which he
goeth out. And that cave is full wide and large in either entering,
and more narrow and straight in the middle. And so when the lion
cometh, he fleeth and falleth suddenly into the cave, and the lion
pursueth him with a great rese, and entereth also into the cave, and
weeneth there to have the mastery over the leopard, but for greatness
of his body he may not pass freely by the middle of the den which is
full straight, and when the leopard knoweth that the lion is so let
and holden in the straight place, he goeth out of the den forward, and
cometh again into the den in the other side behind the lion, and
reseth on him behindforth with biting and with claws, and so the
leopard hath often in that wise the mastery of the lion by craft and
not by strength, so the less beast hath oft the mastery of the strong
beast by deceit and guile in the den, and dare not rese on him openly
in the field, as Homer saith in the book of the battles and wiles of
beasts.

Churls speak of him [the wolf] and say that a man loseth his voice, if
the wolf seeth him first. Therefore to a man that is suddenly still,
and leaveth to speak it is said, "Lupus est in fabula," "The wolf is
in the tale." And certainly if he know that he is seen first, he
loseth his boldness, hardihood, and fierceness. The wolf is an evil
beast, when he eateth, and resteth much when he hath no hunger: he is
full hardy, and loveth well to play with a child, if he may take him;
and slayeth him afterward, and eateth him at the last. It is said,
that if the wolf be stoned, he taketh heed of him that threw the first
stone, and if that stone grieveth him he will slay him: and if it
grieveth him not, and he may take him that throweth that stone, he
doth him not much harm, but some harm he doth him as it were in wrath,
and leaveth him at last.... The wolf may not bend his neck backward in
no month of the year but in May alone, when it thundereth. And when he
goeth by night to a fold for to take his prey, he goeth against the
wind for hounds should not smell him. And if it happeth in any wise
that his foot maketh noise, treading upon anything, then he chasteneth
that foot with hard biting.... I have read in a book that a string
made of a wolf's gut, put among harp strings made of the guts of
sheep, destroyeth and corrupteth them, as the eagle's feathers put
among culvours', pulleth and gnaweth them, if they be there left
together long in one place.

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