Is that an elephant wearing a crown bottom left?
Or a crocodile with a snaky snout? It's a bit short for an elephant.
If you look at the full page (click on link from OP) it’s the crowned head of a dragon.
Cheers Michelle.... I must admit I hadn't thought of doing that
They look like swallowtail merlins, but it's most likely that the scribe simply drew what was familiar to show a castellated wall.
I see it was made in Germany, so probably something the scribe was used to seeing.
On a side note, the book was promptly purchased by someone in Lisbon, which shows how sophisticated trading networks were in the 14th century!
(12-07-2021, 08:51 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.They look like swallowtail merlins, but it's most likely that the scribe simply drew what was familiar to show a castellated wall.
I see it was made in Germany, so probably something the scribe was used to seeing.
Hi David,
that's what I found interesting in the first place. I think those merlons are fairly rare in German manuscripts...
Other Hebrew manuscripts with swallow-tail merlons were discussed in 2015 by Darren Worley and Rene You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view.. The manuscripts they discussed are You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. (Ashkenazi, maybe France or Switzerland, 1299) and the Sarajevo Haggadah (Spain, 1350 ca) - places and dates of origin as posted by Darren.
I wonder if there is a case to be made for arguing that Ashkenazi manuscript tradition includes swallowtail merlons? Possibly an Italian or Iberian influence that they became used to seeing and started to copy automatically?
I don't know.
Have you looked at the castles of Sicily?
Would it be possible to find/make a map of places where swallowtail merlons would/could have existed in the 15th century?
Not exactly swallow-tail, but very similar. They are very late 15th century additions to the Alcazaba de Almería, the thousand year old Moorish fortress. Note the Christian bell in the middle; all were rebuilt by the Spanish after they conquered it in 1489.
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Here you can see the two types of merlin on the walls - the double units built by the Spanish, and at the end, the original single units that were built by the Moors.
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Sadly, a lot of them were rebuilt in a botched restoration in the 1960's, so there aren't any original Moorish ones left.