Burma Shave

[nablator]

Given these conditions at the time of its creation, the primary interpretation of the illustration of Harley 334 f. 57 has to be a representation of Melusine, because that was the semiotic environment of that time and location.

Hello R. Sale,

No, it does not have to be Mélusine. The text to the right says something about the sea ("mer") and it is a typical depiction of the sea with perfectly normal fish and mermaids. EDIT: it starts with "En la mer dynde" (in the sea of India) - old name of the Arabian sea - then I can't read much, something about exotic fish it seems... the title is "de poissons dynde" (about the fish of India).
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Similar legends existed elsewhere than Lusignan (Poitou), especially "fish-tail" variants of the story, the dragon-tail lady of Lusignan popularized by Jean d'Arras being a late avatar of much older and widespread legends. Wikipedia has a simplified and non-exhausitive map (see locations in the text):



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