Dragons, Dogs & Amadillos?

[Koen G]

Isn't the union of Christ and the Church referred to as a 'marriage'? Hence the ring.

On the other hand, hasn't the nymph in the upper left, holding the spindle, been interpreted as Ananke, Lady Necessity, with her attribute - the cosmic spindle? Such a mix of classical and Christian imagery would make a simple, unified narrative derived from just the illustration look a bit difficult.

Yes, it's about marriage. In the Christian Middle Ages, it was common to think of Christ as the groom. Even pious men would imagine their soul as a bride to Christ. (There are regional variations in the prevalence of such thought).

It's essential to understand that medieval Europeans were trained much more than we are to deal with sustained metaphors. When the bestiary author describes the behavior of some animal, he is actually talking about Jesus or morality. The Jewish bible is actually about Jesus (it isn't at all, but it's how Christians saw it, and still see it). The soul = ecclesia = a female figure = bride of Christ = Heavenly Jerusalem and so on.

One of the most popular medieval books was the Speculum Humanae Salvationis (countless examples survive), which has only one purpose: to show how things that are not about Jesus are actually about Jesus. Bestiaries: animals are actually about Christian morality. Ovide Moralisé: Greco-Roman myths are actually about Christian morality.

Of course, things could still be described for their practical purpose (plants, bathing, times of the year...) but we are still looking at the product of a society that would be considered religious extremists today. Jesus is always lurking in the background.

Just to name a recent example, the book about measuring land Marco posted in the other thread: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.