R. Sale > 02-06-2020, 12:48 AM
The investigation of the Creature (VMs f79v, the 'mermaid" not the Critter (VMs f80v, the Agnus Dei).
This is an investigation that has blossomed over the years. At first the creature was thought to be the sort of 'VMs version" of a mermaid, or a siren or some other alluring and feminine water spirit, badly rendered. But it turns out she was showing more thigh than any respectable mermaid. A similarity was noted early on between the VMs and the illustration in Harley 334, which has several similarities, but still she had no name. Not until the myth of Melusine was brought into the investigation, and a matching depiction of 'woman + fish', that looks like she is stepping into or out of a costume. Mermaids may stay as mermaids, for the greater part (or not), but Melusine changes every week.
This might identify who she is, but does it tell us why Melusine is featured in Harley 334? Not really. One myth has Meusine as the ancestress of the House of Lusignan. An interesting historical diversion, and other mythical versions have her as ancestress of other rulers, such as the Plantagenets and the House of Luxembourg. In an uncommon combination of historical circumstance. It was the Valois Duke of Berry, Jean, Duc de Berry, who took the Lusignan fortress from the English. And there is a tell-tale hint of this in the March illustration of
Tres Riches Heures, with the little dragon manifestation of Melusine above the right-hand tower.
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Not only did the Duke of Berry possess the historical location, his mother was Bonne of Luxembourg, an actual descendant of the mythical Melusine in the version where it is Siegfried who falls ass over teakettle, instead of Raymond. Believe it or not, it apparently served as royal propaganda - like the classical Greek and Roman rulers who claimed descent from various gods, goddesses, and heroes. And there is a second literary connection in the commission by Jean de Berry of the
Roman de Melusine from Jean d'Arras. The ties to specific traditions become more clear. This is not the illustrations of some unknown mermaid or siren. No one claims to be a descendant of Minnie the Mermaid or Suzie the Siren. The interpretation based on a time and place providing the most relevant traditions close to the time of C-14 dates includes not only this Duke of Berry, but his brothers as well, and among them Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his descendants.
The library of the Duke of Berry is also relevant to VMs investigation because it was the starting place for the 1410 version of the Oresme cosmos and for the
Berry Apocalypse, which has the example of a plain nebuly line used as a cosmic boundary, which is also a part of the VMs cosmos and the VMs Critter (Agnus Dei). Further implying that these things are historically tied together and to the VMs by traditions that have gotten lost and need to be recovered.