The Secret Middle Ages

List of Illustrations

Figures and Ornaments

Ornament to half-title and pages v, vi, xiv, xxii, xxv, 295, 300, 366: bronze roundel with enamelled inscription, hyt nys nout as men wenet, English, ?15thC. (Present whereabouts unknown: photograph © The British Museum)

Ornament to Chapter 1: elderly man in bath with young woman fool: lead lid, ?Dutch, 15thC. (Photograph courtesy of Brian Spencer)

1.1     Lovers (woman naked) beside fountain: cast of biscuit-mould, German, first half 15thC. (© Städtisches Museum in Andreasstift, Worms)

1.2     Lovers (woman naked) seated on bed playing instruments: cast of biscuit-mould, German, first half 15thC. (Museum Wiesbaden)

1.3     Man threshes chicks out of eggs: misericord, Emmerich, late 15thC. (Photograph courtesy of Elaine Block)

1.4     All ride the ass: woodcut, German, early 16thC. (Bodleian Library, Oxford, Douce Prints W.2.2b (25). Photograph from E. Diederichs, Deutsches Leben der Vergangenheit, Abb. 666, Jena, 1908)

1.5     Fox/wolf preaches to sheep: stained and painted glass, English mid-15thC. (© Burrell Collection, Glasgow)

1.6     Dildo-pedlar (and dog running off with one): cast of biscuit-mould, German, first half 15thC. (© MAK Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna)

Ornament to Chapter 2: four-leaf clover inscribed 't': lead badge, English 14th/15thC. (Photograph courtesy of Brian Spencer)

2.1     Christ-child caressing parrot with New Year's greeting: woodcut-sheet, German, mid-15thC. (© Staatlichen Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin)

2.2     St Gertrude and mice: woodcut-sheet, German, mid-15thC. (© Staatlichen Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin)

2.3     Quatrefoil replaces head of God the Father: manuscript miniature, English, early 13thC. (By permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. Ref: Trinity College Library, MS B.11.4, f. 119r)

2.4     St Werburgh's geese in pen: misericord supporter, Chester Cathedral, late 14thC. (© University of Manchester: photograph courtesy of Christa Grössinger)

2.5     Edward III as a boy and Queen Isabella: lead badge inscribed Mothere, English, c. 1330. (© The British Museum)

2.6     Manuscript map of the Isle of Thanet, showing detail of the deer and the cursus cerve, English, c. 1410. (Ref: MS 1, Trinity Hall, Cambridge)

2.7     Birds help St Alto build his cell: woodcut-sheet, German, c. 1500. (© National Gallery of Art, Washington)

2.8     Phallus, flanked by women, surmounts breeches: lead badge, Dutch, first half 15thC. (© Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam: Stichting Middeleeuwse*)

2.9     Sinte Aelwaer: woodcut-sheet (detail), Cornelis Anthonisz, Amsterdam, c. 1520. (© Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

Ornament to Chapter 3: Cat with mouse, inscribed gret wel gibbe oure cat: drawing of seal-impression. (Reproduced with permission of the Society of Antiquaries from Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries N.S. 12 (1888), p. 97)

3.1     The king of the Garamantes rescued by his dogs: manuscript miniature (detail), English, 1220s/1230s. (© The British Library. Ref: BL, Royal MS 12. F. XIII, f. 30v)

3.2     Mattathias beheads the idolatrous cat-worshiper: manuscript miniature (detail), Winchester Bible, f. 350v, English, late 12thC. (Photograph © Winchester Cathedral)

3.3     Four proverbs enacted before King David: engraved sheet, Van Meckenem, c. 1495. (© The British Museum)

3.4     Turning the cat in the pan: pen-and-ink marginal drawing, Muschamp Moot Book, English, early 15thC. (© The British Library. Ref: BL, Harl. MS 1807, f. 309)

3.5     Misericord: rat-porteur/rapporteur, Vendôme, late 15thC. (Photograph courtesy of Elaine Block)

3.6     Animals in roundels: engraved sheet (detail), Florence, c. 1460. (© The British Museum)

3.7     Emblematic catechism: woodcut-sheet, Tegernsee, late 15thC. (© Bibliothèque nationale, Paris)

3.8       Bronze tap with handle in the form of a cockerel, English 15thC. (Private collection: photograph courtesy of Brian Spencer)

3.9       Sex organs in intercourse: seal-impression from matrix found at Wicklewood, inscribed IAS: TIDBAVLCOC, English, c. 1300. (Drawing by Steven Ashley of Norfolk Landscape Archaeology)

3.10   amulet in the form of the valves of a mussel, one inscribed with vulva symbol, Dutch, 1375x1425. (© Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam: Stichting Middeleeuwse*)

3.11   Young woman and fox: pen-and-ink drawing, South German, c. 1530. (© Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg)

3.12   Wife beats yarn-winding husband with foxtail: brass dish, German, late 15thC. (© Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

3.13   Gold finger-ring, engraved with woman leading squirrel and a figura grammatica inscription, English, 15thC. (© The British Museum)

3.14   Flock in sheep-fold with bell-wether: manuscript miniature, Luttrell Psalter, English, c. 1330x40 (© The British Library. Ref: BL, Add. MS 42130, f. 163v)

Ornament to Chapter 4: devil as fashionably-dressed woman: manuscript miniature, Winchester Psalter, English mid-12thC.

4.1     Head-on-legs monster (blemya): misericord supporter, Ripon, late 15thC. (Photograph: author's collection)

4.2     Wild Men and dragons: misericord, St Mary's, Beverley, mid-15thC. (Photograph: author's collection)

4.3     Tailed king hawking: manuscript miniature, Picardy, late 13thC. (© Yale University. Ref: MS 229, f. 363r)

4.4     Bridegroom with cuckold's horns: manuscript miniature, Decretals, French, c. 1300. (© Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. Ref: BN MS lat. 3898, f. 297)

4.5     Master and schoolboys, dunce wears ass's head: woodcut, Spiegel des menschlichen Lebens, Augsburg, 1470s. (© Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich)

4.6     Clerical wolves devour sheep: title-page woodcut, Wie man die falschen prophete, Wittenberg, 1536. (© Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich)

4.7     Wineskin-monks sing in praise of vino puro: misericord, Ciudad Rodrigo, c. 1500. (Photograph courtesy of Elaine Block)

4.8     Medieval stone sheelagh-na-gig, Llandrindod. (Photograph: author's collection)

4.9     Picture of Nobody: title-page woodcut, Sermo pauperis Henrici de sancto Nemine, German, c. 1510. (© Staats- und Stadtbibliothek, Augsburg,)

Ornament to Chapter 5: gagged scold's head: misericord, Stratford-on-Avon, 15thC. (Photograph: author's collection)

5.1     Nemo with bird nesting on head swats fly-swarm: title-page woodcut (detail), Leipzig, 1518. (© The British Library)

5.2     Allegory of penitence with fly-swarm: manuscript leaf, Lambeth Apocalypse. (© Lambeth Palace Library, London. Ref: MS 209, f. 53.)

5.3     Carvers quarrelling, one thumbs nose at his opposite number: misericord. (© University of Manchester: photograph courtesy of Christa Grössinger)

5.4     Debtor's seal soiled with dung of sow on which man sits backwards, debtors hanged and broken on the wheel: painted manuscript Schandbild. (© Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg)

5.5     Judensau: woodcut-sheet, German, late 15thC. (© Historisches Museum, Frankfurt)

5.6     Punishment of dishonest baker and prostitute: painted initial. (© Bristol City Council. Ref: Bristol City Charter 1347)

5.7     Dishonest ale-wife carried off to hell: misericord, Ludlow, c. 1420. (© University of Manchester: photograph courtesy of Christa Grössinger)

5.8     Old maid leads apes into hell-mouth: misericord, Bristol, 1520. (© University of Manchester: photograph courtesy of Christa...