1st Edition

The Medieval World of Nature A Book of Essays

By Joyce E. Salisbury Copyright 1993
    282 Pages
    by Routledge

    282 Pages
    by Routledge

    Originally published in 1993, The Medieval World of Nature looks at how the natural world was viewed by medieval society. The book presents the argument that the pragmatic medieval view of the natural world of animals and plants, existed simply to serve medieval society. It discusses the medieval concept of animals as food, labour, and sport and addresses how the biblical charge of assuming dominion over animals and plants, was rooted in the medieval sensibility of control. The book also looks at the idea of plants and animals as not only pragmatic, but as allegories within the medieval world, utilizing animals to draw morality tales, which were viewed with as much importance as scientific information. This book provides a unique and interesting look at the everyday medieval world.

    Acknowledgements

    Introduction

    Part I: Animals

    1. The Mirror of Nature Distorted: The Medieval Artist’s Dilemma in Depicting Animals, Nona C. Flores

    2. Falconry and Medieval Views of Nature, Robin S. Oggins

    3. The Protohistory of Pike in Western Culture, Richard C. Hoffmann

    4. Animals Images in Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan: Structure and Meaning in Metaphor, Margaret Schleissner

    Part II: Animals and People

    5. Martyrs and Monks, Insects, and Animals, Maureen A. Tilley

    6. The Shadow of Reason: Explanations of Intelligent Animal Behavior in the Thirteenth Century, Peter G. Sobol

    7. The Goddess Natura in the Occitan Lyric, Veronica Fraser

    8. Wild Folk and Lunatics in Medieval Romance, David A. Sprunger

    Part III: People and the Land

    9. The Land, Who Owns It?, John Hilary Martin, O.P.

    10. Cultured Nature in Chaucer’s Early Dream-Poems, Laura L. Howes

    11. Dante’s Utopian Landscape: The Garden of God, Brenda Deen Schildgen

    12. Father God and Mother Earth: Nature Mysticism in the Anglo-Saxon World, Karen Jolly

    Notes on Contributors

    Index