The Mystical Unicorn Hunt of Saint Guinefort
For this illumination of Saint Guinefort we look at the dramatic Black Hours of Charles the Bold/Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Cod. 1856) and the Unicorn Hunt Tapestries from the New York Met Cloisters for inspiration in an apocryphal and mystical vision of Saint Guinefort hunting a unicorn.
Saint Mermaid
The Paragon of Woman as Untamed Pagan Past “Her lap-dog became an otter, and for a full three hundred years she roamed the seas.” Dr. Dáithí Ó hÓgáin Myth, Legend…
The Dante Stones of Siena
How an Italian City Honored the Author who Criticized it “Was there ever so vain a people as the Sienese? Even the French can’t match such vanity.” Dante Inferno, 29.…
The Miracle of Saint Guinefort from The Hours of Henry VIII
Intercede for Us, Saint Guinefort, Faithful Hound and Martyr. “The contemporary eye will acknowledge the devotional character of the work, but be drawn to the clean precision of its crafting…
The Suffrage of St. Guinefort From the Hours of Catherine of Cleves
The first fully realized piece from the Cult of Saint Guinefort project – From the Hours of Catherine of Cleves dives into the history of the manuscript, it’s design, and the piece of work created that could have come from it’s pages.
The Apotheosis of Saint Guinefort
Folk Saints, Changelings, and Our Timeless Love of Dogs “…if i have presented (the tale of Saint Guinefort) so unceremoniously at the start of the book it is so that…
Adventures in Ink Making Continued…
Recreating Brazil Wood Ink from Period Recipes “They spawn as it were in March and Aprill; the Geese are formed in May and June, and come to fulnesse of feathers…
Necropants and Icelandic Witchcraft in Folklore
The Confusing Case of the Demonic Money Pants “The flame of fancy still burns, bright and warm, in all this desolation, even as the great ice-body of Iceland contains a…
Milk Hares and Troll Hares – Witches & their Minions in Medieval Swedish Churches
In Nordic countries there are numerous tales of these creatures crafted by witches and tasked with stealing milk from the homes of ordinary townsfolk – what could be more “otherly”?
Does this Medieval Spoon Depict a Dog-Headed Man?
The Cynocephalus Spoon “They inhabit the mountains as far as the river Indus. Their complexion is swarthy. They are extremely just, like the rest of the Indians with whom they…