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A fascinating post! I have never paid much attention to insects in the manuscripts myself, though they do appear with disturbing realism in texts on death, like the Disputation Betwixt the Body and Worms.
I also found the information about gold-carrying ants very interesting. There is a traditional Russian fairy-tale, from the collection of the Ural miners' tales record by Pavel Bazhov in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, that puts in action the behaviour described by Physiologus. The ants carry gold 'shoes' on their feet, going into a sort of cave, and, the closer they get to the cave, the bigger they grow (reaching the size of a dog and then of a horse!). Of course, there is an honest miner who takes just as much gold as he needs and a dishonest one, who is punished for avarice. It's fascinating how such motifs can travel across times and spaces, though.
Bugs in Books
Even the most cursory glance over the pages of medieval manuscripts will reveal a plethora of insects. Bugs are everywhere – although we hasten to add that we are extremely vigilant about avoiding the presence of any actual living insects within the pages of our books. But there has been littl...
Best of luck to Sarah and the little one! I enjoy the blog and, in particular, your posts in it.
BTW, St Elizabeth, the mother of St John about which you have recently blogged, is credited with helping women in labour. May she help you and your baby!
A Temporary Farewell
As I am preparing to head off for a year’s maternity leave, I thought I would take the opportunity to thank you all for the wonderful opportunity it has been to work on this blog. It has been a great pleasure to be able to share so many of the glories of the British Library over the past 3 or s...
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Sep 1, 2014
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