Medieval Naturalia
The nascent global age at the close of the Middle Ages introduced exotic objects from distant lands into Western Europe. Exotica from the natural world – naturalia – were frequently fashioned into ecclesiastical and seigniorial artifacts and housed in treasuries. The materials were sometimes re-iden...
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Instituto de Estudos Medievais
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.3902 https://doaj.org/article/314b003b39de4c92a61536172fa2a253 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:314b003b39de4c92a61536172fa2a253 2023-05-15T17:14:11+02:00 Medieval Naturalia Chantal Stein 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.3902 https://doaj.org/article/314b003b39de4c92a61536172fa2a253 DE EN ES FR IT PT ger eng spa fre ita por Instituto de Estudos Medievais http://journals.openedition.org/medievalista/3902 https://doaj.org/toc/1646-740X 1646-740X doi:10.4000/medievalista.3902 https://doaj.org/article/314b003b39de4c92a61536172fa2a253 Medievalista, Pp 211-241 (2021) Naturalia Exotica Animals Unicorn Treasuries History (General) D1-2009 Medieval history D111-203 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.3902 2022-12-31T12:09:04Z The nascent global age at the close of the Middle Ages introduced exotic objects from distant lands into Western Europe. Exotica from the natural world – naturalia – were frequently fashioned into ecclesiastical and seigniorial artifacts and housed in treasuries. The materials were sometimes re-identified in their new contexts, such as narwhal tusks understood as unicorn horns, which bestowed upon them additional meanings associated with those allegorical mythical creatures. This work investigates the movement, alteration, and use of such re-identified naturalia in late medieval society leading up to the Age of Discovery. It focuses on naturalia that retained their distinct morphological features after working, following the hypothesis that the identity of the animal, as indexed by a recognizable form or set of physical characteristics, was important. It additionally considers symbolic connotations and occult properties deriving from allegorization of matter to study the role played by the ornamentation of naturalia. This paper explores the discourse between extant tangible objects and contemporary texts such as bestiaries, lapidaries, and alchemical compendia to examine how the iconography of the artifact’s form and the iconology of the ornamentation contributed to the overall signification of the naturalia. Article in Journal/Newspaper narwhal* Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Medievalista online 29 211 241 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
German English Spanish French Italian Portuguese |
topic |
Naturalia Exotica Animals Unicorn Treasuries History (General) D1-2009 Medieval history D111-203 |
spellingShingle |
Naturalia Exotica Animals Unicorn Treasuries History (General) D1-2009 Medieval history D111-203 Chantal Stein Medieval Naturalia |
topic_facet |
Naturalia Exotica Animals Unicorn Treasuries History (General) D1-2009 Medieval history D111-203 |
description |
The nascent global age at the close of the Middle Ages introduced exotic objects from distant lands into Western Europe. Exotica from the natural world – naturalia – were frequently fashioned into ecclesiastical and seigniorial artifacts and housed in treasuries. The materials were sometimes re-identified in their new contexts, such as narwhal tusks understood as unicorn horns, which bestowed upon them additional meanings associated with those allegorical mythical creatures. This work investigates the movement, alteration, and use of such re-identified naturalia in late medieval society leading up to the Age of Discovery. It focuses on naturalia that retained their distinct morphological features after working, following the hypothesis that the identity of the animal, as indexed by a recognizable form or set of physical characteristics, was important. It additionally considers symbolic connotations and occult properties deriving from allegorization of matter to study the role played by the ornamentation of naturalia. This paper explores the discourse between extant tangible objects and contemporary texts such as bestiaries, lapidaries, and alchemical compendia to examine how the iconography of the artifact’s form and the iconology of the ornamentation contributed to the overall signification of the naturalia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chantal Stein |
author_facet |
Chantal Stein |
author_sort |
Chantal Stein |
title |
Medieval Naturalia |
title_short |
Medieval Naturalia |
title_full |
Medieval Naturalia |
title_fullStr |
Medieval Naturalia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Medieval Naturalia |
title_sort |
medieval naturalia |
publisher |
Instituto de Estudos Medievais |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.3902 https://doaj.org/article/314b003b39de4c92a61536172fa2a253 |
genre |
narwhal* |
genre_facet |
narwhal* |
op_source |
Medievalista, Pp 211-241 (2021) |
op_relation |
http://journals.openedition.org/medievalista/3902 https://doaj.org/toc/1646-740X 1646-740X doi:10.4000/medievalista.3902 https://doaj.org/article/314b003b39de4c92a61536172fa2a253 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.3902 |
container_title |
Medievalista online |
container_issue |
29 |
container_start_page |
211 |
op_container_end_page |
241 |
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1766071479196188672 |