More Medieval Monsters

On March 16, 2014 by Tim Newman

Medieval Monsters - Arminianism as five-headed monster

I just finished writing a post on medieval monsters and had loads of cool monster images left over. I can’t keep this kind of quality to myself so get stuck in…

The first few drawings are by Conrad Gesner in his Historiae animalium (1551-58). Gesner’s work was the first attempt to catalogue all known animals and covered 4,500 pages in all. His work used first hand accounts, but also delved into ancient texts and folklore.

The first two images below are of course real life monsters, they were drawn from second hand accounts so he hasn’t done too badly at all. Imagine if you’d never seen an elephant, if someone tried to describe it to me I just wouldn’t believe them, they’re too weird.

Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium - elephant Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium - rhino

Below is a satyr which is a Greek mythology inspired goat-like thing

Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium - satyr

Conrad Gesner didn’t actually believe in sea monsters but everyone else did (or at least liked to hear about them) so he added them to his book anyway. It’s important to please your audience, and I guess the sea monsters aren’t much less believable than the elephant if you think about it.

Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium - sea monster 2 Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium - sea monster

A seven-headed serpent beast hey? Fancy that. Conrad Gesner wasn’t convinced about this one either but apparently a seven headed snake had been found in Turkey so he whacked it in.

Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium - seven headed snake

Unicorns ARE real: VIDEO OF A WOMAN THAT ACTUALLY BELIEVES UNICORNS ARE REAL.

Medieval Monsters - Conrad Gesner's Historiae animalium

Monster Articles On LAZERHORSE.ORG

Medieval Monsters - group

Padua released a book in 1634 called Paulus Frambottus. He was a practicing physiologist of the day but had a couple of minor flights of fancy.

Medieval Monsters - Padua - 1634 - Paulus Frambottus group anatomist

CLICK HERE FOR MORE MEDIEVAL MONSTERS

Medieval Monsters - Padua - 1634 - Paulus Frambottus group

CLICK HERE FOR A MORE MODERN MONSTER COLLECTION

INCONGRUOUS PHOTOS FROM MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL 2013

Medieval Monsters - Padua - 1634 - Paulus Frambottus

I HEART MONSTERS

MORE MONSTERS:  THE ANATOMY OF A JAPANESE MONSTER

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