A deeply pious religious benefactor or a figure of legend?
Tag: Medieval
The Wild Costumes of the Schembartlauf
A lavish Shrovetide procession, as recorded in a 17th century illustrated manuscript.
The Top of St. Thomas Becket’s Skull
The martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket has a been a popular subject for artists from the middle ages to the 20th century, but one detail of the murder stands out in a few depictions. These show the top of the saints skull being shorn off by the first blow, like so: And: And: Medieval art…
The Strange Legend of St. Christopher, and Whether or Not He Had the Head of a Dog
First of all: St. Christopher is still a saint. His feast day of July 25th was dropped as part of the revisions to the universal calendar in compliance with Mysterii Paschalis in 1970 because so little was known about him and many other early saints. He wasn’t, however, unsainted, and devotions are perfectly acceptable and…
The Earliest Known Depiction of Witches On Brooms, and What It Tells Us About Evil
This marginal illustration comes from Le champion des dames (A Defense of Women) by Martin Le France, 1451. Martin was secretary to both Antipope Felix V and Pope Nicholas V. His work is a 24,000-verse (!) poem extolling the virtues of women, but also condemning heresy and corruption. The witches are identified as Vaudois, or Waldensians, who were accused of practicing witchcraft…
Weird Catholic 
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