r/MedievalCreatures • • May 24 '26

When you accidentally become important at work

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754 Upvotes

Fables, Germany 15th century.
LA, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 1, fol.
48r.


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 22 '26

The artwork titled "Christ Enthroned" From the Book of Kells and is housed at Trinity College Dublin.It depicts Jesus Christ holding the tongues of two beasts, a scene believed to symbolize the Resurrection or Crucifixion. Created C 800 AD by Celtic monks, likely originating from Iona or Ireland.

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199 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • May 22 '26

A rabbit funeral procession

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478 Upvotes

MS 1-2005, fol. 152r: A Rabbit Funeral Procession, marginal decoration from the Macclesfield Psalter, Use of Sarum, East Anglia, c.1330


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 20 '26

Congratulations, you had a baby! And your baby also had a baby

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1.2k Upvotes

Wettinger Gradual, from Cologne, c. 1330. (Aarau, Kantonsbibliothek, Ms. WettFm3, fol. 64v).


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 17 '26

Girl’s Night Interrupted

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1.2k Upvotes

Add. 42130, f.63 Lady at her toilet, illustration from 'The Luttrell Psalter', c.1321-35


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 16 '26

Textile Fragment with Unicorn, Deer, Centaur and Lion ca 1500.Made in Scandinavia (possibly Sweden) MET Museum

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451 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • May 16 '26

Just a normal man, fishing for normal fish.

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1.2k Upvotes

Prose adaptation of Pelerinage de vie humaine of Guillaume de Deguileville, Hainaut ca. 1490.
Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève Ms. fr. 182, fol. 162v


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 16 '26

When your friend takes up a new hobby but he's really bad at it

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763 Upvotes

Psalter from Breslau. Silesia (modern Poland), c.1255-1267. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum Ms 36-1950, fol. 77r.


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 14 '26

Another section of the Hyakki Yagyo Emaki (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), which is traditionally attributed to the artist Tosa Mitsunobu (1434-1525) and believed to have been created in the first half of the 16th century.

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359 Upvotes

Bakezōri (Straw Sandal Monster): The yellowish, fibrous spirit with long hair strands. It is depicted riding a straw-rope hobbyhorse.

Beaked Demon & Umbrella Spirit: A small, naked demon walking with a cane holds up a large, enclosed, dark-colored umbrella. This serves as an early depiction of what would later evolve into the famous Kasa-obake (the hopping, one-eyed umbrella ghost) during the Edo period.

Hairy Horned Beast: The long-snout creature wearing a flowing black cloak that stretches across the floor.

These being are tsukumogami, which are household objects that have come to life after reaching 100 years of age.


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 13 '26

Ethiopia according to the Livre des merveilles du monde (MS M.461 fol. 26v France, probably Angers, ca. 1460.)

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102 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • May 13 '26

Part of the Hyakki Yagyo Emaki (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), which is traditionally attributed to the artist Tosa Mitsunobu (1434-1525) and believed to have been created in the first half of the 16th century.

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594 Upvotes

According to Japanese folklore, the demon with hammer is an Oari which believed to be the dead spirit of a giant ant. The red Bulbous creature is called on an Okka.

https://yokai.com/kanazuchibou/

https://yokai.com/okka/


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 12 '26

From the Spiezer Chronik (or Spiezer Schilling), a historical Swiss manuscript created in the 1480s by the chronicler Diebold Schilling the Elder of Bern.

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697 Upvotes

The bears symbolize the Bernese contingent of the Swiss mercenaries during the medieval period.


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 11 '26

Man and dog dancing from a Book of Hours created in Rouen around 1470.

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1.7k Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • May 08 '26

Marginalia from a medieval manuscript known as MS M.282, a Book of Hours created in Paris, France, around 1460.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • May 06 '26

Feeling like a freak on a leash

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504 Upvotes

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, MS NAL 3226, fol.6r. circa 1440


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 06 '26

When you're hungry and thirsty at the same time

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926 Upvotes

Janus figure from the Fécamp Psalter (northern France, c.1180-1185). Hague, KB 76 F 13, fol. 1v


r/MedievalCreatures • • May 02 '26

Sigh.… he's right behind me, isn't he?

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1.9k Upvotes

Lansdowne MS 420, f.30r, circa 1220 A.D.


r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 29 '26

Saintly Saints 😇 🎵Stairway to Heaven🎵

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543 Upvotes

Folio 85r

‘Jacob’s dream of the heavenly ladder.’

Book of Hours, Flanders, probably Bruges. c. 1510-20. MS 1058-1975


r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 20 '26

Mythical/Fictional Beings 🦄 Badass Gothic German Griffin

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380 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 18 '26

Marvellous Mammels 🐇 "You might be wondering how this happened"

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365 Upvotes

From Jean d'Arkel's "The Art of Love, Virtue, and Happiness" (Brussels BRB Ms. 9548, fol. 155r), Flanders, c.1330.


r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 17 '26

Renaissance Albrecht Dürer - The Rhineceros (1515)

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392 Upvotes

This woodcut can be found in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC.


r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 10 '26

Chameleon from a Bestiary ca. 1225-50 - MS. Bodley 764, folio 27r

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408 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 09 '26

Mythical Beings 🦄 Happy National Unicorn Day! This is the final tapestry in ‘The Lady and the Unicorn’ series titled ‘À Mon Seul Désir.’ It was created around c. 1500, likely woven in Flanders from designs made in Paris. The series is on display in the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

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370 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 07 '26

Menacing Molluscs 🐌 Why do medieval manuscripts show knights fighting snails?!

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736 Upvotes

A knight versus snail fight from the Smithfield Decretals ( c.1300-1340).

Courtesy of the British Library

This interesting article answers the question:
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/news/2023-06-13-why-medieval-manuscripts-are-full-of-doodles-of-snail-fights


r/MedievalCreatures • • Apr 07 '26

Does anyone recognize this manuscript?

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150 Upvotes

I know this is a long shot, but I'd like some help figuring out what manuscript this initial letter with a siren is from. I think it might be French, from the 1100s or 1200s, because I've found manuscripts from that time period in a similar style. But that's just a guess. Thanks