• 1 FRIEDMAN, John Block; FIGG, Kristen Mossler (Eds.) – Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middles (...)

2Though the European Age of Discovery is credited to the 15^th century’s expanding trade, travel, and exploration, the global movement’s roots stretch back three centuries earlier to a time when many distant lands were still unfamiliar to each other. In this nascent global age, discovery and exploration of hitherto unknown worlds fostered a taste for exotic wonders and marvels and introduced exotica from distant lands to Western Europe. Exotica – all material coming from far away – were associated with regions at or beyond the edges of Christendom and carried with them the sense of contact with an unknown world. As a subset of exotica, naturalia consisted of natural objects (as opposed to man-made artificialia) that were often fashioned into ecclesiastical and seigniorial artifacts and kept in treasuries, forming a small but highly valued part of material culture1. Though originating from real animals, naturalia were often re-identified and considered as evidence of other mythical creatures found in medieval bestiaries; narwhal tusks, for example, were identified as unicorn horns.

• 2 See DASTON, Lorraine J.; PARK, Katharine – Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750…; KENSETH, Jo (...)
• 3 The iconology of materials refers to the study of materials and their metaphoric significance. It a (...)

3Many scholars have previously discussed exotica in the context of the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery2. However, few have examined such artifacts in earlier medieval contexts, and even fewer have considered their materiality, significance, and embellishment. This work aims to answer questions about the movement, alteration, and use of such re-identified naturalia in late medieval society leading up to the Age of Discovery. It will focus 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. The study 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 embellishment materials contributed to the signification of the naturalia3.

• 4 Quoted in DASTON, Lorraine J.; PARK, Katharine – Wonders and the Order of Nature…, pp. 44. See also (...)
• 5 Animals were used to illustrate truths about human behavior, providing a means of gaining perspecti (...)
• 6 BENTON, Janetta Rebold – The Medieval Menagerie…, p. 66.

5In the late Middle Ages, the steadily growing European economy allowed for more frequent and more far-reaching exploration, and Europeans traveled in greater numbers than before in search of wealth, trade, and opportunities for evangelicalism. Missionaries and other frequent travelers wrote for readers at home about the novel locales, strange peoples and creatures they encountered, and the wonders and marvels found abroad. As the world and all its marvels were considered revelations of God’s divine spirit, the emotion of wonder was seen as a precursor to divine contemplation. Expressed by Thomas of Cantimpré, the Christian’s duty was to “wonder at creation and, by extension, at its Creator”4. The natural world was considered a divine, external manifestation of God’s invisible nature and eternal realm, and contemporary philosophers interpreted the visible universe allegorically; the natural world became a signifier for hidden spiritual truths, and natural wonders were used as religious edifying metaphors in medieval encyclopedias. Like all else in the natural world, animals were rooted in God’s work, and so they existed in the medieval mindset largely as constructs for allegorical ends5. The emphasis on moral edification superseded interest in fact, making accuracy – or even the existence of an animal – of less concern than the animal’s usefulness for didactic purposes6. In medieval bestiaries, entries for each animal comprised two parts: the first provided natural history facts on habitat, physical characteristics, and the etymology of name, while the second interpreted the facts symbolically to provide the reader with moral lessons.

• 7 See FRIEDMAN, John Block; FIGG, Kristen Mossler – Trade, Travel, and Exploration…, p. 172; and LUGL (...)
• 8 Today we call animals “exotic” but that adjective was rarely used in medieval times and never appli (...)

6As depicted in bestiaries, fantastic creatures were always found in other lands at the far corners of the world. By the late Middle Ages a spherical understanding of the world had developed. The oikoumene – the habitable portion at the center that formed the setting for the fall and salvation of mankind – was seen as a landmass that occupied a discrete section of the globe, comprising Western Europe, the Mediterranean basin, and the Holy Land. The fines terrae – the extreme outlying yet settled edges of the known world – consisted of India in the east, Ethiopia in the South, the Pillars of Hercules in the west, and the Orkneys and Iceland in the north. Fantastic creatures and terrific monsters were believed to live in the fines terrae, guarding the borders against the terra incognita – the chaos beyond7. The margins of the known world were places of novelty and variety where wonders tended to cluster, and the native animals were rare and mysterious8. Such exotic creatures were introduced to medieval Europe through moralizing bestiaries, natural history compendia, travelers’ tales, noble menageries, and tangible naturalia. Without regular trade, these margins occupied a space almost entirely disconnected from Europe, which lent credence to the existence of creatures outside of daily life.

• 9 PLUSKOWSKI, Aleksander – “Narwhals or Unicorns?”…, p. 298. See also FRIEDMAN, John Block; FIGG, Kri (...)

8When naturalia reached Western Europe, the real animal parts substituted for and acted as evidence of the mythical creatures believed to exist in distant lands. For example, narwhal tusks were reconceived as unicorn horns. Narwhals are rare arctic whales whose largest population, and likely the primary source for medieval western markets, is located in the waters around Greenland such as Baffin Bay and Kane Basin. Though the extent of medieval whaling is difficult to gauge, it was likely infrequent and dangerous. Advances in shipbuilding led to increased Scandinavian trade, travel, and exploration, with Europe’s earliest expansion reaching into the North Atlantic. It is therefore possible that narwhal tusks were provided by Vikings, though Plukowski suggests they were more likely acquired from native Inuit9.

• 10 MARRACHE-GOURAUD, Myriam – “Les Secrets de la Licorne”. in MONCOND’HUY, Dominique (Ed.) – La Licorn (...)
• 11 SHEPARD, Odell – The Lore of the Unicorn. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1967, pp. 254-270. See (...)

9Narwhal tusks were brought to northern Europe, specifically Denmark and Holland, via shipping routes connecting Greenland and Iceland with the British Isles, Scandinavia, and the Baltic10. Though it didn’t amount to a regular commerce until the 16^th century, trade was established as early as the 12^th century and possibly earlier. However, the extent of trade is unclear, as comparatively few records were kept during this time period. Additionally, since narwhal tusks belonged to a business founded on mistaken identities, those concerned may not have wanted the true source of unicorn horns – often referred to as alicorns in scholarly literature – revealed. By the 17^th century sellers were intentionally deceitful, but Shepard suggests that in earlier centuries that the whalers may not have known how the tusks were being marketed and those conducting the final sales may not have been aware of the tusks’ origins11. The rarity of narwhals explains why so few tusks reached Western Europe despite the high demand and why their true sources were shrouded in mystery.

• 12 LEVENSON, Jay. A. (Ed.) – Circa 1492…, pp. 126-127; SHEPARD, Odell – Lore of the Unicorn…, pp. 130- (...)
• 13 ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA – “Aurochs”. [Online]. [Accessed 4 April 2018]. Available at https://www.b (...)

10In another example, supposed griffin claws – Greifenklauen in German – were fashioned from the horns of Bovidae species such as ibex, buffalo, ox, auroch, and bison12. Most of these species could be found in central and eastern Europe at the time13. In addition to griffin claws, contemporary inventories also list drinking horns that, though fashioned from horns of comparable species, do not seem to have been mistaken as griffin claws. It remains unclear why some horns were recognized as horns and others were re-identified as griffin claws; perhaps they were distinguished based on their status as either local or exotic items, as some of these animal species are also found across parts of Asia.

• 14 STRATFORD, Jenny – Richard II and the English Royal Treasure. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2012, (...)
• 15 Guérin argues that ivory was traded into Europe via trans-Saharan caravan routes. Conceivably, othe (...)

11Ostrich eggs held their own value, but they were occasionally re-identified as griffin eggs and fashioned into drinking cups known as gripesey. Though ostriches had been known since Antiquity, in the Middle Ages their eggs were still very rare and most knowledge of them came from bestiaries and other depictions rather than observation of real birds14. The routes by which these birds and their eggs came to Europe are not well known; eggs could have been produced by captive ostriches in noble menageries or may have been traded from Africa or the Arabian Peninsula. Wild Asian ostriches survived in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula until they were hunted to extinction in the early 20^th century. Though African eggs may also have reached Europe via Arab trading posts in East Africa, Green and Guérin both argue for alternate trade routes from Africa directly north to the Mediterranean15.

• 16 MAGNUS, Albertus – On Animals: A Medieval Summa Zoologica. Translated and annotated by Kenneth F. K (...)
• 17 ROSS, Leslie – Artists of the Middle Ages. Westport and London: Greenwood Press, 2003, p. 18.

12Removing an object from its original context allows it to be reinvented. Re-identification of an animal, whether intentional relabeling or unintentional misidentification, allowed it to take on the properties, values, and meanings of the allegorical mythical creature with which it was associated. This type of misidentification was possible because medieval thinking, as expressed by Albertus Magnus, divided animals into discrete parts of physical forms, and comparisons of animals focused on the presence and configuration of such parts16. In medieval art in particular, figures and animals had recognizable physical features or diagnostic characteristics that allowed for their identification. As much medieval art was intended to teach and inspire, narrative clarity was paramount and so repetition of forms in art, like a type of visual shorthand, helped viewers identify subjects and concepts more easily17. When diagnostic characteristics in art were similar to physical parts found on other animals, such as the long spiraled form of the unicorn horn and the long spiraled tusk of the narwhal, it was easy to associate one with the other.

• 18 Boehm and Holcomb find this metaphor problematic, and Shepard suggests Christians may have forced i (...)

13Diagnostic features of mythical creatures were usually known from bestiary illustrations. The unicorn was considered a fierce creature that could only be caught when first lulled into a false sense of security by a maiden and then taken by hunters. This virgin-capture story was syncretized into Christian metaphor and almost all bestiaries depict it. The story overall represents the birth, life, and death of Christ in one compact, compressed narrative, where the unicorn is emblematic of Christ’s invincibility and humility, the virgin represents the Virgin Mary, and the huntsman symbolizes the Holy Spirit acting through the Angel Gabriel18.

• 19 SHEPARD, Odell – Lore of the Unicorn…, p. 48.
• 20 Aelian was actually describing his monoceros, which was often later confused with and thought to be (...)
• 21 Arctic whales very rarely appear in bestiaries, though they are mentioned in Albertus Magnus’ De an (...)
• 22 See PLUSKOWSKI, Aleksander – “Narwhals or Unicorns?”…, p. 306; and GOTFREDSEN, Lise – The Unicorn…, (...)

14The horn is the unicorn’s most diagnostic feature, associated with divine force and likened to the unity of Father and Son19. The alicorn is always depicted as long, tapering, and often with a diagnostic spiral twist. One of the most interesting aspects of the history of the unicorn is the persistent belief in the natural spiral twist of its horn, first mentioned by Aeliean in the 3^rd century: “Between its brows there stands a single black horn, not smooth but with certain natural rings, and tapering to a very sharp point”20. Early descriptions and depictions of unicorn horns varied, ranging from black to white, to white with black bark, to polychrome. The characteristic white ivory color and spiral twist began to appear in medieval art in the 12^th century was subsequently delineated in almost every medieval bestiary until it became an established iconographic motif by the 14^th century. Certain scholars suggest that Christians may have remodeled the form of the unicorn horn in response to the trade of narwhal tusks21. Spiral contours were linked to a wider pictorial lexicon of religious structures and objects and may have functioned as signifiers of sanctity22.

• 23 BUCKLOW, Spike – The Alchemy of Paint: Art, Science, and Secrets from the Middle Ages. London: Mari (...)
• 24 LEVENSON, Jay A. (Ed.) – Circa 1492…, pp. 126-127. See also SHEPARD, Odell – Lore of the Unicorn…, (...)

15An equally complex allegorical interpretation belongs to the griffin, a quadruped with the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. Griffins were believed to guard the Hyperborea, the legendary land around the distant North Pole that was considered the center point around which the heavenly spheres rotate. The land was supposedly plentiful with gold, marking it as the gateway to the spiritual world. As a two-natured, double animal, the griffin embodied the dual nature of man23. Griffin claws held their own legend: a medieval tale records how Saint Cornelius once cured a griffin of epilepsy and was given a claw in return, leading to a medieval belief that only men with powerful and holy qualities could possess such an object24. Ostrich eggs were also occasionally identified as griffin eggs. The diagnostic features of griffin claws or eggs are not discussed in texts; when seen as extant objects, however, the animal horns that stand in for griffin claws are always large, slightly curved and tapering to a sharp point, and are naturally colored a shade of red, brown, or grey-black, visually similar to the claws seen in bestiary illustrations of griffins. Significantly larger than eggs from Western European birds or reptiles, griffin eggs would have been immediately noteworthy for their size.

• 25 The green color visible around the pinholes indicates copper corrosion and suggests the metal strip (...)

17Even when modified by artisans, naturalia often maintained the diagnostic morphological characteristics required for their identification. For example, alicorns maintained their defining spiral twist even when carved, such as those referenced in the inventories of the Lincoln Cathedral in England and the San Marco Basilica in Venice, among others. Rather than just maintaining, carving could also emphasize the naturalia’s defining characteristics. Consider the carved tusks from the Lincoln Cathedral, one now at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (Fig. 1a-c) and one at the World Museum in Liverpool (Fig. 2a-b), which are both elaborately and variably carved in sections. The Victoria & Albert Museum alicorn contains two alternating designs on the lower section: one portrays repeating naked human figures reaching up to grasp the tails of beasts (Fig. 1b), while the other depicts repeating dragons and animals (Fig. 1c). The World Museum alicorn contains similar alternating designs on its lower section: one illustrates naked human figures in foliage (Fig. 2a), while the other portrays figures with profile heads. For the upper sections, the Victoria & Albert Museum alicorn alternates bands of plain leaf scrolls and bands of birds and animals in foliage (Fig. 1d), while the World Museum alicorn intersperses bands of similar plain leaf scrolls and bands of dragons chasing animals (Fig. 2b). Both alicorns contain pinholes on the plain un-carved surfaces that suggest these areas were originally covered with metal strips. The undecorated strips between the lower and upper sections were probably covered with metal bands to facilitate handling25. Though not identical, the similarities in decoration between the two horns have led scholars to believe they were produced in the same workshop.

• 26 See Jean-Claude Bonne –“De l’ornement dans l’art médiéval: VIIe–XIIe siècle; le modèle insulaire”. (...)
• 27 See RECHT, Roland – “Introduction”. in LUGLI, Adalgisa – Naturalia et Mirabilia: Les cabinets de cu (...)
• 28 ZINK, Michael – “Nature in the Medieval World”. in MYERS, Nicole R. (Ed.) – Art and Nature in the M (...)

18Medieval ornamentation, such as these carved designs, functioned as a mechanism for guiding the viewer’s encounter with an object; it acted as a mediator and a point of orientation from which the viewer could engage with and form a connection with an object26. The carving and the metallic enhancement of the bands both followed the natural spiral of the tusk to visually enhance the spiral twist itself and render the twist more apparent. This type of tautological alteration doubled what was already there, enhancing the alicorn’s visual impact and reinforcing its identity as unicorn and association with related unicorn symbolism27. Traditionally, especially from the 12^th century onwards, foliate decoration has been interpreted as a reference to revival and renewal in the context of the church reform. Weinryb and Zink both argue for an alternate interpretation, linking foliage with primordial matter and Creation, where all plant motifs – trees, foliage, branches, and so on –represent a “hymn to Creation”28. The symbolism of these carved designs was added to the symbolism of the alicorn’s form, resulting in an accumulation of meaning: once carved, these alicorns no longer referenced just the unicorn but also all of Creation.

• 29 HAHN, Cynthia – Strange Beauty: Issues in the Making and Meaning of Reliquaries, 400-circa 1204. Un (...)

19Naturalia were often further embellished with additional materials such as metals and gems. This type of adornment added a support, similar to the function of frames for paintings or reliquaries for relics, that followed a principle of analogy wherein valuable relics or religious objects were decorated with similarly precious materials. The elaborate mounts also created glittering surfaces that captured the viewer’s gaze, demanded attention, and granted the objects maximum visual importance, bestowing honor upon them and conditioning their reception by viewers29.

• 30 AINSWORTH, Thomas – "Form vs. Matter". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [Online]. Spring 201 (...)
• 31 Scholars like to believe that material signification existed throughout the Middle Ages and was app (...)
• 32 MAXWELL-STUART, P.G. – The Occult in Medieval Europe, 500-1500: A Documentary History. Basingstoke (...)

20Both natural and artificial materials had strong symbolic connotations. Aristotle’s doctrine of hylomorphism, which was highly influential in the development of medieval philosophy, contends that every physical object is a compound of matter and form, which are intimately intertwined30. In addition to the iconography of form, material itself held meaning in what Weinryb refers to as the “allegorization of matter:” an object’s meaning could be enhanced by the signification of its material, which was understood through a network of texts. Materials did not have to represent something pictorial; they could convey in tangible form through their presence alone a metaphoric and intangible concept such as divinity31. Materials were also attributed occult properties: as declared by Marbodus, materials held powers, vitalism, and agency that came from the physical matter itself, independent of form and appearance32. To that end, the materials used to embellish naturalia could be as metaphorically significant as the naturalia itself.

• 33 MUSÉE DU LOUVRE – Le trésor de Saint-Denis. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1991, pp. 310-311.
• 34 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY – “Griffin’s Claw of St. Cuthbert”. [Online]. [Accessed 14 February 2018]. Avai (...)

22Since animal parts cannot easily be dated, naturalia are often dated instead by the style of their mounts. However, almost all extant mounts and fittings are later than the natural objects and usually replace previous fittings. For naturalia with strong provenance information, evidence of previous fittings can sometimes be gleaned from inventory descriptions; for example, the alicorn from Saint-Denis, now at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, is currently undecorated but has a history of various embellishments, including a medieval mount of silver33. Mounts and fittings were also used to ensure authenticity by providing fields for inscriptions, like the silver rim on the griffin’s claw of St. Cuthbert (Fig. 4). Though this decoration is dated to the sixteenth century, for the purposes of this discussion it can act as a representative for earlier silver ornamentation referenced in medieval inventories. The silver rim around the opening contains an inscription that reads GRYPHI UNGUIS DIVO CUTHBERTO DUNELMENSI SACER (“The claw of a griffin sacred to the blessed Cuthbert of Durham”), associating the claw with the popular Anglo-Saxon Saint Cuthbert and suggesting he was the holy man that received this claw after curing a griffin34.

• 35 BUCKLOW, Spike – Alchemy of Paint…, pp. 248-251. See also PSEUDO-ROGER BACON – Speculum alchemiae, (...)

23Gold was considered a perfect substance that nature always strived towards, as it doesn’t rust. A material analogy was made between gold refined in a furnace and souls purified by suffering: only those as noble, pure, and wise as gold could pass through the world – the furnace – to enter heaven unchanged35. Gold’s earthly immutability suggested a heavenly permanence and its essence was believed to transcend its terrestrial nature. Correspondingly, medieval artists reserved gold for the divine and used it as a metaphor for heaven. Though few medieval examples are extant, gold was used to decorate alicorns. When used to adorn griffin claws, gold perhaps referenced and reinforced the griffin’s status as a guardian of gold and the gateway to the spiritual world.

• 36 KESSLER, Herbert L. – “The Eloquence of Silver: More on the Allegorization of Matter". in HECK, Chr (...)
• 37 KESSLER, Herbert L. – “Eloquence of Silver”…, pp. 50-56.
• 38 KESSLER, Herbert L. – “Eloquence of Silver”…, p. 52.

24Silver was considered only slightly less pure than gold and represented Christ’s human nature rather than divinity. Under Gregory the Great’s assertion that God was able to communicate via physical objects, silver acted as an eloquent transmitter and mediator between God and man36. In addition to the materiality, Thomas of Cantimpré allegorizes the refinement of silver as symbolic of the purging of sin, and the forming into shape as representative of the search for meaning through Scripture. Silver’s instability and tendency to corrode was also put to metaphoric use, so that polishing black tarnished silver back to a white metal was considered analogous to the original votive act of purifying silver37. Therefore, while not representative of the divine, silver ornamentation still provided a means through which humans could show their devotion to and interact with the spiritual world. As in Scripture, silver was often paired with gold and this pairing, according to Kessler, represented “divine radiance”38. The combination of the divinity of gold and humanity of silver may have represented a fuller picture of human interaction with and veneration of divinity.

• 39 POMIAN, Krzysztof – "La Wunderkammer entre trésor et collection particuliere”. in MONCOND’HUY, Domi (...)
• 40 KINOSHITA, Sharon – “Animals and the Medieval Culture of Empire”. in COHEN, Jeffrey Jerome (Ed.) – (...)
• 41 LUGLI, Adalgisa – Naturalia et Mirabilia…, pp. 54-67.

26Great collections that housed such items were the monopoly of wealthy religious foundations and monarchs. Most were created by generations of accumulation; Pomian refers to them as “collections without collectors” because they were the works of dynasties and institutions rather than individuals39. These medieval treasuries functioned as repositories of both spiritual and economic wealth, and contained objects that could be displayed or even sold as needed for income. The church and state maintained a constant exchange of signs and insignia of power through the medieval practice of gifting materials and relics40. Lugli’s concept of “reciprocal permeability” allowed for an object invested with symbolic meaning to migrate between contexts, so sacred objects could be secularized and secular objects could be rendered sacred. This type of dual exchange identified religion with power and vice versa: possession of powerful sacred objects granted credence to the manifestation of divinity within the ruler and granted power to the church41.

• 42 DASTON, Lorraine; PARK, Katharine – Wonders…, pp. 68-103; LUGLI, Adalgisa – Naturalia et Mirabilia…(...)
• 43 EAMON, W. – Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Cultur (...)

27Bringing natural artifacts into ecclesiastical and seigniorial collections conserved the sacredness and power of the naturalia and brought them into the known and familiar contexts of the cathedral and court42. In tandem, possession of wonders represented and partly constituted wealth and power; in a literal sense natural objects were believed to hold occult properties and powers that could be wielded by their owners and, on a more abstract level, the rarity and uniqueness of the exotica reflected that of the owner’s nobility. European rulers began using symbolic marvels to reinforce social, political, and religious hierarchies. Wonders were put on courtly display in symbolic spectacles of reign and political propaganda to delight, impress, and visually manifest power43. Naturalia affirmed the ruler’s right to rule and were manipulated as part of this pageantry of power, for example griffin claws used as luxurious drinking vessels at banquets.

• 44 GREEN, Nile – “Ostrich Eggs”…, p. 35; DASTON, Lorraine; PARK, Katharine – Wonders…, pp. 67-88.

28In ecclesiastical collections, precious objects were frequently housed with relics in chapels and shrines and would have been visible only to princes, nobles, and benefactors of the abbeys. They would have been temporarily made visible to laypeople when they were brought out and displayed for ceremonial occasions. Limiting exposure protected the objects from theft and magical depletion, and restricting access emphasized their rarity and guaranteed continued feelings of wonder. Less precious natural wonders, with fewer divine associations, magical properties, and monetary value, remained on permanent display. More readily available and less expensive than alicorns, griffin claws and eggs were staples and persistent favorites for medieval collections and were frequently displayed in highly elevated locations44.

• 45 THEOPHILUS – On Divers Arts. Translated by John Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith. New York: Dover (...)
• 46 HAHN, Cynthia – Strange Beauty…, p. 28.
• 47 Suger, translated in ROSS, Leslie – Artists of the Middle Ages…, p. 89.
• 48 See HAHN, Cynthia – Strange Beauty…, pp. 8-26. Though Hahn is discussing reliquaries, the same conc (...)

29Designed to display the wealth, power, and devotion of their owners, most items in medieval collections were ostentatiously decorated. Theophilus emphasized embellishment as a way to revere God: “God delights in embellishment of this kind [with gold, silver, brass, precious stones, and wood] and in universal craftsmanship”45. He describes rich and marvelous adornments as appropriate and even required in sacred places of worship, arguing that it would be inappropriate not to use the most precious and beautiful materials for worshipping God. Such ornamenta ecclesiae – beautification of the church – was a means for seeking spiritual credit46. Suger also regarded beautiful art as a means of inspiring devotion through fine craftsmanship and luxurious materials, where brilliant ornamentation could lead the viewer to contemplating the “heavenly light of God.”47 Precious mounts were accordingly made of highly reflective and glittering material that referenced eternal light, engendered wonder, and allowed recognition of divine presence in these objects48. To that end, churches were accustomed to setting the naturalia with appropriate opulence in gold, silver, and gems. Even while the mounts partially obscured the actual natural objects, they reinforced the power and sanctity of the naturalia.

• 49 HASSIG, Debra – Medieval Bestiaries: Text, Image, Ideology. RES Monographs on Anthropology and Aest (...)
• 50 ROBERTSON, Kellie – “Exemplary Rocks”… See also FRIEDMAN, John Block; FIGG, Kristen Mossler – Trade (...)

31Important commodities in trade, gems were often used in combination with precious metals to decorate exotic artifacts. By the late 12^th century, bestiaries were frequently bound with lapidaries and herbals as related genres that altogether existed as part of a larger cosmological system representing God’s creation49. Like precious metals, gems were valued for their rarity and beauty along with their metaphorical significance and occult properties. Their most conspicuous properties were healing powers, as stones could supposedly correct imbalances in bodily humors and act prophylactically by protecting the wearer from specific diseases. Like many things in the medieval concept of nature, stones were moralized so that each gem contained Scriptural associations corresponding to Christian virtues, which allowed gems to serve as mediating objects linking the earthly and heavenly realms50.

• 51 GONTERO-LAUZE, Valérie – Les Pierres du Moyen Age: Anthologie des lapidaires médiévaux. Paris: Soci (...)
• 52 See discussion in FRICKE, Beate – “Matter and Meaning of Mother-of-Pearl: The Origins of Allegory i (...)

32While overall ornamentation would have served to display the wealth of the owner, specific gems may have been chosen for their attributed properties. According to contemporary lapidaries, all shaped and engraved stones were associated with Mercury and intelligence. All dark red stones were associated with Mars and power, along with the sun and royalty. Rubies were said to contain the main principal virtues of all stones and were accordingly considered the “kings” of gems51. Combining all possible meanings, rubies therefore visually reinforced the intelligence, power, and royalty of their owners. Also found on this sword are pearls, which were primarily valued for their ornamental qualities. More than just ornamental, however, pearls were supposedly conceived virginally from the marriage of heaven and earth and were associated with Venus and fertility52. In addition to aesthetics reasons, pearls may have been used to link the owner with the desired quality of fertility/virility. Overall, the glittering effect of the crystalline rubies and iridescent pearls would have added to the reflective quality of the metallic gold, enhancing the impression of light and luster.

• 53 FFRICKE, Beate – “Matter and Meaning”…
• 54 LUGLI, Adalgisa – Naturalia et Mirabilia…, p. 43.

33Materials’ specific virtues could augment or couple to other materials’ virtues. For example, the purity of pearls and purity of gold could mutually reinforce each other; or, as indicated in lapidaries, a ruby’s precious nature could only be truly honored when mounted in precious gold. However, while gems had particular meanings, these were not always clear, precisely definable, or even static, as ambivalent and polyvalent meanings varied with context and could fluctuate between an array of potential meanings. In the medieval context, a thing (res) referred to the sum of all possible insights established at the thing’s creation (significatio). Only differentiated between this polyvalent potential of a thing to signify and specific allegories that were selected for emphasis in certain contexts53. With regards to this sword, then, certain allegories of matter could be drawn out (the royalty of rubies, the fertility of pearls) that might be irrelevant elsewhere, such as in liturgical objects. Materials had the ability to oscillate between multiple possible meanings. Combining numerous materials with various metaphors could result in an accumulation of meanings, a type of “symbolic thickening” that broadened the interpretation of the object and increased its symbolic efficacy54.

• 55 This story derives from a Greek version of the Physiologus. It is not represented in earlier bestia (...)
• 56 BENTON, Janetta Rebold – Medieval Menagerie…, p. 77.
• 57 The Danny Jewel is Elizabethan and therefore outside the scope of the medieval iconology of materia (...)
• 58 In later centuries, alicorn was also considered effective against “poisonous diseases” and sold as (...)

36One of the most well-known examples of épreuves is the alicorn. A widespread belief in the alexipharmic and prophylactic qualities of the alicorn, already well established in Europe by the 14^th century, was tied to the second most famous unicorn tale from bestiaries, that of the water-conning. In this story, animals refuse to drink from a body of water that has been poisoned by a serpent until the unicorn arrives and makes a sign of the cross with its horn before dipping it into the water, thus rendering the poison harmless55. Alicorns supposedly functioned as poisoned detectors by sweating in the presence of poison, and were sometimes thought to neutralize and/or cure poison and other ills. They were used as part of courtly table culture, either set near the food and watched for changes in appearance or, more commonly, touched to the food and drink before a meal began, and they became so popular that they eventually superseded the official taster at aristocratic tables56. Often an entire alicorn was kept on the table, though sometimes fragments were fitted into tableware, carved and assembled into beakers, or worn as amulets. So-called healing pots consisted of a bowl, usually made of gold, to which a fragment of alicorn, in the form of a pendant on a chain, was dipped. Bowls are known from numerous inventories though none appear to be extant. One extant Elizabethan pendant, however, may have functioned either as part of a healing pot or as a protective amulet57. The Danny Jewel (Fig. 6) consists of a cross-section of a narwhal tusk, cut in half to form a semicircular pendant shape that suggests it was possibly dipped into liquids. Set in an enameled gold mount and suspended from a ring by three gold chains, the cross-sectional tusk fragment maintains a scalloped outer edge, indicating the ridges of a spiral twist and identifying the fragment as alicorn. The back is marked by scratches, most likely made for the production of medicinal unicorn powder58.

• 59 LEVENSON, Jay. A (Ed.) – Circa 1492…, pp. 129-131; RUDWICK, Martin J.S. – The Meaning of Fossils: E (...)

37Other épreuves included griffin claws, used as drinking vessels, and serpents’ tongues. Many varieties of serpents found in bestiaries were believed to bite with their tongues to spread the venom that ran through their veins. Serpents’ tongues, known as glossopetrae or tongue-stones, were actually fossilized sharks’ teeth. The fossilized teeth were distinguished for their shiny enameled surfaces, which were often stained by minerals to give a variety of hues from white, yellow, blue, gray, to green. Though shaped like the teeth of contemporary sharks, these fossilized teeth were much larger. It is unclear whether these shark teeth were considered to hold the same properties as snake tongues or were actually misidentified as tongues from snakes. The identification of sharks’ teeth with serpents’ tongues could be explained by visual association alone, but most likely also had a basis in biblical lore: these fossilized sharks’ teeth came primarily from Malta, the location where Saint Paul was bitten on the hand by an adder without coming to any harm59.

• 60 The two other extant tongue-stands are in the Schatz des Deutschen Ordens in Vienna and the Grünes (...)
• 61 Pseudo-al Majriti, Ghayat al-hakim [Picatrix], translated in MAXWELL-STUART, P.G. – Occult in Medie (...)

38Serpents’ tongues were often suspended in numerous quantities from elaborate dining-table ornaments in the form of golden trees, known as languiers, Natterzungenbaume, or tongue-stands. The earliest references to tongue-stands are found in inventories from 1266 and they reached their height of popularity in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Today they are extremely rare and only three extant ones are known, although there are a few individually mounted teeth that may have hung on similar tongue-stands or may have been worn as amulets. A tongue-stand in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is constructed from gilded silver with a knob of foliage near the top from which tongues spring outwards like a bouquet topped with a large quartz stone (Fig. 7). Part of the crowning bouquet can be removed by lifting the stone, which allowed the tongues to be dipped into wine or food60. For naturalia intended to be functional, their ornamentation materials were often believed to hold related occult properties. For example, épreuves were frequently mounted with other supposed healing stones. As described in lapidaries, all crystalline white-ish stones – such as the quartz on this tongue-stand – were associated with Jupiter and safety from fatal illnesses61. Here, both the naturalia and the ornamentation were considered alexipharmic, doubling the object’s power.

• 62 See SHEPARD, Odell – Lore of the Unicorn…, pp. 147-149.

39Though the occult powers of épreuves were seldom questioned, opinions varied over how they worked. Medieval medicine and magic were founded on notions of “sympathy” and “antipathy” and there were proponents of both theories. Theories in favor of sympathy posit that detectors and cures are similar to poisons and so could overpower those poisons. Theories in favor of antipathy suggest that detectors and cures were holy and pure enough to neutralize poisons62. Ornamenting poison detectors and cures with similarly alexipharmic or healing materials was perhaps a type of sympathy, reinforcing the power of one material through contact and association with another sympathetic material.

• 63 See LEVENSON, Jay A. (Ed.) – Circa 1492…, p. 19; LUGLI, Adalgisa – Naturalia et Mirabilia; POMIAN, (...)

41Overall, ornamentation augmented the reception of exotica, where artifice worked to support nature by enhancing and highlighting the naturalia. The status of these objects as marvels ultimately derived not only from their presence but also how they were presented. The artisanship of the ornamentation became increasingly valued into the Renaissance, progressively intertwining the wonders of art and nature until eventually the most wondrous objects were those that fused the two together and blurred their boundaries. The naturalia in medieval ecclesiastical and seigniorial treasuries formed part of the earliest curiosity cabinets, situated between the end of the Gothic period and the beginning of the Age of Discovery, as antecedents to the immediately following Wunderkammern. Over time, many of these collections changed ownership, scope, and character, shifting from an ostentatious display to an encyclopedic desire to possess and understand those things that are beautiful in art and nature. By the Age of Discovery, artificialia and the achievements of artists were as highly valued as naturalia and the understanding of nature63.