Documents… Christoph Fürer’s Egyptian Mermaid 23 Sep 2020September 30, 2020 In November 1565, Christoph Fürer saw the skin of an Egyptian mermaid in Tura, Egypt (present-day El Tor) while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Fürer's full name was Christoph…
Madoc… Madoc and the Welsh Indians : Origins 13 Sep 2020October 12, 2020 For centuries, reports of Prince Madoc's Welsh Indians surfaced across North America. They appeared in Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and North Dakota. Archeological remains attributed to the Welsh are scattered…
Culpeper… Nicholas Culpeper on Sassafras 22 Aug 2020September 30, 2020 The Pharmacopoeia's Monopoly on Knowledge In 1618, the Royal College of Physicians of London published one of their grand works, the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis. The book's authority was bolstered by James…
Humours… Sassafras and Natural Philosophy 21 Aug 2020September 30, 2020 Between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries, doctors and apothecaries conceptualized the medical use of sassafras within the framework of natural philosophy. Medicine in the early-modern era had more in…
Colonies… Christopher Columbus established the first Failed Colony in the New World 11 Oct 2019September 30, 2020 In January 1493, Christopher Columbus established the first Spanish colony in the New World and named it La Navidad. The colony failed in less than two years. La Navidad was…
Columbus… Christopher Columbus Encountered Three Mermaids 11 Oct 2019October 2, 2020 Christopher Columbus encountered three mermaids in the Caribbean Sea on January 8, 1493. HIghlights - Christopher Columbus saw three mermaids in the Caribbean Sea- Earlier, Columbus saw a mermaid off…
Art… The Mermaid of St. John’s Bay, Newfoundland 7 Oct 2019September 30, 2020 In 1610, Richard Whitbourne saw a mermaid swimming in St. John's Bay, Newfoundland. The mermaid's face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears, neck, and forehead resembled that of a woman, coupled…
Documents… Spices, textiles, and medicine included in Cargo from Jakarta and Surat to England, October 1625. 24 Sep 2019September 30, 2020 In October 1625, the English ships Moon, Discovery, Ruby, Blessings, and William arrived in England after long voyages to and from the Indian Ocean. The ships stopped in Jakarta (a Dutch…
Maps… The First Map of Roanoke Island 17 Mar 2019September 30, 2020 John White produced the first English map of Roanoke Island as a rough sketch entitled "a description of the land of Virginia." It was the first English map of America…
Documents… Unicorns on Pierre Desceliers’ Mappemonde (1546) 11 Jan 2019September 30, 2020 In an earlier post, I discussed why a unicorn appeared on the mappemonde created by Pierre Desceliers. Since then, I reexamined a digital copy of the map and found another…
Primary Sources… The Horn of Windsor 16 Nov 2018September 30, 2020 The Horn of Windsor was a unicorn horn (alicorn) owned by Elizabeth I. The corpus of material surrounding both the Martin Frobisher voyages and unicorns links the Horn of Windsor…
Ancient World… Pliny the Elder on the Unicorn 10 Oct 2018September 30, 2020 Pliny the Elder described the unicorn in his Natural History (77-79 CE). Pliny collected knowledge from the ancient world, covering diverse topics across science, math, and art. Pliny called the unicorn…
Ancient World… The Unicorn in Liber Animalium (1595) 9 Oct 2018September 30, 2020 This wonderful pen-and-ink drawing of a unicorn appeared in the Liber Animalium, a handwritten book containing 245 drawings and descriptions of animals and mythical creatures. An unknown person completed the work around 1595.…
Material Culture… Unicorn Horns at St. Mary’s Church, Utrecht 4 Oct 2018September 30, 2020 Religious authorities displayed what they believed were unicorn horns on the high altar in St. Mary’s church (consecrated 1099 CE) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Priests used them as candlesticks to represent…
Civil Rights… Pictures from a few hours after Silent Sam was torn down 29 Sep 2018September 30, 2020 Shortly after midnight, I visited the site where just hours before protesters toppled the Silent Sam statue on August 20th, 2018. I gathered with a small crowd and we watched…
Sound… What Unicorns Sound Like 10 Jul 2018September 30, 2020 We now know what unicorns sound like. Narwhal tusks were often viewed as being unicorn horns (alicorn) during the medieval and early modern periods, in part because they are long…
Documents… James Madison and Gun Control 7 Jun 2018September 30, 2020 The issue of gun control has been part of American politics before the nation was founded. Debates centered around hunting, military defense, and the question if slaves and freedmen were…
Bioprospecting… What is Guaiacum and how was it connected to Syphilis? 1 May 2018September 30, 2020 In a previous post, I discussed how syphilis got its name from a poem written in 1530. The shepherd Syphilis was struck down with the venereal disease for overturning the altars dedicated…
Easter… Eating Rabbits to Win WWII! 1 Apr 2018September 30, 2020 In 1943, the Fish and Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior, published a cookbook entitled Recipes for Cooking Domestic Rabbit Meat. The introduction remarked that "the growing…
Documents… How Syphilis got its Name 9 Mar 2018September 30, 2020 Compared to today, syphilis was a different disease in early-modern Europe. It was more ferocious, fast acting, and destructive. Symptoms included painful and often deadly rashes and ulcers on the…
Documents… “The Man who did not Believe in Unicorns” 14 Nov 2017September 30, 2020 In previous posts I discussed the belief in the existence of unicorns and the medicinal virtues of their horns, however, there were some people in the early-modern period who did…
Civil Rights… Confederate Memorials Should be Moved to Statue Parks 15 Aug 2017September 30, 2020 Knowing that folks will only read the first 50 words of an internet article before moving on, let me be clear: Confederate monuments should be removed from public grounds like…
Documents… Unicorns in Java 27 Jul 2017October 11, 2020 Unicorns were sighted in Java by M. Paulus. His story was published in 1613 by Samuel Purchas' in Purchas his pilgrimage. Title page of Purchas his Pilgrimage (London, 1613) Purchas…
Documents… Monardes and Gerard on Sassafras 18 Jul 2017September 30, 2020 In a previous post, I described how Nicolas Monardes’ description of sassafras laid the foundation for future authors to understand the physical and medicinal properties of the sassafras and its…
Documents… How were the English Introduced to Sassafras? 11 Jul 2017September 30, 2020 The introduction of sassafras to the English imagination took a circuitous route. Printed knowledge of the tree probably first appeared in English through the publishing of Joyfull Newes out of…
Documents… The day I faked being an “ink expert” to see The Declaration of Independence 4 Jul 2017September 30, 2020 I spent the early months of 2013 in London, England doing research for my doctoral dissertation. The bulk of my time was at the National Archives in Kew plowing through…
Documents… Why were Indentured Servants Called Indentured Servants? 13 May 2017October 2, 2020 Why were indentured servants called indentured servants? Indentured servants received their name from the tradition of using indented paper to record a debt or purchase obligation. HIghlights: - Indentured servants…
Greenland… More questions about Vikings in Greenland, the Bishop of Gardar’s Crosier,and Unicorn Horns. 20 Mar 2017September 30, 2020 A recent Smithsonian Magazine article explores the decline and disappearance of Viking settlements on Greenland. Previous scholarship argued that the Viking disappearance was caused by a combination of factors including…
Art… The Unicorn in Raleigh, NC 21 Feb 2017September 30, 2020 The North Carolina Museum of Art houses The Triumph of Chastity (ca. 1450-1460), a painting produced by the workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni di Tommaso. The painting was probably presented…
Art… The Virgin Bride and the Unicorn 11 Jan 2017September 30, 2020 Around 1494, to celebrate either the engagement or marriage of Matteo di Sebastiano di Bernardino Goazzadini to Ginevra d'Antonio Lupari Goazzadini, artist Maestro delle Storie del Pane painted the portraits of…
Documents… Five Questions about the First Thanksgiving 23 Nov 2016September 30, 2020 How do we know about the first Thanksgiving? The first known written description of the Pilgrims’ first “Thanksgiving” is a letter written by Edward Winslow months after the event. The…
Indians… Indian uses for Sassafras 17 Nov 2016October 12, 2020 Indians have various and sundry medicinal uses for sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Highlights Sassafras has medicinal usesGrows in eastern North America from Florida to CanadaKnown by multiple names82 medicinal uses for…
Documents… The Unicorn in Fabyn’s Cronycle 11 Nov 2016September 30, 2020 Robert Fabyan (1455? – 1512) was a draper, sheriff, and author of Fabyans cronycle. The Cronycle recounted English and French history covering the time period from the legendary first king…
Documents… Unicorns in Shakespeare 20 Oct 2016September 30, 2020 William Shakespeare mentioned unicorns three times in his plays: Julius Caesar (1599), Timon of Athens (1605), and The Tempest (1610). In Julius Caesar, Decius described how a unicorn could be caught by a…
Uncategorized… The Savages say there be Unicorns – How a Unicorn appeared on a French Map from 1546 23 Sep 2016September 30, 2020 On a map created by Frenchman Pierre Desceliers in 1546, a solitary white unicorn appeared situated between Penobscot Bay and Cape Cod. How did it get there? …
Uncategorized… Unicorns and the Northwest Passage 2 Sep 2016September 30, 2020 In 1576, Humphry Gilbert published A discourse of a discouerie for a new passage to Cataia to drum up the political and economic support he needed to raise a venture…
Uncategorized… Doubting Unicorns and their Horns 27 Aug 2016September 30, 2020 Thomas Browne was an English physician and author. In 1646, he wrote a book entitled Pseudodoxia Epidemica which he subtitled Inquiries in Vulgar and Common Errors where he tackled topics ranging…
Uncategorized… A surgeon’s advice for what to do when you have a patient to treat but you’re fresh out of unicorn horn. 26 Aug 2016September 30, 2020 John Woodall was a surgeon who held a variety of jobs including stocking the medical chests of the ships bound in the service of the East India Company, the army,…
Uncategorized… Of the Unicorns of the Temple of Mecca 2 Aug 2016September 30, 2020 This account arrived to me through a circuitous route - and it may be best to trace to the path of the account's publication to contextualize the relation of…
Documents… The Unicorn in Laurence Andrew’s The Noble Lyfe / Hortus Sanitatis 1 Aug 2016September 30, 2020 Laurence Andrew (fl. 1510-1537) was a printer and translator active in Antwerp. Not much is known about him and many of the works he translated and/or printed have not survived…
Uncategorized… The Unicorn in Clariodus 24 Jul 2016September 30, 2020 Clariodus: A Metrical Romance is a peculiar poem. The author is unknown and the poem was probably based on the French work entitled Cleriadus et Meliadice from c. 1440. The…
Documents… 16th-Century Gonorrhea Aftercare Treatment 17 Jul 2016October 2, 2020 The first edition of A rich Store-house or Treasury for the Diseased (London, 1596) contains numerous medical recipes including one for the aftercare treatment for gonorrhea. HIghlights: - Recipes were…
Documents… Martin Luther and the Unicorn Horn 30 Jun 2016September 30, 2020 Martin Luther, the leading figure of the Protestant Reformation, spent his last three days on earth working. He delivered a sermon that in part encouraged Jews to convert to Christianity…
Documents… Alicorn 20 Jun 2016September 30, 2020 Sea Unicorns from The History of Barados, St. Christophers, Mevis, St Vincents, Antego, Martinico, Monserrat, and the rest of the Caribby-Islands (London, 1666). One of the first pieces of Anglo-American…
Ancient World… The Unicorn in the Physiologus and Bestiaries 15 Jun 2016September 30, 2020 Medieval Christian scholars across Europe read the Physiologus making the book's circulation second only to that of the Bible.” The Physiologus was based on Indian, Hebrew, and Egyptian legends that later…
Ancient World… Ancient Authorities on the Unicorn 13 Jun 2016September 30, 2020 Many early-modern Europeans believed in the existence of unicorns, in part, due to the writings of ancient authorities. Ctesias (ca. 400 BCE), the Greek physician who served the Persian…
Bible… Unicorns in the Bible 13 Jun 2016October 12, 2020 Updated: October 11, 2020 There are unicorns in the Bible. How did they end up there? Were they real creatures? Did the authors of the Bible actually see them? Unfortunately,…
