Documents… Unicorns on Pierre Desceliers’ Mappemonde (1546) 11 Jan 2019January 11, 2019 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 2018November 19, 2018 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 2018October 10, 2018 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 2018 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 2018 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…
Sound… What Unicorns Sound Like 10 Jul 2018September 29, 2018 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… “The Man who did not Believe in Unicorns” 14 Nov 2017September 29, 2018 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…
Documents… Unicorns in Java 27 Jul 2017September 29, 2018 In 1613, Samuel Purchas published Purchas his pilgrimage. Or Relations of the vvorld and the religions obserued in all ages and places discouered, from the Creation vnto this present In…
Greenland… More questions about Vikings in Greenland, the Bishop of Gardar’s Crosier,and Unicorn Horns. 20 Mar 2017September 30, 2018 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 Virgin Bride and the Unicorn 11 Jan 2017October 4, 2018 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… The Unicorn in Fabyn’s Cronycle 11 Nov 2016October 2, 2018 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 29, 2018 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…
Documents… Martin Luther and the Unicorn Horn 30 Jun 2016October 4, 2018 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 29, 2018 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 2016October 4, 2018 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…
Bible… Unicorns in the Bible 13 Jun 2016October 4, 2018 Numbers 23:22-23 from the Geneva Bible (1560) The unicorn existed in the ancient world as well as appeared in the unchallengeable Christian text, the Bible. Various editions of the English…
Ancient World… Ancient Authorities on the Unicorn 13 Jun 2016September 29, 2018 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…
