Hybrids in Choir Stalls: A Myth Transgressed or Aristotle Denied?
- Autores: Welleda Muller
- Localización: Porticvm, Revista d´Estudis Medievals, ISSN-e 2014-0932, Nº. 4, 2012, págs. 80-88
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
- Dialnet Métricas: 2 Citas
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Resumen
Numerous examples of hybrids exist in the iconography of choir stalls. Two kinds of hybrids can be found, most frequently on misericords and armrests. The first category consists of ¿stable¿ hybrids, such as mermaids or centaurs, constitued by a human element and by a recurring animal element. The second category includes multiple and little recurring associations between human, animal and even vegetal elements. The questions that arises are why are there so many hybrids and monsters in the carving of choir stalls? And how were these characters perceived by the medieval viewer? Real or imaginary animals were listed in the Bestiaries, from the Greek Physiologus. Each animal was described and a precise symbolic, often ambivalent meaning was attached. Yet no connection was made between animals and humans. The mermaid is thus described just as any other animal in the bestiary. Links bewteen animals and humans also seem to be rejected in the Middle Ages: when the great philosopher Aristotle established analogies between animals and humans, he was criticized in a lai and in images in which he is reduced to an animal.
