Elegant Yet Unsettling...

Lover of books, art, history, and all things set in outer space. Former academic (PhD in Old English lit). Current cephalopod enthusiast. I post a lot of medieval stuff but am not religious. TERFs and white supremacists NOT welcome - medieval stuff is not for you.

[mediaeval-muse]

Navigation:

FOR BOOK STUFF:

See my side blog:

Mediaeval-Muse Reads

All of Mediaeval-Muse's book reviews and bookish reblogs go here.

FOR ART:

@k-willy-art · K. Willy Art

Art personna of @mediaevalmuse (she/her) I like drawing cryptids and random stuff for my friends' D&D homebrews.

FOR MY COLLECTION OF JUDITH BEHEADING HOLOFERNED THROUGH ART HISTORY:

@judith-beheading-holofernes · off with his head

Former medievalist collecting images of Judith beheading Holofernes throughout art history. Adding other women because I live to archive. No

TAGS:

"medieval" for all things Middle Ages

"my comics" to see my silly little pen sketches

"my art" to see art that took a bit more time

"my stickers" to see stickers I've made

"my baking" to see treats I've made

"George the pup" to see pictures of my dog

"my birbs" for photos/videos from my bird cameras

Asks

Always open! Feel free to drop me a note or ask about anything you'd like, including academia/college stuff/literary analysis/studying Old English, etc. Also feel free to ask me to find images in manuscripts (I get very bored and am always up for a scavenger hunt)

I'm also always open to book recommendations (though I mainly get stuff from the library so how quickly I get to them will vary).

[memories-of-ancients]

Gilded silver reliquary casket, England, early 14th century

from The British Museum

[k-willy-art]

Drawing seals

[k-willy-art]

Behold my cursed drawings from art class

[resismedievalmenagerie]

Just some cute little hedgehogs climbing on a grapevine, as they are wont to do. This comes from the 1175 Bestiary.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This mixed-media artwork, titled "Victorian Velociraptor with Violets," was created by artist Adam Mazur using acrylic paint and liquid gold leaf.

I like this.

[resismedievalmenagerie]

A really cute mole (look at his freaky little toes) and two attempts to draw a really cute mole that it looks like the scribe tried to scratch out (maybe a different scribe, later on). I love how human these kinds of errors are in these old texts. This comes from the 1175 Bestiary.

[fforsythiaaa]

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.

[memories-of-ancients]

Gilded silver buckle uncovered in King's Field, Kent, England, 7th century AD

from The British Museum

[evie-carnahan]

The Muppets 1.07 "Pigs in a Blackout"

[resismedievalmenagerie]

A weasel from the 1175 Bestiary.

According to the text, weasels are skilled at medicine and give birth by mouth. So that's cool.

[tuherrus]

happy pride month once again, here’s a redraw of this iconic medieval art

[prokopetz]

“Generically medieval”, by which we mean our peerage is French, our castles are German, our weapons are Italian, and everybody speaks English.

[the-venereal-bede-deactivated20]

you can have religion in one of 2 flavors: “woo hoo aesthetic garnish” and “Sinister State Control in Bad Allegory for Problems in Modern Christianity”

[prokopetz]

Also, the latter is aesthetically French Catholic, theologically German Protestant, and has the institutional structure of the Church of Scientology.

[jasmiinitee-deactivated20210610]

not to mention that this land is simultaneously inhabited by thinly modified northern vikings (Nordic pre-medieval/9th century), travelling mongols (European medieval/13th century) and a wealthy italian merchant family with a house full of oil paintings (Southern European renaissance/15th century). the dance of the day is waltz (refined German 18th century country dance).

[marietheran-archived]

But it will only actually be called inaccurate if an adaptation chooses to add a Black person.

[sandmandaddy69]

[lestatfag]

STAY SAFE!! [ID: the Gilbert Baker pride flag with the words “Happy pride to all those who are unable to celebrate openly and safely. You are loved and seen!” in all-caps black text over it. /end ID]

[tiffbaxter]

🏳️‍🌈Our Lady of Pride 🏳️‍🌈

[gloriousclio]

Luke Skywalker put away his targeting computer to destroy the Death Star so I don't need AI to help me write an email.