“She was twenty-five years old, vibrant and lively, with an ability to spin from imperiousness to intimacy that would keep a man guessing, pleasurably. If she was not beautiful then she had, like her mother, the ability to project the idea of it. Later in life, she told an ambassador that she had never in fact been a beauty, but had had the reputation of it in her day. ‘Comely rather than handsome, ’ the Venetian envoy had reported her a year or two before; ‘tall and well-formed, with a good skin, although swarthy, she has fine eyes.’ Robert too was ‘of a tall personage’, said the Venetian, who praised his ‘manly countenance’ though regretting his ‘somewhat brown’ complexion. He had hair and beard shading dark to auburn; the legs to stand up to the trying fashion for short breeches, with their padding and pinking, and their prominent codpieces; and the physique, when they danced together the daring Volta, to twirl Elizabeth high.” ⎯ Elizabeth and Leicester, Sarah Gristwood
The historical record proves that people have always been weird.
I started reading a bestiary originally published in 1608 on Serpents, only to be met with the following information regarding dragons:
1) Dragons love wilde Lettice, but cannot abide apples, and
2) ye olde Rule 34 jumpscare dragon/human porn. From 1608.
They greatly preserve their health (as Aristotle affirmeth) by eating of wilde Lettice, for that they make them to vomit, and cast forth of their stomach whatsoever meat offendeth them, and they are most specially offended by eating of Apples, for their bodies are much subject to be filled with winde, and therefore they never eat Apples, but first they eat wilde Lettice. Their sight also (as Plutarch saith) doth many times grow weak and feeble, and therefore they renew and recover the same again by rubbing their eyes against Fennel, or else by eating of it. (Page 706)
There was a Dragon the lover of Aetholis(?) (as Plutarch writeth) who came unto her every night, and did her body no harm, but gently sliding over her, played with her till morning, then also would he depart away assoon as light appeared, that he might not be espyed. The Maidens friends came to the knowledge hereof, and so removed her far away, to the intent the Dragon might come no more at her: and thus they remained asunder a great while, the Dragon earnestly seeking for the Maiden, wandered far and neer to finde her out. At last he met with her, and not saluting her gently as he was wont, flew upon her, binding her hands down with the spire of his body, hissing softly in her face, and beating gently with his tail her back-parts, as it were taking a moderate revenge upon her, for the neglect of his love by her long absence. (page 709)
There is also a section on scorpion necromancy, which includes a line implying that spitting on them will kill them if you are thirsty enough:
By touch of Hen-bane they lie dead and overcome, but if one touch them again with white Ellebore, they revive, and are released from their former stupefaction. It is also said that the leaves of water-mallowes do also astonish Scorpions, and so also doth the Radish-root. The Sea-crab with Basil in her mouth destroyeth the Scorpion, and so doth Tunicle and Mushroom of trees. To conclude, the spittle of a man is death unto Scorpions; and therefore when a certain fellow took upon him to be a cunning Charmer, and by incantation to kill a Scorpion, he added to the words of his Charm a treble spitting in the mouth of the Serpent, and so it dyed: whereupon Wolphius which was present, and saw this Charmer, did afterward by himself alone at home, make triall of spittle without a Charm, and so found that it alone killeth Scorpions, especially the spittle of a man fasting, or very thirsty. Moreover, there be certian Lands wherein no Scorpions will live, as that about Clupea in Africk, and the dust of the Island Gaulus neer Cercina, being sprinkled upon a Scorpion, doth incontinently kill it. ANd so much also writeth Hermolaus, of the Region Galatha. (Page 755)
Getting stung in the lower half of your body will produce an erection, while being stung in the upper half will produce symptoms of cold and heat and "slimy" tears. (By the way, the first part can actually happen, it's just not exclusive to lower-half body stings!)
...But yet (as we have already said) there is a difference of the pain, according to the difference of the Scorpion that stingeth. If a man be stung in the lower part of his body, instantly followeth the extension of his virile member, and the swelling thereof: but if in the upper part, then is the person affected with cold, and the place smitten is as if it were burned, his countenance or face distorted, glewish spots about the eyes, and the tears viscous and slimy, hardnesse of the articles, falling down of the fundament, and a continuall desire to egestion, foaming at the mouth, coughing, convulsions of the brain, and drawing the face backward, the hair stands upright, palenesse goeth over all the body, and a continuall pricking like the pricking of needles. (Page 756)
There is also a section on sea serpents that seems to depict reports of oceanic cryptids:
There be also in the Swevian Ocean or Balthick sea, Serpents of thirty or forty foot in length, whose picture is thus described, as it was taken by Olaus Magnus, and he further writeth, that these do never harm any man untill they be provoked.
[Photo]
The same Author also expresseth likewise the figure of another Serpent, of a hundred and twenty foot long, appearing now and then upon the coasts of Norway, very dangerous and hurtfull to the Sea-men in calms and still weather, for they lift up themselves above the hatches, and suddenly catch a man in their mouths, and so draw him into the Sea out of the Ship: and many times they overthrow in the water a laden Vessel of great quantity, with all the wares therein contained. And sometimes also they set up such a spire above the water, that a Boat or little Bark without sayls may passe through the same. And thus much for the Sea-serpents. (Page 761)
You can find the entire manuscript here at the Internet Archive in its 1658 collected works form, which contains both bestiaries on four-footed creatures from 1607 and serpents from 1608:
I found this 1847 pocket guide of Etiquette for Ladies today at an antique mall for $8 and it delights me to no end.
Some of my favorite tips:
“If the gentleman should betray the least want of respect, turn from him in dignified silence. A lady by her behavior always has the power to silence the boldest”
“Always bow when meeting acquaintances in the street. To curtsy is not gracefully consistent with locomotion”
“An Introduction at a ball for the purpose of dancing does not compel you to recognize the person in the street or in any public place; and except under very peculiar circumstances such Intimacies had better cease with the ball.”
“It is not contrary to good breeding to laugh and company, and even to laugh hardly when there is anything amusing going on; this is nothing more than being sociable. To remain prim and precise on such occasions, is sheer affectation. Avoid, however, what is called the “horse-laugh.”
Induced by these considerations, and influenced by the authority of Orgetorix, they determined to provide such things as were necessary for their expedition—to buy up as great a number as possible of beasts of burden and wagons—to make their sowings as large as possible, so that on their march plenty of corn might be in store-and to establish peace and friendship with the neighboring states. They reckoned that a term of two years would be sufficient for them to execute their designs; they fix by decree their departure for the third year. Orgetorix is chosen to complete these arrangements.
He took upon himself the office of embassador to the states: on this journey he persuades Casticus, the son of Catamantaloedes (one of the Sequani, whose father had possessed the sovereignty among the people for many years, and had been styled "friend" by the senate of the Roman people), to seize upon the sovereignty in his own state, which his father had held before him, and he likewise persuades Dumnorix, an Aeduan, the brother of Diviciacus, who at that time possessed the chief authority in the state, and was exceedingly beloved by the people, to attempt the same, and gives him his daughter in marriage. He proves to them that to accomplish their attempts was a thing very easy to be done, because he himself would obtain the government of his own state; that there was no doubt that the Helvetii were the most powerful of the whole of Gaul; he assures them that he will, with his own forces and his own army, acquire the sovereignty for them. Incited by this speech, they give a pledge and oath to one another, and hope that, when they have seized the sovereignty, they will, by means of the three most powerful and valiant nations, be enabled to obtain possession of the whole of Gaul
Source: Wikisource
Translation based on W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869)
Some pages from an early 12th century manuscript.
MS Oxford, St. John’s College 17.
[Medieval Manuscripts, England, 12th century]
MS Oxford, St. John’s College 17 is a collection of texts and extracts from texts on mathematics, astronomy, time, calendar, alphabets and writing systems, medicine and the natural world, illustrated with tables and diagrams. The manuscript was produced c. 1110 in Thorney Abbey, Cambridgeshire. It is believed to be largely based on a miscellany assembled by Byrhtferth (writing c. 985-1020), an Anglo-Saxon scholar at the abbey of Ramsey, Huntingdonshire. This miscellany (of which St. John’s College 17 is believed to be a copy) was a chief source of his Enchiridion, a commentary on computus (astronomical science that grew around calendar). St. John’s College 17 is invaluable for understanding the structure of Enchiridion, the methods of work of scholars such as Byrthferth, and Anglo-Saxon science in general. The manuscript includes annals of Thorney Abbey, the works by Bede, Helperic, Byrhtferth’s Epilogus, or preface to the computistical texts in the anthology, and other scientific texts. Four folios were removed from the manuscript by the antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton in about 1623. These leaves are now in the British Library where they form part of British Library MS Cotton Nero C.vii. They are included here, making the manuscript available in its complete form for the first time in centuries.
