Under Cover of Stories

Bartholomew the Englishman and the World of Land and Sea

Libby Keen

Abstract

Bartholomew the Englishman, a Franciscan teacher, uses a heathen account of a pagan ceremony to illustrate properties of earth. Why does he do so, and how else does he represent the earth in his Christian compilation? In this paper I show evidence that Bartholomew uses pagan stories as vehicles for Christian teaching and I examine the role of earth and sea in his image of the created world.

Illustrations

1. 10 illuminations from a 15th century manuscript of De Propriatibus Rerum (BNF, Fr 135), from the web site The Age of King Charles V (1330-1380), produced by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

2. 48 illuminations from another 15th century manuscript of De Propriatibus Rerum (BNF, Fr 136), from the same source as the above. In relation to the article above, note especially the illustrations of:

a) Fol. 26: seas, rivers and springs.

b) Fol. 36v: the earth's surface.

c) Fol.46v: countries of the earth: views of cities.

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Material for Our Medieval Heritage, published by Merton Priory Press ©2002. Web site from the Arts Faculty of the Australian National University.