TITLE: Introducing the Medieval Dragon
AUTHOR: Thomas Honegger
PUBLISHER: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 978-1-786-83468-3
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club 13
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Introducing the Medieval Dragon by Thomas Honegger is part of a series dedicated to medieval animals published by the University of Wales Press. The medieval animals series is dedicated to providing a deep analysis of the naturalistic, folkloric, theological, and literary understandings of these animals to the medieval mind, as well as how such understandings can still resonate with modern audiences through contemporary artistic examples. While covering a complex topic, Introducing the Medieval Dragon proved to be an engaging and accessible read rife with fascinating insights into etiological discussions that I found highly revelatory.
The book is divided into the following sections: Scholarship, Religion, Folklore, and Literature. The introduction and first section are mainly concerned with the origins of the dragon in human consciousness and what people think of when they hear the word dragon - a more complicated thing than you might think! While the book acknowledges the prevailing theories as to how dragons arose in consciousness (finding unusual fossils, genetic memory from our ancestors, an amalgamation of the predators most dangerous to man, misinterpreted reports of other big reptiles, or the personification of weather phenomena) the book also benefits from reiterating that the origin of dragons is not the most interesting thing about them. Dragons exist within the “Cauldron of Story”; how they first got in there is only a singular part of our fascination with them.
Once draconic origins are out of the way the book is free to shine. It compares the Western dragon with the Eastern dragon, and then presents a deeper look into why the Western dragon is the fearsome beast that it is, while the Eastern one is primarily a wise and benevolent spirit. It next examines the naturalistic dragon found in medieval bestiaries and how it evolved from a peculiar but real animal into the allegorical creature representative of Satan and his minions. The religious dragon then gains prominence, and through tales of Jesus and Mary giving power to the knights that smite him, it then becomes a Folkloric creature representative of the ruling class, bad neighbours, and human greed.
By the time that the Dragon in Literature chapter is reached the reader has a good understanding of just what the dragon represents in the Medieval mind, and therefore is ready for those expectations to be subverted by the writers of the day. Of course the texts primarily dealt with in this chapter are Beowulf and Sir Bevis of Hampton – the two texts from which J.R.R. Tolkien himself plucked Smaug, arguably the best known of modern dragons. The book does a good job examining how the tropes have been subverted in later texts, notably in Sir Bevis of Hampton and how this is still a conversation continuing to this very day.
I found this book to be engaging and informative. The illustrations peppered throughout were gorgeous and the inclusion of the Old English text above the modern translation was a very nice touch. Being slim, well-researched, and succinct this book was exactly the introduction that it set out to be. Based upon this book, I believe that the series could be a valuable resource for the layperson interested in attaining a better understanding of the Medieval Mind, and how modern works continue to build and grow from the foundation set all those many centuries ago.
AUTHOR: Thomas Honegger
PUBLISHER: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 978-1-786-83468-3
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club 13
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Introducing the Medieval Dragon by Thomas Honegger is part of a series dedicated to medieval animals published by the University of Wales Press. The medieval animals series is dedicated to providing a deep analysis of the naturalistic, folkloric, theological, and literary understandings of these animals to the medieval mind, as well as how such understandings can still resonate with modern audiences through contemporary artistic examples. While covering a complex topic, Introducing the Medieval Dragon proved to be an engaging and accessible read rife with fascinating insights into etiological discussions that I found highly revelatory.
The book is divided into the following sections: Scholarship, Religion, Folklore, and Literature. The introduction and first section are mainly concerned with the origins of the dragon in human consciousness and what people think of when they hear the word dragon - a more complicated thing than you might think! While the book acknowledges the prevailing theories as to how dragons arose in consciousness (finding unusual fossils, genetic memory from our ancestors, an amalgamation of the predators most dangerous to man, misinterpreted reports of other big reptiles, or the personification of weather phenomena) the book also benefits from reiterating that the origin of dragons is not the most interesting thing about them. Dragons exist within the “Cauldron of Story”; how they first got in there is only a singular part of our fascination with them.
Once draconic origins are out of the way the book is free to shine. It compares the Western dragon with the Eastern dragon, and then presents a deeper look into why the Western dragon is the fearsome beast that it is, while the Eastern one is primarily a wise and benevolent spirit. It next examines the naturalistic dragon found in medieval bestiaries and how it evolved from a peculiar but real animal into the allegorical creature representative of Satan and his minions. The religious dragon then gains prominence, and through tales of Jesus and Mary giving power to the knights that smite him, it then becomes a Folkloric creature representative of the ruling class, bad neighbours, and human greed.
By the time that the Dragon in Literature chapter is reached the reader has a good understanding of just what the dragon represents in the Medieval mind, and therefore is ready for those expectations to be subverted by the writers of the day. Of course the texts primarily dealt with in this chapter are Beowulf and Sir Bevis of Hampton – the two texts from which J.R.R. Tolkien himself plucked Smaug, arguably the best known of modern dragons. The book does a good job examining how the tropes have been subverted in later texts, notably in Sir Bevis of Hampton and how this is still a conversation continuing to this very day.
I found this book to be engaging and informative. The illustrations peppered throughout were gorgeous and the inclusion of the Old English text above the modern translation was a very nice touch. Being slim, well-researched, and succinct this book was exactly the introduction that it set out to be. Based upon this book, I believe that the series could be a valuable resource for the layperson interested in attaining a better understanding of the Medieval Mind, and how modern works continue to build and grow from the foundation set all those many centuries ago.