The Deorhord
An Old English Bestiary
Hana Videen Profile Books 2023
Hb, 342pp, £15.99, ISBN 9781800815797
Do you have foxes in your street? Are they welcome or a pest? Are raccoons disease-ridden dustbin raiders or cute trash pandas? Before taking us back to the Middle Ages Hana Videen invites us to consider what associations humans have ascribed to animals commonly seen in the modern urban environment, the fox and the raccoon. The stories we construct around them, the way we perceive them, while not what they actually are, can tell us a lot about our own view of the natural world. So it was with people living in the early Middle Ages who saw symbolism in their native fauna, especially animals as Christian metaphors, while being fascinated by strange animals from other lands. Some animals were good, some bad and some just spontaneously combusting chickens.
The entries are divided into a number of sections, The Baffling and The Extraordinary perhaps being of most interest to forteans. The most mundane creatures had much to teach our ancestors, however. The spider (wæfer-gange or weaver-walker) and its delicate web are both metaphors for human frailty. Should one receive a non-metaphorical spider bite, Videen offers a selection of folk remedies that may be of help.
Some of the animals described are so bizarre it’s impossible to work out where the writers got
