February 1 marks the feast day of Saint Brigid of Ireland (or of Kildare), the co-patron saint of Ireland along with St. Patrick and St. Columban. According to legend, Brigid and her mother were baptized by…
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.” On January 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poem, "The Raven", was published for the first time on the pages of New York's The Evening Mirror. Poe's signature dark, supernatural atmosphere,…
"Goat playing a violin", illumination from a Psalter, Harley 5102, f. 59r, first quarter of the 13th century, British Library, London. An inhabited gilded initial, a capital "D", with a blue goat playing a rebec or violin…
Illumination from the manuscript "Fables", ms. 0434, f. 371v, 1372, Bibliothèque municipale d'étude et de conservation, Besançon. This illumination belongs to a French manuscript created for Charles V of France. The richly-gilded panels represent four of the…
"Peacock and hedgehog", illumination from the manuscript "Spiegel der Weisheit", ms. Egerton 1121, f. 74r, ca. 1430, British Museum, London. The vanity of a peacock is reproved by a modest hedgehog, who rolls into…