Marie Jaros

Frontispiece and title page of Vox Piscis, or The Book-Fish, contayning three treatises which were found in the belly of a cod-fish in Cambridge market, on Midsummer Eve last

In 1626, a Cambridge fishwife sliced open a cod, only to find a gelatinous, half-dissolved manuscript inside. It was published the next year under the name "Vox Piscis or, the Bookfish." At this point, why not get your news from inside a dead fish? #earlymodern #bookfish archive.org/details/bim_...

Sensation am Meeresgrund: 1.000 Jahre alte Walfalle entdeckt - massiv gebaut Sensationeller Fund in Telavåg: Überreste antiker Waljagd-Anlagen

Sensation am Meeresgrund: In Norwegen haben Archäologen eine 1.000 Jahre alte Walfalle entdeckt – massiv gebaut als etwa 25 Meter langes Steinband. Es ist der erste physische Beweis einer solchen Struktur (Bildergalerie). 🇳🇴
www.nordisch.info/archaeologie...

Ja! Ganz vielen Dank! 🤩

📖Jaros, In Pommern gestrandete Wale, in: Baltische Studien (2023), pp. 107-122; Redman, Whales‘ Bones of Germany, Austria, Czech Republic&Switzerland, Teddington 2009
📸6/7: www.epochtimes.cz/2021/03/07/kosti-velryby-gronske-se-ocitly-na-vysocine-v-chramu-sv-frantiska-serafinskeho-v-golcove-jenikove

www.epochtimes.cz/2021/03/07/kosti-velryby-gronske-se-ocitly-na-vysocine-v-chramu-sv-frantiska-serafinskeho-v-golcove-jenikove

During the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), a mandible, a scapula, and a rib from Stralsund were taken as war booty to Golčův Jeníkov (CZ). They can still be seen today in the Church of St. František Serafínský. 6/7
📸[see last post]

Other bones were said to have been exhibited in Brandenburg, Stralsund (perhaps the scapula), and Stettin. Bones in Rostock, Bremen, Riga, and elsewhere were also attributed to the Usedom whale. 5/7

🗺️ my own

Two ribs were reportedly presented to Elector Frederick the Wise, who displayed them in the castle church in #Wittenberg.

🖼️ Georgi, Wittenbergische Klagegeschichte, 1760, Tab. III

Further reports only appear in the 17th century—and they are much more detailed. About 1,400 kilograms of blubber were rendered into oil, and the bones were distributed to various locations.

🖼️ Model of a whale’s blubber layer (Stralsund, Meeresmuseum) (my own)

The earliest report of the stranding appears in the 15th-century Old Stralsund Chronicle. It recounts how the whale was secured after stranding and how its meat was used as food. 2/7

🖼️ 1547 rorqual stranded at Egmond aan Zee (NL) (Coenen, Walvisboek, 1585; dams1.antwerpen.be/asset/jUZJkH...)

This is the scapula of a fin #whale which stranded in 1365 on the Baltic island of #Usedom.
It is on display in the #Ozeaneum in #Stralsund. Bones of this whale once where on display in many places. 1/7

📸 my own
#histwhale #oceanspast #medievalsky

When you thought #whale watching would be relaxing…

📖Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium, pugnae bestiariorum & mutuae bestiarum (1580)
💻https://www.europeana.eu/de/item/9200518/ark__12148_btv1b550059821?page=109
#histwhale #melvillemonday

This is a #broadsheet announcing the #stranding of a whale in Ireland in 1692. It is said that 20 men could fit in its mouth. What a lovely, scaly dragon #whale!
#histwhale #oceanspast
www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb0...

In 751, a #whale came ashore near #Bangor (Northern Ireland). Its specialty: three golden teeth, valued at 50 ounces each. How were they used? Two were sent to churches for admiration; the third was given to bridge builders as payment by the king’s son.
#WorldWhaleDay
🖼️BL, Royal MS 13 B VIII, f. 16v

To me, that doesn’t really argue either for or against the nose/wound interpretation. Klaus Barthelmeß, a former whaler, identified the cut as a wound, and I have so far trusted his assessment.
(Zoologische Einblattdrucke vor 1800, vol. 4, no. 538.1) 2/2

Ah, I hadn’t looked at it that way before — thank you for raising this point! My assumption was simply that, lacking precise knowledge of what a pilot whale looks like, the artist may have transferred the appearance of the whale in the foreground to the one in the background. 1/2

I'm not sure about the nose. I would say it's more of a wound. It's one of those rare cases where a female animal has been stranded. Can you see the footprints in the sand? What a lovely detail! I hope to leave some footprints on Zandvoort beach soon as well.

😊

Seeing this depiction of a pilot #whale in an 'indigenous' context is absolutely fascinating! Originally, it was an illustration of an animal that washed ashore near #Zandvoort (NL) in 1594.
www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
#histwhale #oceanspast #melvillemonday

The #whales are back at the #IMC in Leeds! 🐳
Many thanks to our wonderful speakers for accepting the invitation! Details of our two panels are available here:
imc-leeds.confex.com/imc/2026/pre...

#IMC2026 #medievalsky #oceanspast #histwhale

Doubting men raking patient #whale?
(Allegorical) depiction of whaling from the ‘Ci nous dit’

#histwhale #illumination #medievalsky
portail.biblissima.fr/ark:/43093/m..., f. 33r (France 14th c.)

Medieval crime, cetacean edition.

The image shows, alongside the source text and a modern transcription, a fish labelled “balena”, with large scales, teeth, and a sly expression.

In 1458, a #whale beached itself at the mouth of the River #Llobregat and was declared a harbinger of King Alfonso V of Aragon’s imminent death. And honestly, just look at that face — this whale was clearly up to something fishy...

#histwhale
dogc.gencat.cat/.content/con..., S. 515.

A photo from inside a small side chapel of a tall narrow simple modern stained glass window which has the impressionistic shape of a whale as viewed from above running vertically the whole length of the window with the tail at the top and the head at the bottom . The whale is dark blue with a periphery of turquoise set in an opaque colourless glass surround. Photo Copyright Coralie Mills 2024

A photo of the whale mural which is vast and coloured grey against a whitewashed wall of the east aisle towards the west end of the church. We can glimpse the main body of the east end of the aisle towards get a sense of scale. The mural was painted in 1545 but looks very modern because it is so simply portrayed. Photo copyright Coralie Mills 2024

Another view of the whale mural, this time more front on though cannot get entirely front on because the aisle is quite narrow. Photo copyright Coralie Mills 2024

Visitor information sheet with Point 4 being about the Whale. Photo: Copyright Coralie Mills 2024

On a recent trip to see a friend in historic #Greifswald NE #Germany, we discovered the unexpected in an ancient RC Church, a lifesize 16thC mural of a whale washed up nearby in 1545 and celebrated in a beautiful modern blue glass window in a side chapel. More info in last photo

#StainedGlassSunday

Medieval manuscript image of an oddly drawn whale with two men warming themselves at a fire on its back, one of whom has taken off his shoes and wiggles his toes near the flames; their boat is anchored to the whale’s back.

un-land, n.n: false land. (UN-LOND / ˈʌn-ˌland)
Image: De bestiis et aliis rebus; France, c. 1230; @labnf.bsky.social lat. 2495B, f. 46v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

The illumination for the whale (cetus vel balena) is very similar.
This may suggest that both were perceived similarly: as big fish.
However, the text highlights a significant difference: the 'whales' were hunted by the 'orcas'.

patrimoine-numerique.ville-valenciennes.fr/ark:/29755/B...

‚Orca‘ in the ‚Liber de natura rerum’ of Thomas of Cantimpré.
The text describes this seemingly friendly fellow as a huge mass of flesh with terrible teeth. The artist did not take these characteristics into account
#medievalsky #orca
patrimoine-numerique.ville-valenciennes.fr/ark:/29755/B...

The best drawing of an orca I have ever seen!
In 1817 Bernard O'Reilly travelled to Greenland and through the North West Passage. His travelogue (whose authenticity has been questioned) contains this great picture
wiki.app.uib.no/marinelexicon/…)

Thank you for showing me this example! In Europe, there have been isolated depictions of killer whales since the mid-16th century that bear some resemblance to them.

Yes, I know these well — and I love them! I've spent hours browsing through the collection.
Thanks!

Me too 😅
Thank you!