Striking at the moral heart of the home front, in propaganda produced by Britain, France and the United States, Germans were presented (often literally) as monsters, and atrocities both real and imagined were exploited.

Here are 10 anti-German propaganda posters used during World War One to garner support for the war.

1. ‘The Hun and the Home’ (1914)

‘The Hun and the Home’

Image Credit: David Wilson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The stereotype of the German ‘Hun’ emerged in British propaganda during World War One, and was used to reinforce British values in contrast to German aggression and barbarism.

German atrocities in Belgium also played into the hands of Allied propaganda artists. British propagandists made a point that not only was Germany guilty of starting the conflict by invading Belgium, Holland and France, but that its armies had committed atrocities in those countries: rape of women and deliberate starvation of the population including women and children.

2. ‘Britain Needs You At Once’ (1914)

‘Britain Needs You At Once’

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Britain’s propaganda campaign aimed to stoke patriotism, and to do this, appealed to easily identifiable symbols of national identity. This recruitment poster depicts St. George slaying the dragon. The patron saint of England served as a national symbol for several parties during the war, ironically including Germany.

3. The Question Mark (1918)

Australian WWI war poster. Poster depicts an ape monster in a German helmet with bloody hands reaching around the globe

Image Credit: Norman Lindsay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One of six posters designed by Norman Lindsay designed for the last recruiting campaign of the Australian government during World War One. Australia is shown to be threatened by the colonising ambitions of the Kaiser and Germany, pictured as a blood-thirsty and monstrous ape wearing a German pickelhaube.

Designs such as this de-humanised the Germans, and characterised them as animalistic and therefore without human morals. Stories of spike-helmeted Germans cutting off the hands of children or boiling corpses to make soap were widely believed by the British public, especially after the Bryce Commission of 1915 which concluded many of these claims were true.

4. ‘Men of Britain!’ (1915)

Poster showing a little girl holding a baby, outside a bomb-damaged building

Image Credit: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The British often invoked the German attack on the town of Scarborough to incite anti-German feeling. The deaths of non-combatants was seen as a contravention of decent warfare codified in the laws at the Geneva conferences of 1864 and 1906. Although both Allied and Central Power forces committed atrocities during the war.

5. ‘Red Cross or Iron Cross’ (1914-1918)

‘Red Cross or Iron Cross?’

Image Credit: UBC Library Digitization Centre, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Many posters of World War One referred to nurses. This had particularly high propaganda value after the shocking execution of British nurse Edith Cavell, who saved the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and aided some 200 Allied soldiers’ escape from German-occupied Belgium. She was arrested by the German military and executed in line with German martial law.

6. ‘L’Allemagne c’est la guerre’ (1914)

French WWI propaganda poster

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The British were not alone in vilifying Germany through their wartime propaganda. This French poster personifies Germany as an ugly, brutish woman carving up French and Dutch land to be fed to the mean-looking dog beside her. It translates to ‘Germany is War’. The text below the table, ‘Boucherie Pangermaniste’ means all the Germans’ butcher-shop, condemning German imperial expansion.

7. ‘La bête féroce’ (1915)

French WWI propaganda poster

Image Credit: Flickr.com

Another example of French propaganda characterising the Germans as beast-like and ravenous. The text means, ‘The beast is hungry!”. This design from 1915 became a popular French postcard – a cheap mode of communication that grew popular during World War One, and that would have circulated images and ideas quickly.

8. ‘Will you fight now or wait for This?’ (1918)

New Zealand Expeditionary Force recruitment posters

Image Credit: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

It was not just Britain, France and the USA that spread anti-German sentiment during the war. This Australian poster designed by Norman Lindsay (an Australian artist and cartoonist) painted with the words “Will you fight now or wait for This”, depicts an Australian man and woman being threatened by a German firing squad. The Commonwealth played a large role in supplying troops to the European front lines.

9. ‘Only the Navy can stop this’ (1917)

A WWI Recruitment poster, using a New York Herald cartoon by W.A. Rogers

Image Credit: William Allen Rogers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This poster shows a German soldier wearing a pirate-like skull-and-crossbones and brandishing a bloody sword as he wades through a tide of women’s and children’s bodies. Printed in 1917 by the US Navy, the images was designed to encourage US enlistment and suggested only a strong naval force could repel the Germans.

10. ‘Once a German – Always a German!’ (1918)

‘Once a German – Always a German!’ WWI propaganda poster

Image Credit: US Library of Congress

In the post-war years, anti-German sentiment remained a powerful tool for political groups like the nationalist British Empire Union, an organisation that stood for patriotism, social reform, industrial peace, promotion of the British Empire and anti-socialism. This image continues to utilise ‘atrocity propaganda’, for example mentioning the death of the British front-line nurse, Edith Cavell.

Aircraft of the time were particularly susceptible to fuel fires not only when shot down but also in the course of normal operation. Such was the frequency with which doctors encountered burned beyond recognition members fighter and bomber crews that ‘Airman’s Burn’ became a medical condition all of its own.

‘Airman’s Burn’ became a medical condition all of its own.

Enter Archibald McIndoe

At the start of the war only four plastic surgeons were practising in Britain. The RAF obtained the services of Archibald McIndoe, the younger cousin and protégé of Sir Harold Gillies, the surgeon who pioneered specialised plastic surgery in the First World War.

McIndoe was to operate in a burns unit at the Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead alongside his long time colleagues, anaesthetist John Hunter and nurse Jill Mullins. Having already garnered the attention of contemporaries for his surgical finesse and intuitive problem solving McIndoe proved to be every bit the innovator that his cousin had been.

Archibald McIndoe

Beyond the occasional household or industrial accident surgeons rarely dealt with severe burns before the Second World War, not least because until 1939 the chances of surviving major burns were extremely low. Consequently they were treated in the same way as minor ones: with tannic acid.

Tannic created a firm leathery coating over the wound which was useful with small burns, but when used on more severe cases McIndoe found it increased the chances of infection and made reconstructive grafting near impossible.

Inspired by the swift recovery of men who crashed at sea McIndoe took to bathing his patients regularly in saline which kept their wounds clean and the skin in good condition for grafting. His innovation led to Tannic treatments being banned.

McIndoe bathed his patients regularly in saline which kept their wounds clean and the skin in good condition

‘The town that didn’t stare’

Where McIndoe really came into his own though was the psychological rehabilitation of his charges. That they should like and trust those caring for them was, to McIndoe, as much a part of their treatment as surgery. He dealt honestly and informally with the men, dispensing with the straight-jacketed formality of both military and hospital hierarchy.

Rank meant nothing to his patients, nor did conventional hospital regulations; the ward was colourfully painted with comfortable beds, a radio and a free flowing supply of beer.

Outside of the hospital too McIndoe did all he could to keep them in the best possible frame of mind. He rejected the convalescent uniforms provided by the RAF and instead encouraged his patients to continue to wear their RAF uniforms which provided a sense continuity with their lives before their injuries.

He spoke to East Grinstead residents and encouraged them to be accepting of the men and pay as little attention to their injuries as possible. In this they surpassed all expectations, saving them tables in pubs and restaurants and inviting them into their homes.

To this day it is known proudly as ‘the town that didn’t stare’.

The Guinea Pig Club

By 1941 the uplifting mood of McIndoe’s unconventional ward had spawned the Guinea Pig Club. Anyone treated by McIndoe at East Grinstead joined automatically and in the end membership totalled 647 men.

The club became the main organ by which the recovering airmen organised their social events and later provided support to one another as they adapted to civilian life. The last official meeting of ‘Pigs’ was Christmas 2007.

The Guinea Pig Club and its relationship to the people of East Grinstead prefigure modern notions of peer support and therapeutic community which few of McIndoe’s contemporaries would have considered let alone put into practice in such a bold and far reaching manner.

The consequences of his work have been felt beyond plastic surgery influencing the relationship between doctors and their patients in all branches of medicine.

1. HMS Pathfinder was the first ship sunk by a U-Boat

On 5 September 1914 Royal Navy ship HMS Pathfinder was sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine at the Firth of Fourth. Casualty figures for the attack are disputed but by one estimate only 18 of 268 people on board survived.

This attack came as a shock to Royal Navy commanders who had been divided over whether it was possible to sink a large surface vessel using a submarine.

2. 12,850,815 tons of shipping was sunk by U-Boats

Although their exact policy varied throughout the war the German U-boats racked up a total of 12,850,815 tons of shipping sunk. The highest total for a single year was 1917, when unlimited submarine warfare resumed and 6,235,878 tons was sunk.

3. 178 U-Boats sank in combat

Submarine U-14, sunk near Peterhead on 5 June 1915 but lost only one crew member.

This represented 50% of Germany’s total U-boat capacity and resulted in the deaths of around 5,000 members of U-Boat crew.

4. German U-Boat numbers more than quadrupled 1914-1918

Newly constructed U-Boats docked at Kiel.

In 1914 Germany had 29 U-Boats at its disposal by the time they surrendered in 1918 the fleet comprised 134.

5. The greatest loss of life in a single sinking was 1,926

On 8 June 1916 SS Principe Umberto was transporting Italy’s 55th infantry regiment back from Albania to Italy. Despite being under escort by other ships the Austo-Hungarian sumbarine U-5 was able to torpedo the Principe Umberto and it sank rapidly killing 1,926.

6. The RMS Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes

Ships attacked by torpedo tended to sink rapidly hence the high casualty rates. The passenger ship Lusitania was torpedoed on 7 May 1915 and within 18 minutes its bow touched the sea bed. The sinking killed 1,198 of those aboard, leaving 761 survivors.

7. Submarines inflicted more damage than surface craft

Submarines quickly became the most prolific killers in the Fleet of the German Empire. In 1914 surface ships sank 55 ships against only 3 sunk by U-Boats. The following year this was reversed and Submarines sank 396 Allied ships compared to only 23 by surface craft.

The greatest disparity came with the resumption of unlimited submarine warfare in 1917 when 2,439 Allied ships were sunk by U-Boats against 64 in conventional naval battles.

8. The largest submarine was the U-155

SM U-155 was exhibited in London after the war before being scrapped in 1921.

The U-151 class of submarines were 315 feet long and could carry 700 tons of cargo. They traveled at around 12 knots and had originally been designed as merchant submarines under the name Deutschland.

9. U-Boats provoked both the USA and Brazil into war

Brazilian President Venceslau Brás signs the declaration of war on the Central Powers.

Although there were obviously other factors at work the USA and Brazil both cited the German attacks on civilian and merchant vessels as key provocations in bringing them into the war.

10. Unrestricted submarine warfare was seen as a war crime

The court building in Leipzig which held the post-war war crimes trials. It still serves as the German Federal Court today.

The Unrestricted submarine warfare of World War One was regarded by many at the time as a kind of war crime as it violated Prize Rules, naval codes common since the 19th century which stipulated that merchant vessels could not be attacked without warning.

Prize Rules also featured in the 1907 Hague Conventions which were an early attempt to lay do laws for war crimes and the conduct of war.

Commander Karl Neumann was tried at Leipzig in 1921 for sinking the hospital ship Dover Castle in the war but was acquitted as he did so under orders. These apprehensions were abandoned by World War Two and all nations engaged in unrestricted submarine warfare leading to huge numbers of non-combatant deaths at sea.

 1. Gas was first used at Bolimów by Germany

Gas first saw use in January 1915 at the battle of Bolimów. The Germans launched 18,000 shells of xylyl bromide in preparation to attack. The attack never took place though as unfavourable winds blew the gas back toward the Germans. Casualties were minimal, however, as the cold weather prevented the xylyl bromide fluid from evaporating fully.

2. Gas was climate dependent

In the wrong climate gases would disperse quickly, which reduced their chances of inflicting significant casualties on the enemy. Favorable conditions in contrast could sustain a gas’ effect long after the initial attack; mustard gas could remain effective in an area over several days. Ideal conditions for gas were an absence of strong wind or sun, either of which caused the gas to dissipate quickly; high humidity was also desirable.

British infantry advance through gas at Loos 1915.

3. Gas was not officially lethal

The effects of gas were horrific and their consequences could take years to recover from, if you recovered at all. Gas attacks were, however, often not focused on killing.

Gases were divided into lethal and irritant categories and irritants were by far the more common including infamous chemical weapons like mustard gas (dichlorethylsulphide) and blue cross (Diphenylcyonoarsine). The fatality rate of gas casualties was 3% but the effects were so debilitating even in non-fatal cases that it remained one of the war’s most feared weapons.

Phosgene was one of the more common of the lethal gases. This photo shows the aftermath of a phosgene attack.

4. Gases were categorised by their effects

The Gases used in World War One came in 4 main categories: Respiratory Irritants; Lachrymators (tear gases); Sternutators (causing sneezing) and Vesicants (causing blistering). Often different kinds were used together to inflict the maximum possible damage.

A Canadian soldier receiving treatment for mustard gas burns.

5. Germany, France and Britain used the most gas in WWI

The most gas was produced by Germany, totaling 68,000 tons. The British and French were the closest after that with 25,000 and 37,000 tons respectively. No other nation came close to this volume of gas production.

6. Key to German advances at the 3rd Battle of the Aisne

In May and June of 1918 German forces advanced from the Aisne River toward Paris. They initially made swift progress aided by extensive artillery use. During the initial offensive 80% of long range bombardment shells, 70% shells in the barrage on the front line and 40% of shells in the creeping barrage were gas shells.

Gas casualties awaiting treatment.

7. Gas was not the only chemical weapon of WWI

Although not as significant as gas, incendiary shells were deployed in World War One. These were launched mainly from mortars and comprised either of white phosphorous or thermit.

Gas being emitted from cylinders at Flanders.

8. Gas was actually launched as a liquid

The Gas used in shells during WWI was stored in liquid form rather than as a gas. It only became a gas when the fluid dispersed from the shell and evaporated. This is why the effectiveness of gas attacks was so weather dependent.

Sometimes gas was released in vapour form from canisters on the ground but this increased the chances of the gas blowing back at the army using it therefore making the liquid based shells the more popular system for deployment.

Australians wearing gas masks at Ypres in 1917 .

9. Gas was used to undermine enemy morale

As it was heavier than air gas could find its way into any trench or dugout in a way that other forms of attack could not. Consequently it impacted on morale by causing anxiety and panic, especially early in the war when no one had experienced chemical warfare before.

Gassed by John Singer Sargent (1919).

10. Gas usage was almost unique to World War One

The gas warfare of World War One was so horrific that it has rarely been used since. In the interwar period the French and Spanish used it in Morocco and the Bolsheviks used it against rebels.

After the 1925  Geneva Protocol prohibited chemical weapons their use further diminished. Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan also used gas in the 1930s, however, against Ethiopia and China respectively. A more recent use was by Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War 1980-88.

A soldier in a gas mask during the Iran-Iraq war.

When war broke out the 32 year old New Zealander joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was sent to the 83rd Dublin General Hospital at Wimereux. There he supervised the work of an untrained but creative dentist, Charles Valadier, who was experimenting successfully with skin and bone grafts to repair the severe facial wounds which often occurred in the Trenches.

Intrigued by what he saw Gillies moved away from the front to Paris where Hippolyte Morestin was conducting similar work, albeit in a more conventional surgical environment.

Inspired by the Parisian he returned to England to advocate for the establishment of specialist plastic surgery units. Despite scepticism from the medical world by January 1916 Gillies was in charge of a small team based at Aldershot.

Rejecting the advice of contemporaries to use synthetic materials for reconstruction Gillies built upon the grafting work of Morestin and Valadier by focusing above all on functionality. Gillies first major influx of casualties came from the battle of Jutland, and along with them came his most enduring surgical innovation.

William Vicarage had lost most of his jaw in the battle and to restore it demanded extensive grafting. Vicarage’s new jaw was made from skin grafted from his shoulders, Gillies left the grafted skin attached at the shoulder and fashioned it into a tube maintaining blood flow and thus encouraging it to take to the new site.

He named his invention the tube pedicle and it went on to become a fundamental technique of reconstructive surgery that was used in widely both world wars.

Despite handling the Jutland casualties well the Aldershot unit was unprepared for the volume casualties received from the Somme. In anticipation of the offensive Gillies was granted 200 additional beds, but within days 2,000 casualties had arrived.

The army consequently moved the plastic surgery team to the larger Queen Victoria Hospital at Sidcup in 1917 where they dealt with injuries from Passchendaele.

Gillies became known as ‘the father of plastic surgery’ for his work and in 1930 received a knighthood in recognition of his important breakthroughs. He continued to work with casualties from the war beyond the armistice, finally completing his work in 1921.

Despite impressive progress in surgical techniques the psychological impact of severe facial disfigurement continued to be problematic. Mirrors were banned in Gillies’ wards because of their distressing and demoralising impact.

Plastic surgery patients were disproportionately depressed, disturbed and suicidal even compared the already high levels of psychological trauma caused by World War One. Furthermore the volume of casualties meant that not everyone who needed treatment got it, and those who did couldn’t rely on getting the best out of their surgeons.

For some tin masks stood in for surgical reconstruction but the expressionless plates were a poor substitute given that Gillies aimed for fully functional flesh and blood reconstruction.

John Wycliffe’s leadership

John Wycliffe’s radical outlook on religious matters appealed to many as a response to existing concerns about the Church. From an idealistic standpoint, Wycliffe’s promise of a truer version of Christianity based on a greater closeness to scripture appealed to those who felt the Church had become self-serving and greedy.

Equally among lay elites there were anxieties about the extent of the Church’s worldly power and Lollardy offered a theological justification to place checks on that power.

Wycliffe was not wholly a radical though. When the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 claimed Lollardy as its ideology, Wycliffe repudiated the revolt and sought to distance himself from it. In doing so he aimed to continue to cultivate support among powerful political figures like John of Gaunt rather than attempt to enforce Lollardy through violent rebellion.

John Wycliffe.

Powerful protectors

Wycliffe remained under the protection of Oxford University for a long time. Despite his controversial views it was the opinion of others within the university that he ought to be allowed to continue his work in the name of academic freedom.

Outside the university environment his most conspicuous supporter was John of Gaunt. John of Gaunt was one of England’s most powerful noblemen and had anti-clerical leanings. He was therefore prepared to protect and support Wycliffe and the Lollards against other powerful figures who wished to stamp out the movement. When he left the country in 1386 it was a great blow to the Lollards.

Oddly, it would be his own son, Henry IV, who would provide the most effective monarchical opposition to the Lollards.

Friends in high places

Aside from public supporters like John of Gaunt, Lollardy had other more discrete sympathisers. Under Richard II, a number of chroniclers noticed the presence of a group of Lollard Knights who were influential at court and, although not openly rebellious, helped to shield Lollards from reprisals of the kind that would have normally affected medieval heretics.

The Lollard Knights were likely not particularly seen as Lollard supporters by their contemporaries but their sympathies nonetheless contributed to the movement’s survival.

A 19th century imagining of Wycliffe addressing a group of Lollards.

This all changed in 1401 when Henry IV passed a law allowing the burning of heretics and prohibiting the translation of the Bible. Consequently, Lollardy became an underground movement and many of its supporters were put to death for their convictions.

1. The Peasant’s Revolt

The Peasant’s Revolt was actually repudiated by Lollard leader John Wycliffe, who preferred to advance his cause through more conventional political manoeuvring. The revolt still characterised itself as a Lollard event, however, and its spiritual leader, John Ball, was a Lollard preacher.

Lollard preacher John Ball speaking to participants of the Peasant’s Revolt.

The revolt altered the image of Lollardy in the minds of many powerful people for whom it came to represent not only a movement for religious reform but also a dangerous force which could destabilise society as a whole.

2. De Heretico Comburendo

De Hertico Comburendo was a law passed by Henry IV in 1401 to combat the rise of Lollardy. The law did not explicitly state that this was its aim but it legalised the burning of heretics and included Bible translation as one of the heresies for which one might be given the penalty. This targeted Lollards and therefore drove the movement underground.

3. Executions

The first lay person ever to be executed as a heretic in England was a Lollard named John Badby who was arrested in 1410 and refused to renounce his allegiance to Lollardy. Once De Heritico Comburendo had come into force, there was much less tolerance for Lollardy and those adhering to it publicly risked a particularly painful death.

4. Oldcastle’s Revolt

The execution of John Oldcastle.

In 1413, nobleman and friend of the king John Oldcastle was brought to trail for his associations with Lollardy, but escaped from the Tower of London. Once free he launched a rebellion with the intent of deposing the king.

The rebellion failed but Oldcastle remained at large for four years thereafter and was involved in other intrigues against the English. In 1417, he was finally captured and executed.

This was important in completing what the Peasant’s Revolt had begun with regard to public opinion. Lollardy became fixed in the minds of lay elites as a source of unrest and as a threat to the social order, therefore heightening opposition to it and increasing the persecution of its adherents.

5. Protestantism

In the later 15th and 16th centuries, Protestantism spread across Europe, espousing many of the same values and projects that had once been associated with Lollardy. As a result, the movement largely died out or else became incorporated into the Protestant cause.

Whether or not people believed in all of these creatures is difficult to say, since it was not really the point to believe or disbelieve (although many would have been convinced of the existence of these creatures). The point of folklore was more to illustrate issues of moral and social importance rather than to accurately depict the natural world.

1. Hircocervus

The Hircocervus was supposed to be half deer and half goat and had been speculated about since antiquity. Both Aristotle and Plato discuss the Hircocervus in their philosophy, although to Aristotle’s mind the creature is clearly fictional. The first English language mention of the Hircocervus comes from a manuscript of 1398.

2. Manticore

The legend of the Manticore originated in Persia and, like many monsters, reached medieval Europe via Pliny the Elder’s 1st century Naturalis Historia, which tended to be quite willing to accept such creatures.

Flavius Philostratus, writing after Pliny, said:

“The creature has four feet, and that his head resembles that of a man, but that in size it is comparable to a lion; while the tail of this animal puts out hairs a cubit long and sharp as thorns, which it shoots like arrows at those who hunt it.”

3. Mermaid

The earliest references to Mermaids are in Assyrian folklore and the creatures became well known in Europe via Greek adoptions of the Assyrian legends. They were usually portrayed as capricious and often simply as evil.

4. Monoceros

The Monoceros appeared first in Pliny’s writing and was described as a beast with the body of a horse, the head of a stag, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar and a black horn in the centre of its head. The name “Monoceros” was sometimes used interchangeably with “Unicorn”.

5. Ogre

Ogres appear in the folklore of a variety of cultures and are generally characterised as larger, uglier versions of humans. They are almost always described as eating human flesh and may have been inspired by real life cannibals.

6. Pard

The Pard was believed to be a large spotted cat which could move at great speed, possibly inspired by a cheetah. They were thought to mate with lions in order to produce leopards.

7. Sea Monk

Probably the product of an indistinctly seen seal or fish, the Sea Monk was a creature of north European legend which supposedly lived in the seas around Denmark and resembled a monk superficially.

8. Salamander

Although the Salamander is a real animal, the medieval descriptions of it are sufficiently fantastical that they are often treated as being about a separate fictitious creature.

In appearance, it has been everything from a dog to a bird to an actual salamander, frequently with wings of other animal parts added on. They were generally regarded as having power over fires though the specifics of their interactions with fire could vary.

9. Monopod

Monopods made their way into European folklore through the work of Pliny the Elder. As the name suggests, they are one-footed creatures. According to Isodore of Seville, they:

“…live in Ethiopia; they have only one leg, and are wonderfully speedy. The Greeks call them σκιαπόδεϛ (“shade-footed ones”) because when it is hot they lie on their backs on the ground and are shaded by the great size of their feet.”

10. Unicorn

In the Middle Ages, Unicorns had strong religious symbolism. They were associated with the Virgin Mary and stories involving the death of unicorns often paralleled Jesus’ Crucifixion. Like much of European folklore, Unicorns were originally described by the Ancient Greeks who believed them to live in India.

11. The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary

The Origins of the Vegetable Lamb are unclear although both Jewish and Celtic folkloric traditions feature similar plant-animals. The Vegetable Lamb was believed to be attached to the plant by its umbilical cord and to graze the area accessible around the plant. The legend became popular in England in the 14th century thanks to the travel writing of John Mandeville.

12. Wyvern

The Wyvern was a large winged reptile similar to a dragon – except for its having two rather than four legs.

13. Yale

Pliny is also responsible for the appearance of the Yale in medieval myth. This creature is described either as being like an antelope or a goat; except that in either case its horns are larger. The Yale has served as one of the heraldic animals of British royals since the reign of Henry VII.

14. Basilisk

The Basilisk was purportedly the king of the serpents and could kill in many different ways. Various authors believed that its breath, gaze, bite, touch and voice could all prove instantly fatal. In the writings of antiquity, the Basilisk was described as a small snake. But the Basilisks of medieval writers were larger, more intimidating creatures, often partially bird-like.

15. Centaur

Present in Mediterranean folklore since the Bronze Age, Centaurs were a widely known part of medieval folklore throughout Europe. They continued to be associated with the wine god Dionysus even in Christianised Europe and were a feature of Romanesque architectural motifs.

16. Blemmyes

Headless men were frequently included by classical and medieval accounts of distant lands. Africa in particular was believed to be home to these creatures and the name Blemmyes derives from a real group of north African nomads.

17. Crocotta

Possibly the result of exaggerated tales about hyenas, the Crocotta was variously part dog, part wolf or part lion. It was supposed to live in Africa or India and be extremely aggressive toward both humans and dogs.

18. Cynocephali

Cynocephali were a mythical species of dog-headed people. The term was frequently applied in a metaphorical way to suggest lack of civilisation and both Scandinavians and Africans were presented like this. In the Orthodox Church, Saint Christopher is usually shown as one of these.

19. Dragon

Dragons in European folklore are almost always hostile to humanity, except in Welsh and Bulgarian traditions. Dragons are four-legged, winged and fire breathing, according to the standard descriptions.

20. Griffin

The origins of Griffins are unclear and in the early Middle Ages their appearance is variable. By the 12th century it had become more regular, comprising the body of a lion with the head and wings of an eagle. It was popular in heraldry, symbolising the intelligence of the eagle combined with the bravery and strength of the lion.

Nonetheless, many medieval dog owners were no less affectionate and indulgent of their dogs than modern ones.

Guardians & hunters

The majority of medieval dogs had to work for a living and their most common vocation was as guard dogs either of homes or of goods and livestock. In this capacity dogs were found at all levels of society. Hunting dogs were also important, especially in aristocratic culture and they feature prominently in the sources left to us.

A hunt with dogs depicted in le Livre de la Chasse.

Unlike the mongrel guard dogs of merchants and shepherds, the practice of dog breeding (maybe of Roman origin) survived in the dogs of the aristocracy. Ancestors of many modern dog breeds are evident in medieval sources, including greyhounds, spaniels, poodles and mastiffs.

Greyhounds (a term that encompassed an array of sight hounds) were especially highly regarded and were seen as suitable gifts for princes. Greyhounds appeared in stories showcasing their prodigious intelligence and bravery.

One was even regarded as a saint for a while after it was unjustly killed, although the Church eventually abolished the tradition and destroyed its shrine.

Loyal companions

The most prized quality in a medieval dog was loyalty . Praising the loyalty and intelligence of his hounds 14th century hunter Gaston, Comte de Foix  wrote:

I speak to my hounds as I would to a man… and they understand me and do as I wish better than any man of my household, but I do not think that any other man can make them do as I do.

Illustration from Gaston de Foix’s Book of the Hunt.

Lords employed dog-boys, dedicated servants who were with the dogs at all times. The dogs slept in specially constructed kennels which were recommended to be cleaned daily and have fires to keep them warm.

Medieval lap dogs

Medieval author Christine de Pizan at work with her dog close by.

Aside from aiding hunters, dogs were also companions for more sedentary lifestyles. Lapdogs had existed in ancient Rome but by the 13th century they were again becoming prominent among noblewomen.

This fashion didn’t go down well with all, however, and some saw dogs as a distraction from more noble pursuits. The author of the 16th century Holinshead Chronicle accused dogs of being ‘instruments of follie to play and dallie withal, in trifling away the treasure of time, to withdraw [women’s] minds from more commendable exercises’.

Unsurprisingly, this rant was of little interest to the dog lovers and lapdogs remained a fixture of the aristocratic home.

Dogs in the Church

A nun depicted clutching her lap dog in an illuminated manuscript.

Dogs were a fixture of the medieval church as well and monks and nuns habitually flouted rules prohibiting pets. Theirs were not the only dogs present in medieval religious life and it seems that lay people bringing their dogs to church was not uncommon. Church leaders were unimpressed by all this; in the 14th century the Archbishop of York irritably observed that they ‘impede the service and hinder the devotion of the nuns’.

None of this should suggest that medieval dogs had easy lives. Like the humans of the Middle Ages they suffered early deaths from disease or violence and like the dogs of today some of them had neglectful or abusive owners.

There is nonetheless a strong suggestion in medieval art and writing that the dog owners of the Middle Ages had an emotional bond with their animals very much like the one we have with our present day pets.

Like people today, historical cultures kept cats for practical purposes as well as enjoying them for their decorative, amusing and comforting qualities. Here are 3 examples of how peoples of the Medieval Period lived with cats.

1. Islamic World

Cats had been highly regarded in the Near East before the emergence of Islam but as the religion spread in the region it adopted this aspect of local tradition. They were common pets at all levels of society for both men and women.

Abu Hurairah, whose name translates literally as father of the kitten, was important in cementing cats’ popularity in the Islamic world. He was a companion of Muhammad and many stories about his life revolve around cats. He is supposed to have cared for them, sheltering them from the sun and providing food for stray cats from the mosque which he was in charge of.

Islamic tradition holds that cats are ritually clean and therefore they were seen as more suitable pets than dogs or other ‘unclean’ animals. This led to their presence being seen as accepted in homes and even mosques.

2. Europe

Cats did not always have an easy life in medieval Europe. Unlike dogs, who had enjoyed privileged places in human homes at least since the days of the Roman Empire, cats were seen more ambivalently.

Cats were associated with evil and formed part of various superstitions. As a result they were often persecuted in times of crisis particularly during the black death. In the Flemish town of Ypres this violence was ritualised in the Kattentoet, a festival where cats were flung from the belfry tower in the town square.

Cats weren’t hated universally though and many people kept them to deal with mice and rats. In this capacity they became pets and companions too.

There’s evidence that Europe’s medieval cat owners really bonded with their pets despite society’s suspicion of their animals.

Cats were common pets in monasteries where they were kept for their mousing skills, but often treated more as pets. The most famous example of this was Pangur Ban, a 9th century cat from an Irish monastery who became the subject of a poem by an anonymous Irish monk.

3. East Asia

In China there was a long history of cat ownership and like in the Islamic world they were generally held in high regard.

They were first introduced to Chinese households to deal with mice, but by the Song dynasty they were also kept as pets. Some cats, like the lion-cat, were bred specifically for their looks in order to make them more appealing pets.

In Japan too cats were viewed positively due to their status as good luck symbols. They were popular among silk makers who used them to kill the mice which preyed on the silk worms. This relationship is commemorated in a shrine on Tashirojima island.