The History and Topography of Ireland
Continuing the bestiary of Ireland theme I present here some excerpts from The History and Topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis 1185 AD. Aside from the topographical and geographical information it also contains descriptions of such delights as
A woman with a beard and a mane on her back
Duvenaldus, the king of Limerick, had a woman that had a beard down to her waist. She had also a crest fom her neck down along her spine, like a one year-old foal. It was covered with hair. This woman in spite of these two enormities was nevertheless not hermaphrodite, and was in other respects sufficiently feminine,.She followed neither fatherland nor nature in having a hairy spine; but in wearing her beard long, she was following the custom of her fatherland, not her nature.
A man that was half an ox and an ox that was half an man
In the neighbourhood of Wicklow,.an extraordinary man was seen , if indeed it be right to call him a man. He had all the parts of the human body except the extremities which were those of an ox. From the joinings of the hands with the arms and the feet with the legs, he had hooves the same as an ox. He had no hair on his head, but was disfigured with baldness both in front and behind,His eyes were huge and were like those of an ox both in colour, and in being round. His face was flat as far as his mouth. Instead of a nose he had two holes to act as nostrils, but no protuberance. He could not speak at all; he could only low. He attended the court of Maurice for a long time. He came to dinner every day and, using his cleft hooves as hands, placed in his mouth whatever was given him to eat.
Shortly before the coming of the English into the island a cow from a man’s intercourse with her , a particular vice of that people , gave birth to a man-calf in the mountains around Glendalough. It spent nearly a year with the other calves following its mother and feeding on her milk, and then, because it had more of the man than the beast, was transferred to the society of men.
There a many other descriptions but I’ll leave you with Gerald’s thoughts on the Irish.
They are a filthy people, wallowing in vice,they do not avoid incest. They do not attend God’s church with due reverence,.Moreover, above all other peoples they always practice treachery. When they give their word to anyone they do not keep it. They do not blush or fear to violate everyday the bond of their pledge and oath given to others , although they are very keen that it should be observed in regard to themselves.
You must be more afraid of their wile than their war; their friendship than their fire; their honey that their hemlock; their shrewdness than their soldiery; their betrayals than their battle lines; their specious friendship than their enmity despised. For this is their principle: ‘Who asks of an enemy whether he employs guile or virtue?’ These are their characteristics: they are neither strong in war, nor reliable in peace.
The book is out of print but Amazon has several copies available. This book and the previous post on Mystery Animals of Britain and Ireland were found via the excellent Fustar. Check him out he and his cohorts are admirably well informed on such matters.