medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
spider bits might indeed be deadly if the person bitten is not particularly
healthy or well nourished--probably a status shared by many medieval folks.
on a completely different topic--and maybe jo anne mcnamara will know--do
we have any sense for any particular time in the middle ages of the
percentage of men and women in monastic life. i know there are some stats
for numbers of priests in medieval england (although don't remember them).
kit french
At 07:50 AM 3/14/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Equating spiders with toxicity is not the same as assuming that they are
>lethal. Probably all spiders are toxic to some degree, but the degree of
>toxicity involved in a given spider bite is usually rather small. There
>are, however, a few highly toxic spiders in Europe: that they are usually
>not encountered by humans may account for the lack of concern on this
>score by most Europeans but it does not render bites administered by these
>species any less painful and worrisome to those humans who do experience them.
>
>Probably the best known poisonous spider in southern Europe is the
>malmignatte (Fr.; in Italian, malmignatta), Latrodectus tredecimguttatus.
>A close relative of the American spider called Black Widow, it also bears
>that name in Spain (Viuda Negra). Its bites can cause partial paralysis
>and in exceptional cases perhaps death. The ancient Greek writer Aelian
>describes in his _Historia animalium_ an arachnid called the "grape
>spider" that is sometimes thought to be this species and whose bite he
>calls instantly lethal. That's certainly an exaggeration (assuming that
>Aelian's spider in question is not wholly fictitious). But such
>exaggerations have the beneficial effect of securing avoidance on the part
>of humans who otherwise would experience painful bites. I would look for
>the origins of such folklore in precisely this sort of cautionary formulation.
>
>Another poisonous spider of Europe is the Mediterranean recluse
>(Loxosceles rufescens), a close relative of the Brown recluse and now
>found in the U.S. as well. See
>http://www.uark.edu/depts/entomolo/museum/browrec.html
>
>Best,
>John Dillon
>
>
>On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 09:21:17 +0000
> Rob Howe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> >I can't contribute myself to this fascinating discussion but it has prompted
> >a question in my head that someone may be able to answer:
> >
> >I notice that the medieval spider trope used in the examples given to the
> >list so far equates spiders with toxicity. Now, I know _some_ spiders are
> >venemous (although are there any of these lethal spiders in Europe at
> >all???), but it is not an overiding concern of most Europeans nowadays to
> >worry about dying from spider bites.
> >
> >Where did this rather paranoid equation between spiders and
> >lethality/death/toxicity come from?
> >
> >Thanks if anyone knows the history to this folklore.
> >
> >Rob Howe.
> >
>
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