I am presently preparing a paper on barnacle geese, i.e. goose-like birds
who, according to medieval legend, aren't hatched from eggs but grow on
trees or rotten wood. There are numerous descriptions of the bird in
medieval bestiaries, travel literature, encyclopedias etc. I am
particularly interested in the barnacle's place in medieval diet; i.e the
controversy over the eating of the barnacle goose during Lent. (this
question has been partly studied by Florike Egmond and Peter Mason in their
recent article on the barnacle goose in the Journal of Collections)
Gerald of Wales reproaches irish monks for eating barnacles during lent
and refutes their argument that barnacles aren't meat since they don't
procreate in the normal way. According to Alexandre Nequam the advocates
of the eating of barnacles during lent claim the bird to be a fish. Jacques
de Vitry, Thomas of Cantimpre and Vincent of Beauvais make comparable
statements. According to the latter, Innoncent III forbade the eating of
barnacles at Lateran IV. Vincent doesn't identify his sources, and I
haven't found anything in Alberigo, nor in Innocent's letters on the cd
rom of the Patrologia latina. Has any one come across other references to
the eating of barnacles, or of other ambiguous animals (waterfowl, beaver)?
I'd be very gratefull for any suggestions.
Maaike van der Lugt
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