With Paula Findlen's permission, I am forwarding a question she asked that
stumped me. I figured someone on this list would know something.
laura smoller
>
>I'm trying out a question on a few medievalists: can anyone tell me the
>origins of the idea of hanging crocodiles in churches? Katy [Park] has a
>few pages
>on this in her Wonders book, as does Salvatore Settis in his history of
>medieval art; I've also looked in the usual bestiaries. But I have yet to
>find a source, primary or secondary, that really nails down when and why
>this practice originated. It was commonly known still in the sixteenth and
>seventeenth centuries -- in fact, was one of the things that Catholic
>reformers hoped to purge from the church.
>
>Any help would be most appreciated.
>
Laura Smoller
Department of History
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 South University Ave.
Little Rock, AR 72204-1099
tel 501-569-8389
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|