What was a beaver's superpower? What did owls mean? And how did animals graduate from bestiaries into the realm of heraldry?
Medieval bestiaries are wondrously colourful worlds, blending fact with fiction, morality with mythology. They represent an understanding of the physical world, but also fulfilled the need for symbolic creatures to supplement biblical stories, offering a wide array of noble or crude behaviours with which to compare ourselves. What happened if you chased a bonnacon? What was a beaver's superpower? What did owls mean? And how did animals graduate from bestiaries into the realm of heraldry? In the course of an hour, we'll explore all these and more.
How to book this event:
Guests are welcome in person for £7 at DORFORD CENTRE. Guests wishing to book a zoom link (£7) should do so via Ticket Source, found by clicking this link
THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER
Dr Jonathan Foyle
Dr Jonathan Foyle is not an 'establishment' academic, but uses the original research he has gained over a 25-year practical career in the world of historic buildings and applied arts to inform architectural conservation projects, broadcasts, books, articles, and talks for groups including the Arts Society. A former Curator at Hampton Court, and Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain for eight years, he has authored seven volumes on great cathedrals and castles, and is best known for presenting series such as BBC2's Broadcast Award-winning Climbing Great Buildings and contributing to series like Channel 4's Time Team and currently Channel 5's Secrets of the Palaces. His talks combine humour with personal insights to offer in-depth and fresh analyses of architecture, furnishings, sculpture, paintings and their all-important symbolism, through which we can better understand them.
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