Dragons
Here be Dragons!
‘Amongst all the kindes of Serpents, there is none comparable to the Dragon, or that affordeth and yeeldeth so much plentiful matter in history for the ample discovery of the nature thereof’.
Edward Topsell, The History of Serpents (London, 1608), p. 153.[1]
From our earliest myths to contemporary films such as How to train your Dragon and Dragon Heart, dragons have captured our imagination. From stories about specific dragons, such as the ‘Dragon of Bologna’ or the ‘Basilisk of Warsaw’, to explorations on the history and nature of dragons, early modern scholars were as addicted to the topic as we are today – and Worth was no exception. His library includes possibly the most famous early modern text on dragons, Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Serpentum, et draconum historiæ libri duo (Bologna, 1640).
Ulisse Aldrovandi, Serpentum, et draconum historiæ libri duo (Bologna, 1640), title page.
Aldrovandi’s text includes a large array of different types of dragons. The book, written to cash in on the addition to his collection of the ‘Dragon of Bologna’ in 1572, was not printed during his lifetime but was edited by his assistant Bartholomeo Ambrosini (1588-1657), and published as part of a set of Aldrovandi’s works in 1640. Worth bought the entire Aldrovandi set from a 1724 auction of the library of an earlier French collector, Louis-Henri Lomenie (1635-1698), Comte de Brienne, whose coat of arms included a depiction of the fairy Melusine (whose dragon connections are outlined in the webpage of the same name).
Dragon imagery pervades Worth’s collection – not just in books specifically on serpents and dragons such as Aldrovandi’s, but they also crop up on allegorical title pages such as that of Juan Caramuel Lobkowitz’s Phillipus Prudens Caroli V Imp. Filius (Antwerp, 1639), which depicts a lion slaying a dragon. Some have obvious religious connotations: an angel slays a dragon in a vignette in Ludovico Antonio Muratori’s Rerum Italicarum scriptores (Milan, 1723), and of course the theme of St. George and the Dragon is visible in works such as Hipolito Samper y Gordejuela’s Montesa ilustrada (Valencia, 1669).
Image of a dragon in Johann Zahn, Oculus artificialis teledioptricus sive telescopium (Nuremberg, 1702), p. 210.
Aldrovandi was not the only natural historian to include images and descriptions of dragons, winged or otherwise, in his works. The Dutch physician and naturalist, Willem Piso (1611-1678), included a picture of a dragon in his book on the natural history and medicine of India, De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica libri (Amsterdam, 1658), and dragons even appeared in a book on optics – Worth’s copy of Johann Zahn’s Oculus artificialis teledioptricus sive telescopium (Nuremberg, 1702). Worth’s collection of books on natural history includes some of the earliest depictions of winged dragons: Les obseruations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorable (Paris, 1588), of Pierre Belon (1517?-1564), reprised his famous 1553 illustration and the famous winged dragon of Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679), makes an appearance in Francisco Hernandez’s Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium Mexicanorum historia (Rome, 1651). Joannes Jonstonus (1603-1675), included an array of dragons in his Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus libri (Amsterdam, 1657), which was likewise collected by Worth.
Image of a marine dragon in Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia: cum paralipomenis historiæ omnium animalium. Bartholomæus Ambrosinus … labore, et studio volumen composuit; Marcus Antonius Bernia in lucem edidit (Bologna, 1642): Paralipomena, p. 156.
Dragons came in all shapes and sizes. The very plethora of shapes and meanings ascribed to them makes tracking dragons difficult. Perhaps the principal problem lies in the terminology, for what constituted a dragon was not always agreed. For instance, Aldrovandi included basilisks in his section on dragons (as we have done here), but others suggest that the basilisk should more properly be classed as a serpent. But what type of serpent? Some sea serpents fall into the dragon category – for example the Lernean Hydra of the ancient world is comprehensively described by Kendall et al. as ‘a many-headed serpent-dragon water monster of Greek mythology’.[2] And in this exhibition we have included images of the Sea Serpent of Norway, first described by Olaus Magnus (1490-1557), and subsequently included in Conrad Gessner’s Historiae Animalium (1558). Equally, depictions of various ‘marine dragons’ may be found in the Worth Library.
As Evans notes, the various Latin terms used to signify a dragon added to this confusion for while some such as ‘draco’ were clear, other terms, such as ‘serpens’, ‘vipera’ and ‘anguis’ could also be used interchangeably to describe a dragon and a serpent.[3] Indeed Kendall et al. point out that ‘draco’ came from the Greek word drákon, which means serpent.[4] In order to avoid confusion Evans suggests the following definition of a dragon as one who bears:
The name (Greek drákon, Latin draco, Old English draca, Old Norse dreki, German Drache, Welsh draig, Old Irish drauc, and so on) and … those that – under any denomination – exhibit the general features of dragon morphology: serpent-like creatures of exceptional size, with wings, claws, and a tail, breathing fire and/or poison, guarding treasure, living in remote areas (whether on land, or in or near water), and acting as antagonists to divine, heroic, or chivalric warriors.[5]
Image of the ouroboros in Michael Maier, Secretioris naturae secretorum scrutinium chymicum (Frankfurt, 1687), Epigram XIV.
Perhaps one of the most famous sea serpents of all may be found among the dragons included by Michael Maier in his Secretioris naturae secretorum scrutinium chymicum (Frankfurt, 1687): Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent, was, according to Norse mythology, a child of Loki which had taken serpent form and which encircled the world. Depicted as biting its own tail, it was said that when it stopped biting its tail Ragnarok would ensue. The similarity between Jörmungandr and the ouroborus (an image of infinity), ensured that it became a favourite alchemical symbol.
Emblem XXV of Michael Maier, Secretioris naturae secretorum scrutinium chymicum (Frankfurt, 1687), p. 73.
Worth’s copy of Michael Maier’s Secretioris naturae secretorum scrutinium chymicum (Frankfurt, 1687), was not his only text to include dragons as alchemical symbols for he also collected Elias Ashmole’s heavily illustrated alchemical compendium. Maier used dragons in two of his epigrams: the caption of the second, shown here, declares that ‘A dragon cannot be killed unless it is by a brother and sister who are Sun and Moon’. This linkage of the Sun and Moon with dragons is also visible in the illustration of the alchemical dragon in Ashmole’s work and reflects the dragon’s role as an icon of the alchemical process itself.
An Alchemical dragon from Elias Ashmole, Theatrum chemicum Britannicum … (London, 1652), Sig. 2F1v.
Sources
Aldrovandi, Ulisse, Serpentum, et draconum historiæ libri duo (Bologna, 1640).
Aldrovandi, Ulisse, Monstrorum historia: cum paralipomenis historiæ omnium animalium. Bartholomæus Ambrosinus … labore, et studio volumen composuit; Marcus Antonius Bernia in lucem edidit (Bologna, 1642).
Ashmole, Elias, Theatrum chemicum Britannicum … (London, 1652).
Evans, Jonathan D., ‘The Dragon’, in Malcolm South (ed.), Mythical and Fabulous Creatures. A Source Book and Research Guide (New York and London, 1987), pp 27-58.
Kendall, Laurel, & Mark A. Norell with Richard Ellis, Mythic Creatures and the impossibly real animals who inspired them. American Museum of Natural History exhibition (New York, 2016).
Maier, Michael, Secretioris naturae secretorum scrutinium chymicum (Frankfurt, 1687).
Topsell, Edward, The History of Serpents (London, 1608).
Zahn, Johann, Oculus artificialis teledioptricus sive telescopium (Nuremberg, 1702).
Text: Dr. Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin.
[1] This book is not in the Worth Library.
[2] Laurel Kendall, & Mark A. Norell with Richard Ellis, Mythic Creatures and the impossibly real animals who inspired them. American Museum of Natural History exhibition (New York, 2016), p. 132.
[3] Jonathan D. Evans, ‘The Dragon’, in Malcolm South (ed.), Mythical and Fabulous Creatures. A Source Book and Research Guide (New York and London, 1987), p. 28.
[4] Kendall et al. Mythic Creatures, p. 132.
[5] Evans, ‘The Dragon’, p. 28.