Incendiary "bestiary" or reality

Aerinsol · 22nd June 2014, 12:08 PM

This may not be a very "civilized" topic, but nevertheless it can be found in more than one Firework-Book from the late medieval period on...

Just yesterday I stumbled across a recipe for an incendiary mass to use on cats or doves:

It's from a book called "Liber illuministarum" written around 1500 by monks in Tegernsee monastery, Germany. This book is a collection of mainly artisans recipes for paints, gilding etc. but it also contains amongst others some medical recipes and a few concerning fireworks.

I will not quote the recipe fully as not to encourage cruelty, but here is the main part:

"Recipe ... vnd bestreich ain tauben oder ain katzen damit / vnd wo die sunn an sye kumbt so wirt sy prinnen / oder von dem Regen/"

transl.: "Recipe ... and smear it on a dove or on a cat / and when the sun shines on it it will burn / or because of rain/"

If this was really used I don't know - most of the recipes in this book were written down for the use of the monastery's scriptorium and are valuable sources of art history. Some recipes though just don't work and some are really strange, kind of magical:

"Item ayn geyers zungen trag pey dir in dem streyt So wirst nit der slagen"

transl.: "Carry the tongue of a vulture with you to war and you will not be slain"

Historians believe the "Liber illuministarum" was a collection of simply EVERY recipe the monks heard of - wether it was really used, appoved of or just strange, they wrote it down...

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22nd June 2014, 12:08 PM	#6
Aerinsol Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 2	This may not be a very "civilized" topic, but nevertheless it can be found in more than one Firework-Book from the late medieval period on... Just yesterday I stumbled across a recipe for an incendiary mass to use on cats or doves: It's from a book called "Liber illuministarum" written around 1500 by monks in Tegernsee monastery, Germany. This book is a collection of mainly artisans recipes for paints, gilding etc. but it also contains amongst others some medical recipes and a few concerning fireworks. I will not quote the recipe fully as not to encourage cruelty, but here is the main part: "Recipe ... vnd bestreich ain tauben oder ain katzen damit / vnd wo die sunn an sye kumbt so wirt sy prinnen / oder von dem Regen/" transl.: "Recipe ... and smear it on a dove or on a cat / and when the sun shines on it it will burn / or because of rain/" If this was really used I don't know - most of the recipes in this book were written down for the use of the monastery's scriptorium and are valuable sources of art history. Some recipes though just don't work and some are really strange, kind of magical: "Item ayn geyers zungen trag pey dir in dem streyt So wirst nit der slagen" transl.: "Carry the tongue of a vulture with you to war and you will not be slain" Historians believe the "Liber illuministarum" was a collection of simply EVERY recipe the monks heard of - wether it was really used, appoved of or just strange, they wrote it down...