Bees
I am currently researching a paper about bees, and have acquired a reputation as something of a bee-man, at least temporarily. The medieval and classical associations with bees are both interesting and varied, and I thought I might post a few, since owlfish has listed on her page that I "Sometimes" speak of Medieval topics in my journal, and I thus feel obligated to actually perform to that standard. The following are some personal favourites, from a general-interest perspective, mainly bits that I found amusing.
**Things beyond the ken of men:
"...in the judgement of Irish folk tradition, Obair na mbeach ('The work of the bees')--together with Intinn na mban ('The mind of women') and Imeacht agus teacht na taoide ('The coming and going of the tide')--was one of the few things which seem to have surpassed even Aristotle's understanding." (1)
**Regarding the Placement of a Beehive:
"Haec autem in parte vallis, et ut vacuae cum prodeunt pabulatum apes, facilius editoribusadvolent, et collectis utensilibus cum onere per proclivia non aegre devolent." (2)
["It should be situated in the bottom of a valley, that the empty bees, when they go forth to feed, may be able to more easily fly to higher ground, and also, when they have collected what they require, they may fly with their burden on a down-hill course without any difficulty."]
**Regarding the Queen-Bee:
Though Aristotle and those who follow after him all believe the chiefest bee to be a King, on account of the fact that he is seen more as a monarch than as a egg-producer (bees were generally believed to reproduce asexually or hermaphroditically), the Anglo-Saxons seem to have used the word beomoder "bee-mother" for the queen, for a reason I do not yet know--perhaps they were more enlightened as to the gender of the bee? Perhaps they just preferred to think of bees as matriarchal?
**Concerning the Origins of Bees:
"Many people have proved that these creatures are born from the corpses of dead cows. The flesh of dead calves is beaten in order to bring them forth, so that out of the rotting blood maggots may be created which finally turn into bees. As a matter of fact, one ought more accurately to say that bees are born of oxen, hornets from horses, drones from mules, and wasps from donkeys." (3)
King James Bible: Judges 14
5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
**The Bee as a Fertility Drug
There is apparently an Irish folk belief that a bee, if swallowed by a woman having trouble conceiving, would make her fertile and reverse barrenness. (1)
(1) From Seamus O Cathain, "Bee for Brigit" in Mac Mathuna, S. and A. O. Corrain, eds. Miscellanea Celtica in Memoriam Heinrich Wagner Uppsala 1997
(2) Columella, De Re Rustica, book IX, chapter V. Text and translation from the Loeb edition
(3) From the bestiary translated by T. H. White as The Book of Beasts Jonathan Cape, London 1955
**Things beyond the ken of men:
"...in the judgement of Irish folk tradition, Obair na mbeach ('The work of the bees')--together with Intinn na mban ('The mind of women') and Imeacht agus teacht na taoide ('The coming and going of the tide')--was one of the few things which seem to have surpassed even Aristotle's understanding." (1)
**Regarding the Placement of a Beehive:
"Haec autem in parte vallis, et ut vacuae cum prodeunt pabulatum apes, facilius editoribusadvolent, et collectis utensilibus cum onere per proclivia non aegre devolent." (2)
["It should be situated in the bottom of a valley, that the empty bees, when they go forth to feed, may be able to more easily fly to higher ground, and also, when they have collected what they require, they may fly with their burden on a down-hill course without any difficulty."]
**Regarding the Queen-Bee:
Though Aristotle and those who follow after him all believe the chiefest bee to be a King, on account of the fact that he is seen more as a monarch than as a egg-producer (bees were generally believed to reproduce asexually or hermaphroditically), the Anglo-Saxons seem to have used the word beomoder "bee-mother" for the queen, for a reason I do not yet know--perhaps they were more enlightened as to the gender of the bee? Perhaps they just preferred to think of bees as matriarchal?
**Concerning the Origins of Bees:
"Many people have proved that these creatures are born from the corpses of dead cows. The flesh of dead calves is beaten in order to bring them forth, so that out of the rotting blood maggots may be created which finally turn into bees. As a matter of fact, one ought more accurately to say that bees are born of oxen, hornets from horses, drones from mules, and wasps from donkeys." (3)
King James Bible: Judges 14
5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
**The Bee as a Fertility Drug
There is apparently an Irish folk belief that a bee, if swallowed by a woman having trouble conceiving, would make her fertile and reverse barrenness. (1)
(1) From Seamus O Cathain, "Bee for Brigit" in Mac Mathuna, S. and A. O. Corrain, eds. Miscellanea Celtica in Memoriam Heinrich Wagner Uppsala 1997
(2) Columella, De Re Rustica, book IX, chapter V. Text and translation from the Loeb edition
(3) From the bestiary translated by T. H. White as The Book of Beasts Jonathan Cape, London 1955