Guess that Medieval Beast 3

         It’s time for another round of everyone’s favorite game!  This one is a little different because unlike most of our creatures, the craziness of today’s beast is not the standard medieval portrayal.  It appears to be the rather random personal interpretation of the illustrator of a copy of Der naturen bloeme from the first quarter of the fourteenth century.  I cannot read the medieval Dutch text to see whether there’s any clue as to why this illuminator thought the beast should look like this, and I certainly can’t think of any reason in the usual descriptions of the creature.  So, being forewarned that it’s random, make your guess!

        Lynx!

        Some bestiaries portray the lynx as a fairly generic beast, more canine-looking than feline.  However, when the lynx is portrayed with a distinctive iconography, it looks like it’s peeing on a ball.  This is because the urine of the lynx hardens into a precious stone, and that’s what we’re actually seeing in the illustrations.  The lynx covers its urine in sand (which certainly sounds like a cat) to keep people from finding the flame-colored stone.  The other possible reason for covering the urine is to make it harden into stone more quickly.  Neither explanation really gives a reason for why the the lynx should care, since no one mentions that 

it actually has any use for the stone itself.  The stone seems to have the general properties of amber.  The other important fact about lynxes is that their eyesight is so sharp they can see through walls.

        I’ve included a couple of peeing lynxes.  The first is not at all subtle.  The second is a little more discreetly difficult to see, but at least the small stone is accurately flame-colored.

[Pictures: Lynx, illumination from Der naturen bloeme, c 1300-1325 (Image from the British Library);

Lynx, illumination from the Bestiary of Joachim of Fiore, end of 13th century (Image from Digital Bodleian);

Lynxes, illumination from the “Rochester” bestiary, c 1230-1240 (Image from the British Library).]