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The idea of evolution is ancient. This topic is still a very controversial issue and

divides society into two groups. Some people debate whether to accept nature’s way of

existing, how is depicted in the Bible, or some accept the theory of science. Philosophers

admired science not because there were facts with the results, but also in science, there is no

right or wrong answer until one scientist comes and proves his method of thinking about the

topic. Great philosophers have always been sceptics about something, and that is how they

created their way of thinking. However, the creation of a man is a controversial topic and

even sometimes scientists with facts have difficult times in front of religion. But it is better to

examine what contradicts between religion and science before looking deeply to the

mythology of man.1 Religion and science have something common to look at history and

without watching the history, it would be hard to have a knowledge of human nature. For

example, history will give us how the first human-like species looked like and their physical

change over the time, and it’s certainly very significant point to understand pre-human

history.

On the first day, God created heaven and earth and light
and darkness; on the second he made the firmament and divided
the waters; on the third day He separated land from the seas and
created the land plants; on the fourth day He created the sun,
moon, and other celestial bodies; on the fifth day animals in the
sea and birds in the air came into being; on the sixth day the land
animals appeared, and God also created, in his own image, two
human beings. (King James version of the Bible, Genesis 1:1-10
was 4004 B.C.)

1John A. Moore, From Genesis to Genetics (Berkeley, US: University of California Press,
2002), 26.

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This paper aims to give some examples of apes and their relationship with humans.

Also, it will carefully analyse the ways the artists illustrated apes during the Middle Ages.

They are the closest relatives of human beings and they are the animals that were discussed a

lot by ancient scholars and even today’s scientists and historians try to understand their

similarities. This paper will look at apes in different illustrations and stories such as fables,

bestiaries and their associations with the devil. The paper will have subheadings of these

sections, and it will be examining in this aspect thematically rather than chronologically.

After looking at ape illustrations, the paper will continue to discuss their scientific aspect by

looking at Aristotle, Hildegard of Bingen and more. Moreover, the paper will explore some

illustrations of apes from the time when Christianity gained popularity during the Middle

Ages. Throughout the paper, I will argue that the physical similarities between apes and men

will help us to analyse whether apes are an adequate allegory of humans or not.

There are so many species of animals, plants, and many other livings around the

world since the creation. Christian fundamentalists believe the stories from Genesis where the

creation was six days, and God created all the nature. Genesis was the only document for the

people of the Middle Ages which described the origin of the animals. According to Genesis,

everyone, animals, and humans, were living peacefully until Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s

rules by eating the forbidden fruit. God punished Adam and Eve and banned them from the

Garden of Eden, and it goes in this pattern; God creates all the animals and then Adam gives

their names and Noah saves all the animals from a flood. 2

2Janetta Rebold Benton, The Medieval Menagerie: Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages
(New York: Abbeville Press, 1992), 23.

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This is a short version of creation by divine power which is based on the readings of

Genesis. Creationists believe the idea that all creatures that were created since the first day

remained the same, and there has been no evolution. Most people probably never question

whether or not the story based on creation. Creationists believe on faith, in more details

where they believe that Genesis is the only source that provides real meaning of the living

species. But evolutionists who do not follow the Christian fundamentalists’ beliefs on

creation think that there is an accurate version as well. Christian fundamentalists often argued

that their theory of creation has more facts to claim than science itself. The fundamentalists

do not deny the elements of science; however they believe other elements have to identify

the relationship between organisms that created the Earth.

Some medieval artists illustrated the story of the Creation in figure 1 and this bestiary

depicts the Creation of the World, and the story includes the creation of the first man, Adam,

and the nature of the animals.3 The story of creation is the first act of the bible, and this

illustration is a good example of an iconographical variety of animals. A first look at the

figure shows that there are many different types of animals, including fox, birds, reptiles, and

fish. However, the creatures were paired, and most of them are not engaged with the

viewer ,but one creature there if it’s looked in carefully is gazing right at the viewer. The

animal is known as a sinister, which is the ape.

Most of the time the ape was associated with Devil because of their similarities with

each other. Often the apes are illustrated with no tail and so was Satan. Satan began as an

angel in heaven, and then God punished him and forced him to leave heaven, and he also lost

3Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape; a Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1967), 1.

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his tail. In this bestiary, only Adam and the ape are engaging with the viewer. Adam was

punished and banned from the Garden of Eden, and he became sinful so as the ape known as

a sinister. The bestiaries were made to explore the animals and to explain their significance

within the Christian world.4

Contrary to Creationists, scientists have studied the universe and observed the world

since the first evidence of life. They do not only believe the Genesis story, but they believe

that there is more out in the world to discover to understand evolution. But then again it is a

very controversial subject because people said why should we believe in some scientists’

words more than Divine power? Science versus religion always fought over the years about

many other things: they both seem reliable but on the other hand, science has more proof and

facts about the evolution and the similarities of some animals to humans than does Genesis.

During the Middle Ages as during most other times, depicting animals were popular

among artists. Most of the time religious artists (which in that time most of them were

religious or had to follow the Church’s rules), they mostly depicted the stories of the creation.

The bestiaries were the best source to people to give religious lessons and to show animal

behaviours. During the Middle Ages, science was not as advanced as today’s science.

Zoology is a term coined in modern times which examines animal behaviours. This field of

study of animals was not visible or never existed in the Middle Ages. The authors and the

artists of the time used the ancient Greek and Roman authors’ ideas without questioning. As

Janette Benton said in her book called The Medieval Menagerie, if Aristotle said something

about animals it would be a very significant sufficient fact for the later authors to use the

4 Ibid. , 2.

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same idea as Aristotle.5 This research method of unquestioning the ideas about animals from

ancient authors was because of the religious teachings and not based on reasoning and

experimenting with the animals.

Animals have an important place in the Middle Ages. Ancient writers and artists

mainly used the animals as symbols and did not look at them scientifically. This approach to

animals, both real and fantastic, eventually shaped the concept of animals in the Middle Ages.

There are so many references to apes from the ancient times to today. During the Ancient

Greek and Roman times, the ape was known as a faulty and lower version, of humans.

Aristotle talked about them in his book called The History of Animals and said that apes have

a status between quadrupeds and humans. He describes the features of apes and compares

each part of their body to similarities of humans. This notion continued in the Middle Ages

and during Middle Ages apes were associated as a symbol of the devil. 6

The relationship between apes and humans has been examined carefully in literature

and the arts. Apes would be known as the most similar creature in the animal world to

humans. The apes are known for their similarities of form and behaviour to humans, and it’s

hard to deny those similarities. Throughout history, they were represented differently in

different mediums. They had both positive and negative symbolisations in both literature and

art. Sometimes they symbolise the social class and sometimes their names were associated

with the devil. The writer of ““Preventing “Monkey Business” Fettered Apes in the Middle

5 Benton, The Medieval Menagerie: Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages, 26.

6 Aristotle, and D. M. Balme, History of Animals (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1991)

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Ages”” Thierry Buquet, gives an example of monkeys that used to be pets at home.7 They

were known as high-class pets to own in the houses. Count William, who lived in Liguria in

Italy around the eleventh century, owned a monkey as a pet. In addition, nobles, kings and

other high class people of that time loved seeing apes on the court, and they were known as a

8
sign of wealth. From the twelfth century, their popularity has risen, and artists illustrated

them in the Middle Ages. They were mostly seen in the margins of medieval art. The apes

were mainly symbolic figures of the illustrations. After Antiquity, in Medieval times, the apes

were represented as a malicious creature in many medieval manuscripts.

MARGINALIA

The historians have always been interested with Medieval marginalia. Marginalia

means anything drawn around the margin of a text. In the medieval art, marginalia meant any

text and illustrations occurred outside the text. Most of the times the pictures were used to

help the viewer to understand the text. However, it was not always the case in the margins of

medieval art. In Image on the Edge, Michael Camille observes the margin in medieval art. A

marginal detail from a book of hours in figure 2 called ‘A nun suckling a monkey’. The

illustration is showing a religious scene. The nun represent the Virgin Mary, and the monkey

in this place is Jesus Christ. The monkey always associated with bad symbols and in this

illustration the monkey is symbolising some inhuman sin. As Camille says, the Virgin gave

birth to Christ and this action of a virgin giving birth is a sin. 9

7Thierry Buquet, “Preventing ‘Monkey Business’ Fettered Apes in the Middle Ages”
Medieval Animal Data Network. 23 June 2013.
8 Ibid.
9Michael Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard UP, 1992), 29.

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Another example Camille gives about the apes, is from Book of Hours at Terce in

figure 3, where there are so many wicked apes around the margins mimicking humans. The

opening words of the book start with; Deus in auditor (O Lord hear my prayer) and the letter

D is written in a bigger size than other letters. At the bottom of the page, there are three

playful monkeys gesturing and the wise men above. On the top left, a spiky-winged ape angel

with wings holding the tail of the D, and it looks like he is holding all the scene together.

Another ape that is holding Marguerite.10 In the end, the marginal creatures have created the

viewers to understand the text but in this case, the text seems very religious and even the

human figures are sacred, but the monkey around the margins are just imitating the human

figures within the margins.

THE ORIGINS OF APES

From the eleventh to the twelfth there are many visual and literary references to apes.

Since Antiquity, it was the first time apes were shown in the character and physical

appearance to even people in urban areas. These approaches to the animal gave an

opportunity to see apes in detail. As Buquet mentioned earlier, in the first half of the twelfth

century, apes were kept as expensive pets and were a way for to show off their wealth. In one

the ancient sources of Hugh of St. Victor was quoted in H. W. Janson’s book and he said

“even though the ape is the most vile, filthy, and detestable animal, the clerics like to keep it

in their houses and to display it in their windows, so as to impress the passing rabble with the

glory of their possessions.”11 This increasing familiarity of apes must have made it difficult to

10 Ibid. , 11.

H. W. Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance (London:
11

Warburg Institute, 1952), 30.

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associate the animal as figura diabolo. At the same time, their quasi-human looks and similar

behaviours with humans but their body size was not large enough to get scared and accept

them as the image of the devil. By the twelfth century, the growth of civilisation and

urbanisation increased the need for preachers who could entertain large noble audiences.

Animal tales were one of the sources the preachers used while entertaining the large crowd.

These stories contained moral teachings and could conclude a lesson. 12 (31).

FABLES

Apes were never illustrated as their real animal status as being an animal in Greek

and Roman fables. In the most famous and classic fables, the ape is placed in human status

since their intelligence was so high compared to other animal standards. They were places in

human rather than in animal settings. Some medieval animal stories were not religious, such

as Aesop’s fables, where the purpose of the fables is to give moral messages to people. One

of the approaches of symbolising animals is to show and to give moralistic lessons to

individuals in that time.

Most of the time medieval artists portrayed apes as ridiculous and foolish. Often these

tales were to show their lack of dignity of their own, and they were shown imperfectly

imitating their betters: humans, Salisbury says this about these classical tales of apes.13 One

of the most famous ancient tales is the story is illustrated in figure 4 where the ape gives

birth to twins and the mother loves and cares for one and the other she ignores and hates.

While the hunter would come so close to them and about to catch all of them but the mother

12 Ibid. , 31.
13Joyce E. Salisbury, The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages. (London: Routledge,
1994), 22.

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holds the one she loves so tight that she kills the baby with her love, and the other hated ape

child survives with her. 14

John Scotus was an Irish theologian lived around c.815-877 and one of the most

famous thinkers during the Middle Ages. He commented on the story of the mother ape as an

allegory to human nature where the loved one represents “the material world’s pleasures and

sins” and the hated one represents “spiritual virtues”.15 Furthermore, the hunter could

symbolically represent the devil who hunts the sinner and puts him in hell.

The theme was introduced with a new aspect by Avianus, who was known as a Latin

writer of fables during c.AD 400. In his story, the loved child is not left to death but perishes

on a different manner. His comment on the story is quoted in H. W. Janson’s book, “The

young that they love they carry in front, while the neglected ones cling to the mother.”16 In

the twelfth century, scholars used this theme a lot in the Bestiary and usually they used

Isidore of Seville’s research on ape in the 6th century. However in figure 2, they used Avianus

version of mother ape and the hunter.

Moreover, the catching an ape story must be very popular among the ancient authors

in that time. Another very well-known story is interpreted as the foolishness of the ape where

the hunter is trying to capture ape and he knows that ape would imitate his actions. In the

story the hunter goes to put on his pair of boots weighted with lead as the ape watches from a

distance, the hunter then leaves the treacherous boots behind. Then the ape comes and puts

14Aesop and J. M. Condé and George Fyler Townsend, Aesop's Fables (New York: Moffat,
Yard, 1905)
15 John Sorenson, Ape (London, GBR: Reaktion Books, 2009), 45.
16 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 32.

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the boots on and it makes ape impossible to move and quickly captured by the hunter. The

story illustrated in figure 5. Peter Damian used the story in the eleventh century, and he said

that the hunter symbolises the devil and he shows people to commit sins. 17

In Greek and Roman fables, the ape had never gained a sustainable character

compared to the rest of the animals displayed in the fables. Most of the time for other animals

it was easy to guess their symbolisation and mainly they did not symbolise for anything,

unlike the ape. Apes have been depicted as the trickster and deceiver and he was usually

insulted by the fox. Only once or twice was the ape represented in a superior role. The reason

why the ape was always depicted in that way was that the ancient scholars wanted to control

the ape. Their intelligence is so high compared to the rest of the animals, so the fabulists tried

to judge it by the human norm instead, so they appeared as stupid.18 Moreover, most fabulists

when they wanted to depict an ape placed them in human setting and not an animal

environment.

THE BESTIARY

During Middle Ages, stories of animals were very popular. People were interested in

their behaviours and their physical appearances. During medieval times people were very

religious; Christianity was dominant in Europe and Islam was dominant in Africa and the

Middle East. The Bible and The Quran contained so many stories of animals. People believed

17 Ibid. , 33.

18 Ibid. , 39.

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that God created animals to serve as an examples to humans.19 The phrase is taken from the

book of Job: "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they

will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the

life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:7-10)20. As people redundant

medieval times, they were interested in animals and had references to religious sources such

as the Bible.

The origin of the Bestiary comes from the Physiologus, which summarised the

knowledge about animals. Scholars think the Physiologus was written between second and

fourth century in Alexandria in Greece.21 The Bestiary was developed around the twelfth

century and used the Physiologus as it’s the main source. When the Bestiary used materials

from the Physiologus, the number of animals increased since the Physilogus illustrated

animals from North Africa and the Bestiary included others from Northern Europe.

Isidore of Seville around the seventh century wrote the Etymology. The Etymology

has more reference to the Bible and the animals represented in the Bible. He explained the

nature of animals and added more information by analysing their names. The Etymology was

written after the Physiologus. When the book of beasts or The Bestiary was created after

combining the Physiologus and the Etymology together. 22

19David Badke, "Medieval Bestiary : Introduction”, Medieval Bestiary : Introduction. 31

January 2010.
20 Book of Jobs, 12:7-10
21 Alan Scott, “The Date of the Physiologus”, Vigiliae Christianae. 430–441.
22"Medieval Bestiary : Isidore of Seville." Medieval Bestiary : Isidore of Seville. 16 January
2011.

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One of the illustrations of the Physilogus was illustrated in the ninth century. Most of

the illustrations had red frames around the text. The figures are placed in a very classical

model, and the pictures have lots of features of traditional art. Most of them are found on

walls and made in mosaics. The Physiologus had looked at two aspects of the ape which are:

their connections with the moon and their lack of tail, which made them similar with the

devil. This ancient source suggested that the new role of the ape as a sinner, more of the

victim of the devil rather than the devil himself.23 As it is illustrated, the hunter is hunting

them and she carries the loved one in front her and covers it around her arms. The other one

who she hates puts in on her back without any protection and she assumes if the hunter gets

close to them the hated one would be the first one to get harm. However, eventually, she gets

tired of running and drops the loved one and the other one whom she thought would be the

first to get harm survives. This story can be seen as the devil-theory and its proof of the ape’s

sinful nature.

Another aspect that was looked at in the Physiologus was the fact that the ape was

lacking a tail, and this was mentioned in the Physiologus and the author associated the ape

with the devil by this feature. There is a famous fable told by Phaedrus where the ape begs

the fox for part of its tail, and the fox rejects his want.24 Phaedrus may have been taking this

feature of the ape from the Physiologus. In the story the ape appears as a humble character

where he begs the fox for his tail (illustrated in the figure 5). As a reader, the situation of the

ape is very unfortunate. However, the ape already had a bad reputation, and it caused the

story to be directed as against the unhappy petitioner. Jacques de Vitry during the twelfth

23 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 30.
24 Ibid. , 37.

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century, looked at the fable as the fox represented the wealthy and the ape as the poor and it is

an example of the rich who refuse to share their wealth with the poor. There it was concluded

as “one must not put one’s faith in somebody else’s abundance.”.25 Furthermore, the fable

was looked at differently where the scholars said the tail symbolises his dignity and social

prestige.

One of the common themes of the ape in the bestiary is usually showing a mother ape

trying to escape from a hunter. There is a text following the bestiary was originally written in

Latin and then translated into English:

“Apes are called simie in Latin because the similarity between their mentality and that of
humans is felt to be great. Apes are keenly aware of the elements; they rejoice when the moon
is new and are sad when it wanes. A characteristic of the ape is that when a mother bears
twins, she loves one and despises the other. If it ever happens that she is pursued by hunters,
she carries the one she loves before her in her arms and the one she detests on her shoulders.
But when she is tired of going upright, she deliberately drops the one she loves and
reluctantly carries the one she hates. The ape does not have a tail. The Devil has the form of
an ape, with a head but no tail. Although every part of the ape is foul, its rear parts are
disgusting and horrid enough. The Devil began as an angel in heaven. But inside he was a
hypocrite and a deceiver, and he lost his tail, because he will perish totally at the end, just as
the apostle says: 'The Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth.' (2 Thessalonians,
2:8) 26

This illustration of a female ape was very common. Just like in figure 6, figure 8 also

tells a story that the female ape gives birth to two apes and she loves one of them and hates

the other one.

25 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 38.
26 2 Thessalonians, 2:8

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CONFUSING ANCIENT TERMS

Ancient terms that were applied to apes by ancient scholars were quite confusing.

Janson talks about these complicated and undefined words and says “While never stated

explicitly, the connection is strongly suggested by the classical nomenclature for apes: in

addition to the generic term simian, we find such designations as cynocephalus, sphinx,

satyrus and cercops, all of them drawn from the realm of semi-human creatures.”27 These

terms usually never identified any details and Janson divides and puts them in a particular

and some group which functions and its not confusing with other words that the ancient

authors used to describe different types of apes. There following three types that Janson

makes are:

1- The Tailles apes- it was represented by one species only, the Barbary ape this,
however, was far better known and more easily available than any other simian, since
it occurred in large numbers along the Mediterranean littoral of Africa.
2- The baboon in other words Cynocephalus in latin referring to the sacred baboon
of Egypt.
3- Tailed Simians are known as monkeys. 28

Often these terms were hard to identify whether they are meant to be human or

animal. As Janson gives an example, the sacred baboon of Egypt also meant dog- headed men

and cynocephalus. Still today, some of the terms are being used by the scholars to identify the

primates.

The word “simia” is a Greek word attributed to apes which means ‘with flattened

nostrils’. The word simia comes from their similarities with humans. However Isidore of

27 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 54.
28 Ibid. , 55.

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Seville who is the expert of etymology in the Middle Ages said it is false.29 He explained the

difference of simiae which is ape from similitudo and added that the monkey wants to imitate

everything he sees done. This refusal is only based on the etymological difference of simiae

from similitudo. It implies that there apes resembled men, at least for the people who could

read and understand Latin.

Different varieties of apes are illustrated in Figure 9. The one at the left is known as

cericopithicus with a tail. The one with the red beard, the second one from the left is known

as callitrix. The blue coloured ape on the bottom with a head like a dog and a tail is the

cynocephalus. The last one on the right is the mother ape with two children and this is one of

the most popular types of ape illustrated by medieval artists.

APES AND PHILOSOPHY/SCIENCE

During the Romanesque era, with the increase of classical learning and also with the

translation of ancient Arabic sources, this helped people to perceive and look at the apes in a

different light. Greek and Latin historians had written about apes and their knowledge about

apes helped them to talk more about the humanistic orientation of apes. They were mainly

focused on the ape in its relation to man.30 Aristotle and Galen studied the anatomy and

physiology of animals even before the great anatomist of the mid sixteenth century, Vesalius.

The Medieval scientist was more interested in the animal’s mind and behaviour than in its

physical characteristics. They examined not the simian body but the simian mind by

observing their actions. They developed a conclusion and their main ideas helped the modern

29Kelly Midgley “Salacious and Sinful Simians in The Macclesfield Psalter: An Iconographic
Study.” Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 2.
30 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 30.

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scientists as well. As a whole, “ Their main significance, however, lies in the fact that they

established a theoretical bridge, however frail, between man and the rest of the animal world,

with the ape serving as a kind of pillar in midstream.” 31

Aristotle had looked at animals and plants and grouped them based on his

observations and studies. First, he grouped them as their similarities, and further he split these

groups into humans and mammals and birds and fish. He was a great source to his followers

for the next 2000 years. Aristotle discussed the history of animals in his book called The

History of Animals and in the chapter 8 he devotes the chapter mainly to apes. Aristotle in his

writings mentioned that their nature is between man and quadruoands. He talks about how

some animals share similarities with a man and he gives examples of the ape, the monkey and

the baboon. He talks about the body properties of these animals and how they are similar to

each other. He mentioned the differences between the apes, the monkeys and the baboon by

these words “The monkey is a tailed ape. The baboon resembles the ape in form, only that it

is bigger and stronger, more like a dog in face, and is more savage in its habits, and its teeth

are more dog-like and more powerful.” 32 Moreover, most of the study of human and animal

anatomy and physiology comes from Aristotle and Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century,

was one of Aristotle’s followers. Magnus used Aristotle’s ideas. He used Aristotle’s ideas

when he looked at the conception of an ape link between man and the beast

Furthermore, according to Albertus Magnus, his anthropological scale tells that man

forms a category by himself and because man is the only perfect creature by mind and body.

One statement that Albertus Magnus catches our attention is that he demonstrates in details he

31 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 77.
32 Aristotle, History of Animals, chapter 8

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divides his groups into three by man, the man-like creatures and the brutes. He examines the

inner similarity as a mental resemblance of man and ape. Then, Albertus adds that everything

makes the man a whole animal not by only his mental equipment but anatomically and

physiologically as well.33

The popularity of apes during the twelfth century increased among artists and writers

and scholars started to write and examine more about apes and their behaviours. Before the

twelfth century, there are barely any sources about apes but the appearance of apes in late

medieval art can be viewed. When there is an ape there is always a some resemble of the

human- ape relationship there. Apes were always treated differently than other animals. Most

popular literature and art is depicting apes as imitating human behaviour. One of the most

famous scholars during the twelfth century, Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote about apes and

in one of her studies she said “ his behaviour is neither completely human nor completely

animal.”34 This statement between humans and ape is one of the first statements made during

the twelfth century. Albert the Great improved this idea of relationship between humans and

apes by saying “man-like creatures”. As Joyce Salisbury writes in her book The Beast Within:

Animals in the Middle Ages, the ideas of Hildegard of Bingen or Albert the Great did not

change peoples’ perception of the boundary between animals and humans, but these ideas

marked a significant beginning to a new era of the link between animals and humans. 35

33 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 90.

34Ibid. , 77.
35 Salisbury, The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages, 56.

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Hildegard of Bingen is one of the first writers who wrote about the natural science

and she had comments on the ape and few other animals :

“The constitution of the ape is hot, and since he is rather similar to man, he always observes
him on order to imitate his actions. He also shares the habits of the beasts, but both these
aspects of his nature are deficient, so that his behaviour is neither completely human nor
completely animal; he is therefore unstable. Sometimes, when he observes a bird in flight, he
raises himself and leads and tries to fly, but since he cannot accomplish his desire he
immediately becomes enraged. Being similar to man, the ape also has a menstrual cycle
governed by the moon, and since both aspects of its nature are unstable and weak, the
creature has no medicinal value.”36

The ‘hot constitution’ of the ape refers to the Galenist theory of the senses humour,

and this ‘hot constitution’ also played a role in Hildegard’s cosmological and physiological

theories. Hildegard had applied these to the deficiency of the nature of the ape. Hildegard’s

theory on the relationship between apes and birds must have been known in the Middle Ages.

One of the themes that was made in medieval art was apes catching the birds as can be seen

in figure 10.

The illustration in figure 10 is showing an ape family in a tree with younger ones

sitting in a bird nest. This illustration of apes in a bird nest had a special significance, but it is

hard to determine. The theme of birds and apes probably existed in antiquity. The theme was

certainly famous in the Muslim world. The illustration was in the prayer book of Roman

Emperor Maximilian I. The fable depicts a story of a group of apes who try to light a fire, and

they place some glowing worms. Two birds see them and tell them that glowing worms do

not have a real fire and at the end the apes were very mad at the birds and killed them. The

36 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 77.

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idea of the envy of the birds must have been known in the Middle Ages since medieval art

has lots of illustrations of apes capturing, pursuing and throttling. 37

APES AND CHURCHMAN

The question of evolution that was most clearly articulated by the nineteenth century

scientist Charles Darwin. However during the Middle Ages, the question of evolution could

be raised since everything was related to Christianity and their beliefs. Physical resemblance

to humans is irrelevant, “for if we did not know that apes and monkeys are beasts rather than

men, those historiographers who pride themselves so upon their curiosity could easily

misrepresent them to be human tribes, without having to fear for their reputations.”38 This is

an argument in Arnobius and it talks about the excellence of the human body.

Isidore of Seville included the five species of apes including the sphinges, the satryi

and the cynocephali where the term cynocephali also was used for the dog- headed men and

his account was used many times throughout the Middle Ages. These kinds of terms must

have caused a confusion and Isidore suggested that the ape was the kin of demons and

monsters rather than an animal.

CONCLUSION

There has always been a close relationship between apes and humans. All these

research of apes shows the similarities to human in appearance and they could imitate

humans but they could only do that without their consciousness and mindlessly. In the Middle

37 Ibid.,78.
38Ibid.,77.

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Ages, apes were associated with the devil and sometimes they were seen as a symbol of

wealth to own as a pet. They were present in the Medieval court too as a status of symbol.

For Christianity, they believed that the The Creator had made man in his own image

and had ignored the similarities of humans to animals. This concept was permanent especially

in early Christian beliefs. By the twelfth century the connection between apes and the Devil

started to be questioned by the Medieval scientists.

The natural scientist of the Middle Ages, were more interested with in the animals’

mind and behaviour than in its physical characteristics. They examined the simians’ mind

rather than the simian’s body. Their ideas on animals inspired the modern scientists of today

such as Charles Darwin himself.

The theory of evolution is ancient but the word evolution was not exist in the

Medieval Ages. Apes were known as the master of mimicry. The apes are known for their

similarities of form and behaviours to humans. They are the closest relatives of humans in the

animal world. The fundamental issue with evolution is that humans did not evolve from apes

but both apes, humans, and other primates evolved from a common ancestor. That is probably

why they had such a similar look. Last, but not least, apes are the allegory to humans.

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS

Aristotle, and D. M. Balme. History of Animals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1991. Print.

Benton, Janetta Rebold. The Medieval Menagerie: Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages.
New York: Abbeville Press, 1992. Print. https://voyager.aup.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?
bibId=51400

Camille, Michael. "Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art." Harvard University
Press (1992): 11-26. Print.

Isidore, and Stephen A. Barney. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006. Print.

Janson, H. W. Apes and Ape Lore in The Middle Ages and the Renaissance. London, 1952.
Print.

Moore, John A. From Genesis to Genetics. Berkeley, US: University of California Press,
2002. ProQuest ebrary.

Salisbury, Joyce E. The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages. New York ; London:
Routledge, 1994. Print.

Sorenson, John. Ape. London, GBR: Reaktion Books, 2009. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/auparis/

detail.action?docID=10430659

WEBSITES

Badke, David. "Medieval Bestiary : Introduction." Medieval Bestiary : Introduction. January,

31st,2010. Web. http://bestiary.ca/intro.htm

Buquet, Thierry. “Preventing ‘Monkey Business’ Fettered Apes in the Middle Ages.” In
Medieval Animal Data Network. June, 23th, 2013. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. http://
mad.hypotheses.org/37

Vadillo, Monica A. “Apes in Mediaval Art.” In Medieval Animal Data Network. October,
28th, 2013. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. http://mad.hypotheses.org/172.

Morisson, Elizabeth. "The Manuscript Files: An Impish Ape in a Medieval Zoo | The Getty
Iris." The Getty Iris. 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-
manuscript-files-an-impish-ape-in-a-medieval-zoo/>.

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Midgley, Kelly. “Salacious and Sinful Simians in The Macclesfield Psalter: An Iconographic
Study.” Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies 20.3. 2005. http://
www.limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/volumes/special-2015/midgley

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