Off with Their Heads: Illustrations of Blemmyes (ca. 1175–1724)

Marvels of the East, Cotton MS Vitellius A XV (BL), ca. 1175–1200, f. 102v. – Source

Cotton MS Tiberius B V/1 (BL), ca. 1250, f. 82r. – Source

Vincent de Beauvais, Speculum historiale, vol. 1, ca. 1250–1260, f. 34r. – Source

Rutland Psalter (BL), ca. 1260, f. 57r. – Source

Rutland Psalter (BL), ca. 1260, f. 87v. – Source

Ms. Ludwig XV 4 (Getty, 83.MR.174), ca. 1277 or after, f. 117v. – Source

Hereford Mappa Mundi (detail), 1280. – Source

Thomas Cantipratensis, De natura rerum (On the nature of things), MS. 320 (Valenciennes, Bibliothèque municipale), ca. 1290, f. 46. – Source

Thomas Cantipratensis, De natura rerum (On the nature of things), MS. 320 (Valenciennes, Bibliothèque municipale), ca. 1290, f. 45. – Source

La manière et les faitures des monstres des homes qui sont en Orient et le plus en Inde (The appearance and characteristics of the monstrous men found in the East, especially in India, ca. 1300–1400). – Source

Jacob van Maerlant, Der naturen bloeme (The flower of nature), KB KA 16 (The Hague), ca. 1340–1350, f. 41v. – Source

Tomás de Cantimprém, Codex Granatensis (ca. 1400). – Source

Brunetto Latini, Thesaurus, Plut.42.19 (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana), ca. 1301–1400, f. 26v. – Source

Travels of Sir John Mandeville, Cod. Fab. XVI (Stiftsarchiv), ca. 1400–1499, f. 65v. – Source

Livre de merveilles (Book of wonders), Fr. 2810 Tav. (BnF), ca. 1410–1412, f. 29v. – Source

Konrad von Megenberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 300 (Heidelberg Universitätbibliothek), ca. 1442–1448, f. 357v. – Source

Talbot Shrewsbury Book, Royal MS 15 E vi (BL), ca. 1444, f. 21v. – Source

Weltchronik, Cgm 426 (BSB), ca. 1450–1475. – Source

Livre des merveilles du monde, MS M.461 (Morgan Library), ca. 1460, f. 26v. – Source

Peniarth 481D (National Library of Wales), ca. 1475, f. 84v. – Source

Miroir Historial, Ms. Ludwig XIII 5, v1, 83.MP.148.1 (Getty), ca. 1475, f. 67v. – Source

Konrad von Megenberg, Das Buch der Natur, Incun. 1481 .K6 (LOC), 1481. – Source

Hartmann Schedel, Nuremberg Chronicle (Drew University), 1493. – Source

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (ca. 1500–1599). – Source

Gothic fresco at Dalbyneder Church, Havndal, Denmark, 1511. – Source

Jean Mandeville, Livre des merveilles du monde (Book of world wonders, 1524). – Source

Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī, Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of things created and miraculous aspects of things existing), MS P 2 (National Library of Medicine), 1537, f. 59a. – Source

Sebastian Münster, Cosmographiae uniuersalis (1550), book VI. – Source

Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad Qazwīnī, Kitāb al-ʻajāʾib wa al-gharāʼib (Book of Wonders and Oddities), 2010.M.65 (Getty), 1553. – Source

Guillaume Le Testu, Cosmographie universelle (1555). – Source

Konrad Lykosthenes, Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon, : quae praeter naturae ordinem, motum, et operationem, et in superioribus & his inferioribus mundi regionibus (Chronicle of prodigies and portents, which are beyond the order, movement, and operation of nature, both in the higher and these lower regions of the world, 1557). – Source

Konrad Lykosthenes, Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon, : quae praeter naturae ordinem, motum, et operationem, et in superioribus & his inferioribus mundi regionibus (Chronicle of prodigies and portents, which are beyond the order, movement, and operation of nature, both in the higher and these lower regions of the world, 1557). – Source

Adriaen Coenen, Visboeck (1577). – Source

Giovanni Battista de' Cavalieri, Opera nel a quale vie molti Mostri de tute le parti del mondo antichi et moderni (Monsters from all parts of the ancient and modern world, 1585). – Source

Sir Walter Raleigh, Brevis & admiranda descriptio regni Guianae, avri abundantissimi, in America (A brief and admirable description of the kingdom of Guiana, most abundant in gold, in America, 1599). – Source

Sir Walter Raleigh, Brevis & admiranda descriptio regni Guianae, avri abundantissimi, in America (A brief and remarkable description of the Kingdom of Guiana, the most abundant in gold, in America, 1599). – Source

Giovanni Botero, Le relationi universali di Giovanni Botero Benese (1618). – Source

Harley 3954 (BL), ca. 1625–1650, f. 42. – Source

Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia (1642). – Source

A Declaration of a Strange and Wonderull Monster (1646). – Source

John Buwler, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). – Source

P. Gasparis Schotti, Physica, curiosa, sive mirabilia naturæ et artis (Curious Physics, or the Wonders of Nature and Art, 1665). – Source

Fortunio Liceti, De monstris (1665). – Source

Johan Zahn, Specula physico-mathematico-historica notabilium ac mirabilium sciendorum (A physico-mathematical-historical mirror of notable and marvelous things worth knowing, 1696) – Source

Joseph-François Lafitau, Mœurs des sauvages ameriquains (Customs of American savages, 1724). – Source