Digital Text

On the Religious Symbolism of the Unicorn

By Joseph Hirst

The Archaeological Journal, Volume 41, 1884, 230-241
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About this Text

Though familiar to most of us as a chimerical charge in heraldry, or as one of the supporters of the Royal Arms of England, there are, perhaps, few who are aware of the important part played by the unicorn in the religious symbolism of the Middle Ages. At that time, no doubt, men thoroughly believed in the existence of such an animal; and if excuse were necessary, it might be found in the fact that reckoning only from the year 1570, no fewer than twenty works could easily be named in the English, Latin, French, German, and Italian tongues, which have been written on the existence of the Unicorn. Nay, even in the nineteenth century more than one English traveller has sent home word from Thibet or Africa that at length he was on the track of the fabulous animal and would soon secure a specimen. - [Author]

Copyright

The print editon was published in 1884. This file is the Joseph Hirst article from the journal, which also contains several other unrelated texts. The book was digitized by Google, and is in the public domain. Only the page images are included in this file; for other formats see the full digital text.

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