Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: fox

The town's origins date back to the 7th century. The first known building was a church founded by John of Beverley (+ 721), the later canonized Bishop of York. Around 850, the monastery was dissolved by the invasion of the "Great Heathen Army" of Vikings, and the town became part of the new Kingdom of Jorvik. However, the veneration of John of Beverley ensured that the region's population grew steadily until the 10th century. The Archbishops of York encouraged the development of Beverley. The town, along with York, Ripon, and Southwell, became one of the most important Christian centers in England. After the Norman conquest of England, many pilgrims flocked to Beverley after hearing of the miracles performed by John of Beverley. Many people in the north of England rejected Norman rule. The Normans then ravaged the towns of Yorkshire. Beverley, however, was spared due to the sanctity of the place. Tradition attributes the refoundation of the monastery as a collegiate church of secular canons to King Æthelstan. The establishment of a significant minster and its privileges occurred gradually, but by the early 11th century, Bishop John's tomb had become an important pilgrimage center, as he was canonized in 1037, and his cult encouraged the growth of a town around the minster. A fire in 1188 seriously damaged the minster and the town. A complete rebuilding was required. During the construction, a new lantern tower over the eastern crossing designed to illuminate the shrine of St John was under construction, but it collapsed in 1219 necessitating a partial rebuild of the church. By 1260 the retrochoir, choir, chapter house, transepts, and crossing were complete. Overwhelmingly tall and spacious, and speaking to the increasing skills of the stonecarvers, this new work was radically different from the old Saxon and Norman structure it replaced. It was the product of the novel structural systems and artistic development that together define the Gothic style brought to England in the late 12th century. The choir stalls, where once the canons met to sing and pray. There are 68 misericords here. Carved in 1520, they are most probably the work of the Ripon School of Carvers A fox and two sleeping geese - A fox hanged by six geese - An ape taking the rope from the dead fox.

The town's origins date back to the 7th century. The first known building was a church founded by John of Beverley (+ 721), the later canonized Bishop of York. Around 850, the monastery was dissolved by the invasion of the "Great Heathen Army" of Vikings, and the town became part of the new Kingdom of Jorvik. However, the veneration of John of Beverley ensured that the region's population grew steadily until the 10th century. The Archbishops of York encouraged the development of Beverley. The town, along with York, Ripon, and Southwell, became one of the most important Christian centers in England. After the Norman conquest of England, many pilgrims flocked to Beverley after hearing of the miracles performed by John of Beverley. Many people in the north of England rejected Norman rule. The Normans then ravaged the towns of Yorkshire. Beverley, however, was spared due to the sanctity of the place. Tradition attributes the refoundation of the monastery as a collegiate church of secular canons to King Æthelstan. The establishment of a significant minster and its privileges occurred gradually, but by the early 11th century, Bishop John's tomb had become an important pilgrimage center, as he was canonized in 1037, and his cult encouraged the growth of a town around the minster. A fire in 1188 seriously damaged the minster and the town. A complete rebuilding was required. During the construction, a new lantern tower over the eastern crossing designed to illuminate the shrine of St John was under construction, but it collapsed in 1219 necessitating a partial rebuild of the church. By 1260 the retrochoir, choir, chapter house, transepts, and crossing were complete. Overwhelmingly tall and spacious, and speaking to the increasing skills of the stonecarvers, this new work was radically different from the old Saxon and Norman structure it replaced. It was the product of the novel structural systems and artistic development that together define the Gothic style brought to England in the late 12th century. Some very strange people populate the walls inside. A fox herding chickens?

Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland since the 15th century. With a population of around 525,000, it is the second largest city in Scotland after Glasgow. The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The National Museum of Scotland was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum. Both parts of the museum are located right next to each other on Chambers Street. The Royal Museum is a museum of natural sciences, technology and art. It is housed in a building dating from 1888. The Museum of Scotland deals with Scottish history and culture. It is located in a new building completed in 1998 right next to the 1888 building. Detail of a carved oak panel from the hospital in Montrose, carved around 1520. Patrick Panter, Abbot of Cambuskenneth (Stirling), had founded the hospital in 1516. Here are two foxes dressed as friars.

Hexham is a town, that developed around a monastery. Etheldreda, Queen of Northumbria, made a grant of lands to St Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 674. The abbey was constructed almost entirely of material salvaged from nearby Roman ruins. In the year 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson the Dane, one of the commanders of the Great Heathen Army, ravaged the whole area. Hexham Church was plundered and burnt to the ground. About 1050, Eilaf, treasurer of Durham, was instructed to rebuild Hexham Church, which then lay in utter ruin. His son Eilaf II completed the work. In Norman times, the Benedictine abbey was replaced by an Augustinian priory. The current church largely dates from 1170–1250, built in the Early English style of architecture. It is possible that Wilfrid had this solid block of sandstone fashioned into a seat when he first founded the monastery in 674. It is likely Wilfrid took inspiration from stools he encountered on his journeys through France and Rome. The carvings are old, but the top row, depicting saints, seems younger, while the sculptures below are very secular. Bottom row left side: a bagpiper, a fox preaching to birds, a harpist, a person with three faces. Trintity? Triglav, the god the Salvs worshipped?

Oviedo was founded on a hill that the Romans called Ovetao. The monks Máximo and Fromestano founded a monastery in 761 on the Roman road here and built a hermitage in honour of the martyr San Vicente. Later, two dozen monks from the Muslim south joined the founders and, according to a document elected Fromestano as their first abbot. They received the protection of Fruela I, who chose the site as a residence for his wife Munia, who gave birth here to their son and later King Alfonso II. It was also Alfonso II who moved the capital here in 812 and made Oviedo the seat of the bishopric. However, in 912, under García I, Oviedo lost its function as capital to León as part of the reconquest. Alfonso II fortified Oviedo and equipped it with palaces and churches. During his reign, a tomb attributed to St James the Elder was discovered in Santiago de Compostela in 812. The king travelled from Oviedo to Santiago and is said to have been the first pilgrim to Santiago. He is also said to have opened the first Way of St James, the Camino Primitivo. This Way of St James ensured the economic revitalisation of the city throughout the Middle Ages. The current cathedral had at least three predecessor buildings: The high medieval churches of King Fruela I from the 8th century and King Alfonso II from the 9th century, as well as their late medieval, Romanesque successors. Gothic architecture did not reach Asturias until the end of the 13th century. At that time, the Gothic remodelling of the cathedral began, starting with the chapter house and the cloister. It was not until a hundred years later that the Gothic remodelling of the cathedral began. Construction of the Gothic church began in 1382 and was to last until the 16th century. The nave was completed in 1498 and work on the façade and towers (of which only one was ultimately built) began in 1500. Construction of the tower began in 1508 and was completed in 1552, but it burnt down in 1575. The reconstruction, completed in 1587, was influenced by Burgos, as can be seen in the openwork helmet. On 11 October 1934, during the Asturian miners' strike, a group of revolutionaries detonated a bomb in the crypt of the "Cámara Santa", severely damaging the building. The reconstruction after this catastrophe took place between 1939 and 1942 with the greatest possible attention and restoration to the original. On a choir stall is an illustration of one of the best known of Aesop's fables. The Fox and the Stork. The fox invites the stork to eat with him and provides soup in a shallow bowl, which the fox can lap up easily; however, the stork cannot drink it with its beak. The stork then invites the fox to a meal, which is served in a narrow-necked vessel. It is easy for the stork to access but impossible for the fox.

One of the first printed records about this gate stated in 1859 "Of all old monuments in the Rhine valley, none as mysterious as the portal (...) near the church in Remagen". The Pfarrhoftor (= Gateway to the parish close) still is enigmatic. It may have been erected for a nearby monastery, that centered around an St. Apollinaris shrine, it may have been in deed a gate to a parish close. Actually it known since the 17th century, when parts of it were found, walled in between the rectory and the encircling wall. The parts were recovered and like pieces of a puzzle joined together. Though the cope stone was lost, the large arch was easy to reconstruct. Wether the smaller side portal originally was left or right is unclear. The 22 carved reliefs here have triggered more than a dozend different theories. I will quote some. The carving style was not appreciated by the art-historians. Already Wilhelm Bode ("Geschichte der Deutschen Plastik") wrote in 1887 that the carver was "without any artistic ambition". For me this portal has parallels in Linden and Goegging. All three portals are roughly carved - and enigmatic, blending christian, pagan and ancient icons. The only point, that is undisputed is, that the portal was erected in the second half of the 12th century. It may be, that the reliefs, seen here, are just single icons, that are not interconnected to a certain "iconographic program". This is claimed by Paul Clement (1938), Georg Dehio (1933) and Josef Minn (1942). In 1947 Albert M. Koeniger published the results of his research, interpreting the reliefs as icons of eight (!) deadly sins as described by Bishop Burchard of Worms (965-1025), author of a canon law collection (aka "Decretum Burchardi"). A jumping animal. Some have seen this as a fox or cat, but most described a jumping dog. According to Koeniger, the agressive dog stands for wrath / anger ("ira"). Note the collar. To the right followed the cope stone, that is lost. Maybe this lost stone was the key for the interpretation.

In the center of Modena, where the Duomo di Modena (aka "Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta e San Geminiano") is placed, churches have existed since the 5th century. After the burial site of Modena's patron Saint Geminianus, a former bishop (+397), was dicovered here, the existing cathedral seemed to small. The first stone laying for the cathedral of today took place in May 1099, strongly supported by Matilde di Canossa (aka "Matilda of Tuscany"). First architect was Master Lanfranco, descibed as "maestro ingenio clarus [...] doctus et aptus". The Duomo di Modena was consecrated in 1184, but the building process continued. It was finally completed in 1322. Many renowned sculptors have worked here. The "Porta della Pescheria", as well as side portal, opens to the north, where in mediavel times the fish-market was located. The "Porta della Pescheria", as well as side portal, opens to the north, where in mediavel times the fish-market was located. I learned that the archivolt depicts a scene from the Arthurian Legend. Older Welsh and Breton tales about Artur were written down in the "Historia Regum Britanniae" written by Geoffrey of Monmouth around 1136. This carving may be a little older. It is dated to 1130. Artus is the second on the left, the only one without a chainmail. The lintel has other stories. To the left a young nude guy rided a hippocamus. The followig reliefs may relate to the French "Roman de Renart", written by Pierre de St. Cloud from 1174 on, based party on Aesop's fables. The artists probably knew as well the "Physiologus".

Already Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, may have funded a church, erected over the tomb of Saint Zeno, who, following the legends, was born in Mauretania and died around 380 in Verona. The erection of the present church began in the 9th century. Soon after San Zeno´s relics were translated into the new church. At that time Charlemagne´s son Pepin (aka "Pepin of Italy") resided in Verona and a large Benedictine monastery grew all around the church. When the Magyars invaded Italy in the early 10th century, the church got severely damaged, but the relics were not harmed, as they had been taken out and were hidden. In 967, a new church was built with the patronage of Otto I. On January 3, 1117, the church was damaged by an earthquake, that ruined so many buildings in Northern Italy. The church was restored and got enlarged in 1138. The large crypt dates back to the 10th century, as it is known, that the relics of San Zeno were transferred in 921. This flight of stairs runs down to the crypt from the central nave, but the both aisles have stairs, too as the crypt is as wide as the church. The arches have interesting friezes. They were created by Adamino von San Giorgio, who left his signature. The friezes are populated with many fanciful and monstrous animals. The return of the predator-chickens. Halloween-Edition...

A large Romanesque church, belonging to the Augustinian Abbey of Saint-Étienne de Mortagne (15kms south), got erected in Coze within the 12t/13th century. The abbey went under, the church got altered and finally in disrepair. In 1756 the vaults of the nave collapsed and it took great efforts to rebuilt the church within the 19th century. Some parts of the nave are dating back to the Romanesque structure. On the outside are two extraordenary capitals, illustrating "The Fox and the Stork", one of Aesop´s Fables, that were very popular in medieval times. Here is part 2 The stork then invites the fox to have a meal. This is served in a narrow-necked vessel. It is easy for the stork to access the food but impossible for the fox. Unfortunetaly the stork lost its beak.

A large Romanesque church, belonging to the Augustinian Abbey of Saint-Étienne de Mortagne (15kms south), got erected in Coze within the 12t/13th century. The abbey went under, the church got altered and finally in disrepair. In 1756 the vaults of the nave collapsed and it took great efforts to rebuilt the church within the 19th century. Some parts of the nave are dating back to the Romanesque structure. On the outside are two extraordenary capitals, illustrating "The Fox and the Stork", one of Aesop´s Fables, that were very popular in medieval times. Here is part 1: A fox invites a stork to have dinner with him and provides soup in a shallow bowl. The fox can lap up the soup easily, while the stork cannot drink it with its beak.