The Caladrius

A small white bird stands at the foot of a sickbed, gazing steadily at a crowned king laid out beneath his blankets — and by that gaze alone, the bestiary says, a diagnosis is delivered. If the caladrius looks the sick man in the face, he will live: the bird draws the illness into itself, flies up toward the sun, and burns the sickness away in its own body. If instead it turns its face from him, death is certain, and no physician's skill can change the outcome. Entirely white in body, the caladrius was said to live in royal households for exactly this purpose — a living oracle kept at the bedside. The Aberdeen Bestiary reads the bird as a figure of Christ, who turned from the unbelieving toward the Gentiles, carrying the sin of the world upward and away.

Maker

Unknown English illuminator

Date

c. 1200

Medium of the original

Illuminated manuscript

Original held by

University of Aberdeen

Credit

University of Aberdeen · via Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00930