Pelican
We finish with the remarkable pelican of the medieval bestiaries. The illustration above is typical of the depiction of pelicans in bestiaries: the birds look nothing like the clumsy yet remarkable bird we know today, but more akin to a streamlined bird of prey. One suspects that, if real pelicans were observed and described, the bird’s disproportionately large beak would suggest it to be a greedy-guts, and thus an allegory for the spiritually-harmful nature of worldly pleasures. Pelicans are depicted in the same manner above across ecclesiastical architecture and art alike, however, and were celebrated for their extraordinary behaviorr.
Pelicans live only on the River Nile in Egypt. There are two kinds of pelican: one lives on water and eats poisonous creatures like crocodiles and lizards, and the other lives on islands, eats fish, and makes a sound like a donkey when it drinks. Both kinds are insatiably hungry, but their small stomachs mean that what they eat has to be immediately digested. Both kinds also use their feet to eat, dipping whatever they eat into water (if it was not sourced from there) and then moving it up to their beaks, which is very unusual for a bird.
Pelicans are extremely devoted to their chicks, as one remarkable act demonstrates. They carefully nurture them in their nests, thinking of nothing else, but when the young grow up they become unruly and aggressive. The chicks then strike their parents in the face, and the parents fight back and kill them. After three days, the mother pelican uses her sharp beak to pierce her chest, and drips her own blood over the dead offspring. This act miraculously brings the dead chicks back to life, who fly away to prosper elsewhere, but costs the poor mother pelican her life.
Pelicans unequivocally represent Christ. As the Son of God, Christ is part of the Holy Trinity, but having created man his children became ungrateful and injured him by committing sin. To save them, and thus give them eternal life, Christ allowed himself to be crucified, giving his own life for his beloved children. The crocodile-eating pelican also represents Christ, who was victorious over evil. The self-sacrificing pelican proved the most compelling image, however, and can be seen across the medieval churches and cathedrals of Europe. Just remember not to look for an oversized beak when you search for them.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Alexander, R. McN. “The Evolution of the Basilisk.” Greece & Rome 10, no.2 (1963): 170-181.
Barber, Richard, trans. Bestiary. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1992.
Baxter, Ron. Bestiaries and their Users in the Middle Ages. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 1998.
Gotfredsen, Lise. The Unicorn. New York: Abbeville Press, 1999.
The Medieval Bestiary: Animals in the Middle Ages.
White, T.H., trans. The Book of Beasts. New York: Putnam, 1960.