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Chapter 15. Blood on the Butcher’s Knife: Images of Pig Slaughter in Late Medieval Illustrated Calendars

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Blood Matters
This chapter is in the book Blood Matters
Chapter 15Blood on the Butcher’s KnifeImages of Pig Slaughter in Late Medieval Illustrated Calendarsdolly JørgensenA butcher straddles the pig on the building floor, holding its front leg safely out of the way. With his knife, he slits the pig’s throat with precision so that the blood gushes into an awaiting basin. The precious blood, which is often collected by a woman holding a bowl or basin, will be transformed into culi-nary treats and hearty meals. The slaughter takes place late in the year, often in December, as a way of stocking the food stores and reducing the number of mouths to feed over the lean months. This pig butchery process, as depicted in manuscripts illustrated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, highlights blood as the object of interest with squirting or dripping blood drawing the eye toward the pig and the bleeding incision (see figure 15.1).This is one of many images of pig slaughter found in medieval books as an illustration to accompany the month of December on calendar pages, which will be the focus of this chapter. The late medieval period has complex and contradictory developments in the thinking about animal blood from butchery. It is both a potential pollutant to watercourses and soil, as well as a valuable ingredient in food for human consumption as blood pudding. It is a practical necessity, but also infused with spiritual meaning. This chap-ter explores the acceptability and desirability of these blood- soaked butchery
© 2018 University of Pennsylvania Press, 3905 Spruce Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112

Chapter 15Blood on the Butcher’s KnifeImages of Pig Slaughter in Late Medieval Illustrated Calendarsdolly JørgensenA butcher straddles the pig on the building floor, holding its front leg safely out of the way. With his knife, he slits the pig’s throat with precision so that the blood gushes into an awaiting basin. The precious blood, which is often collected by a woman holding a bowl or basin, will be transformed into culi-nary treats and hearty meals. The slaughter takes place late in the year, often in December, as a way of stocking the food stores and reducing the number of mouths to feed over the lean months. This pig butchery process, as depicted in manuscripts illustrated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, highlights blood as the object of interest with squirting or dripping blood drawing the eye toward the pig and the bleeding incision (see figure 15.1).This is one of many images of pig slaughter found in medieval books as an illustration to accompany the month of December on calendar pages, which will be the focus of this chapter. The late medieval period has complex and contradictory developments in the thinking about animal blood from butchery. It is both a potential pollutant to watercourses and soil, as well as a valuable ingredient in food for human consumption as blood pudding. It is a practical necessity, but also infused with spiritual meaning. This chap-ter explores the acceptability and desirability of these blood- soaked butchery
© 2018 University of Pennsylvania Press, 3905 Spruce Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I Circulation
  5. Chapter 1. Was the Heart “Dethroned”? Harvey’s Discoveries and the Politics of Blood, Heart, and Circulation 15
  6. Chapter 2. “The Lake of my Heart” Blood, Containment, and the Boundaries of the Person in the Writing of Dante and Catherine of Siena 31
  7. Chapter 3. Sorting Pistol’s Blood Social Class and the Circulation of Character in Shakespeare’s 2 Henry IV and Henry V 43
  8. Part II Wounds
  9. Chapter 4. Mantled in Blood Shakespeare’s Bloodstains and Early Modern Textile Culture 61
  10. Chapter 5. Rethinking Nosebleeds Gendering Spontaneous Bleedings in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine 79
  11. Chapter 6. Screaming Bleeding Trees Textual Wounding and the Epic Tradition 92
  12. Part III Corruption
  13. Chapter 7. Corruption, Generation, and the Problem of Menstrua in Early Modern Alchemy 111
  14. Chapter 8. Bloody Students Youth, Corruption, and Discipline in the Medieval Classroom 123
  15. Chapter 9. Blood, Milk, Poison Romeo and Juliet’s Tragedy of “Green” Desire and Corrupted Blood 134
  16. Part IV Proof
  17. Chapter 10. “In Every Wound There is a Bloody Tongue”. Cruentation in Early Modern Literature and Psychology 151
  18. Chapter 11. “In such abundance . . . that it fill a Bason”. Early Modern Bleeding Bowls 167
  19. Chapter 12. Macbeth and the Croxton Play of the Sacrament: Blood and Belief in Early English Stagecraft 183
  20. Chapter 13. Simular Proof, Tragicomic Turns, and Cymbeline’s Bloody Cloth 198
  21. Part V Signs and Substance
  22. Chapter 14. Blood of the Grape 211
  23. Chapter 15. Blood on the Butcher’s Knife: Images of Pig Slaughter in Late Medieval Illustrated Calendars 224
  24. Chapter 16. Queer Blood 238
  25. Notes 249
  26. Bibliography 309
  27. List of Contributors 339
  28. Index 343
  29. Acknowledgments 353
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https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812295092-016

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I Circulation
  5. Chapter 1. Was the Heart “Dethroned”? Harvey’s Discoveries and the Politics of Blood, Heart, and Circulation 15
  6. Chapter 2. “The Lake of my Heart” Blood, Containment, and the Boundaries of the Person in the Writing of Dante and Catherine of Siena 31
  7. Chapter 3. Sorting Pistol’s Blood Social Class and the Circulation of Character in Shakespeare’s 2 Henry IV and Henry V 43
  8. Part II Wounds
  9. Chapter 4. Mantled in Blood Shakespeare’s Bloodstains and Early Modern Textile Culture 61
  10. Chapter 5. Rethinking Nosebleeds Gendering Spontaneous Bleedings in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine 79
  11. Chapter 6. Screaming Bleeding Trees Textual Wounding and the Epic Tradition 92
  12. Part III Corruption
  13. Chapter 7. Corruption, Generation, and the Problem of Menstrua in Early Modern Alchemy 111
  14. Chapter 8. Bloody Students Youth, Corruption, and Discipline in the Medieval Classroom 123
  15. Chapter 9. Blood, Milk, Poison Romeo and Juliet’s Tragedy of “Green” Desire and Corrupted Blood 134
  16. Part IV Proof
  17. Chapter 10. “In Every Wound There is a Bloody Tongue”. Cruentation in Early Modern Literature and Psychology 151
  18. Chapter 11. “In such abundance . . . that it fill a Bason”. Early Modern Bleeding Bowls 167
  19. Chapter 12. Macbeth and the Croxton Play of the Sacrament: Blood and Belief in Early English Stagecraft 183
  20. Chapter 13. Simular Proof, Tragicomic Turns, and Cymbeline’s Bloody Cloth 198
  21. Part V Signs and Substance
  22. Chapter 14. Blood of the Grape 211
  23. Chapter 15. Blood on the Butcher’s Knife: Images of Pig Slaughter in Late Medieval Illustrated Calendars 224
  24. Chapter 16. Queer Blood 238
  25. Notes 249
  26. Bibliography 309
  27. List of Contributors 339
  28. Index 343
  29. Acknowledgments 353
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