The Mystery of St Cuthbert’s Ducks
An Adventure in Hagiography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8931691 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Antone Minard (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 127 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 325-343 |
| Publication date | 2016-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Folklore (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0015587x.2016.1203636 |
| OpenAlex | W2551989592 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
‘St Cuthbert’s duck’ is a folk name for the common eider (Somateria mollissima). The saint’s affinity for the black-and-white ducks has been accepted uncritically for centuries. For such a well-documented saint, however, his ducks are strangely absent from early records. His near-contemporary hagiographers, including the Venerable Bede, make no mention of waterfowl. The enduring association begins almost five centuries after his death in a piece of twelfth-century folklorismus
Adventure · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Biology · Eider · Goose · SAINT · The Venerable · Waterfowl · White (mutation · Byzantine Studies and History · Classics · Ecology · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Medieval Literature and History
| Highly cited | No |
|---|