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Category: Captivity

Detail of the Tapestry of the Lady and the unicorn, Musée de Cluny, Paris

Preventing “Monkey Business”. Fettered Apes in the Middle Ages

The practice of keeping monkeys and apes in captivity during the Middle Ages, mainly as pets, is well known. Janson, in his classical study, Apes and Ape lore in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Janson 1952), dedicates a chapter to this topic (“The Fettered Ape”, chap. V, p. 145-162). He has a symbolic approach...