Plenty of Nothing

Abruzzo Lion

Italy hasn't run out of archaeology yet. This sandstone lion from the 13th Century was uncovered in L'Aquila in 2014. Source.

The Doors of Płock

Detail from the doors of Płock Cathedral in Poland. Source.

Hermes Trismegistus Album Cover

Source.

The Joy of the Court

Constance Hieatt and Pauline Baynes did a book together: The Joy of the Court (1971), a retelling of the Erec story. There's a good website about Pauline Baynes here, but it doesn't seem to know about this book.

Bevis of Hampton

Southamptonshire has a national hero: Bevis. Source. Read the book.

PIMS Door

The entrance to the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, at the University of Toronto. Source.

Snail Fighting

Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 366, fol. 109r.

The internet is excited about medieval manuscript marginalia showing knights fighting snails. It's impossible not to see this strange motif as a meme, especially as the meaning is so obscure. It seems to be about making fun of cowardice. After all, the snail is probably the least doughty opponent to wear armour.

Chrétien de Troyes mentions an armed snail hunt in The Story of the Grail.

    The mayor stood up at once, and all the councilmen after him. There you could have seen angry peasants taking up hatchets and pikes: one took a shield without arm-straps, another a door, another a basket. The town crier sounded the alarm and everyone gathered together. The church bells rang through the town so that no one would miss the call; even the poorest among them grabbed pitchfork, scythe, pickaxe, or club. Even during a snail hunt in Lombardy they do not make such racket!

From Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, p. 454 (trans. Kibler).

The Marginalized Art of Snail Fighting in Medieval Europe. Knight v Snail.

Thessala

I am indeed surprised that a people over whom Achilles once ruled had a reputation for magic so lasting that actually Menander, a man with an unrivalled gift for sound literary taste, gave the name "Thessala" to his comedy, which deals fully with the tricks of the women for calling down the moon.

Pliny, Natural History, 30.2.7 (Loeb volume 8, page 283, translation W.H.S. Jones)

Her governess, who had nursed her as a child, was named Thessala and was skilled in necromancy. She was called Thessala because she had been born in Thessaly, where diabolical enchantments flourish and are taught. The women of this land practise magic spells and bewitchments.

Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès, in Arthurian Romances, page 159 (Penguin translation by Wm. W. Kibler)

Medieval Bears

Gaston Phébus, Livre de la chasse, Paris 15th century (BnF, Français 616, fol. 27v).

Feast of Saint Olga

Saint Olga is commemorated today for her involvement in the spread of Christianity through tenth-century Russia -- involvement that included some arson. From the Radziwiłł Chronicle.