
Bees in pastoral hives from the archevêque de Lyon “Fleur de vertu” (François de Rohan, 1530, illuminated manuscript)
Here are two bee-themed illuminations from a very beautiful hand-drawn book from early 16th century France. The book’s theme is “Flowers of Virtue.” In the illustration above, the hard-working bees are busily making honey–a model of industrious virtue. In the illustration below, gluttonous thieving bears are spoiling all of the bees hard work by smashing the hives and gulping down the honey. My grandfather kept a hive of bees in West Virginia, and this same thing happened to his bees (although the bears apparently ate the bees and a fair amount of the hive in addition to the sweet honey).

Gluttonous Bears Raid the Hives, from the archevêque de Lyon “Fleur de vertu” (François de Rohan, 1530, illuminated manuscript)
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November 20, 2015 at 3:35 AM
agnesashe
Great finds – raiding the hives is particularly amusing. Illuminated manuscripts are such a treasure trove of medieval imagery and it’s great that more and more of them are being digitized and shared across the Internet.
November 24, 2015 at 12:19 PM
Wayne
Illuminated manuscripts really are amazing–beyond what they reveal about the way people used to live, they are real works of art in their own right!
November 24, 2015 at 12:34 PM
agnesashe
I couldn’t agree more.
Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving. 😊
December 17, 2015 at 1:28 PM
Wayne
Thank you so much! I celebrated by eating turkey and responding slowly to delightful comments from cherished readers.