In this 16th-century zoological work, the name "monkfish" has been taken rather too literally...
The text of this book, Pierre Belon’s De Aquatilibus, mentions a "monachus piscis", a “monk fish”. Belon was helping to lay the foundations of modern zoology, but here he fell foul of a sixteenth-century legend: this is not your ordinary monkfish.
The story goes that a “sea monk” had been caught in Øresund, between Denmark and Sweden, sparking rumours of a mysterious merman. Scholars think that an angelshark or a giant squid could have actually been the creature caught: the truth will always remain a mystery.
Nonetheless, this tale spread far and wide, featuring in many works of the sixteenth century, perhaps driven in part by the religious tensions of the period, comparing monks to monsters.
A copy of Belon's De Aquatilibus can be found in the Fellows' Library at Winchester College. The copy is currently on temporary display in the Treasury at the College, and featured in a recent exhibition on Thomas Browne (cabinet.ox.ac.uk/pierre-belon-de-aquatilibus-libri-duo-1553).
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