The Imaginary World: Everyone In The Middle Ages

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There is still one remaining question. How could the imaginary world be a permanent feature known by everyone in the Middle ages if it was mostly spread for and by the nobles ?

Litterature, sculptures, miniature illustrations were made for the nobles, who were the only one that could afford them. Yet, the fantasy world was omnipresent in the mental universe of the population, which contributed to the alleviation of the boarder between the imaginary world and the everyday life. Firstly, these myths were sung or recited, so being literate was not mandatory to understand them. The imaginary world was long-lasting in minds and reality. These tales were easily pass on the population during feasts and, even if they did not know the details …show more content…

Jehan de Corbil dit de Grez, knight and best man during the wedding of the count de Hainaut with Jeanne, daughter of the count de Valois on May 19th 1305 , affixed his seal on the wedding contract. His seal has a flying half dragon half snake creature3. Joachim de Pompéreint, lord of Pompéreint and captain of 30 soldiers, signed his receipt for captain's office on Mars 4th 1326. His seal has a creature which looks like a dragon, with a lion head, the body of an eagle, the wings of a bat and the tail of a snake4. Dragons were indeed great foils for the knights. They personify the original chaos and the devil according to the Apocalypse. Dragons are also polymorphous, terrifying, almost invincible, flying schrewd creature which could also talk. They could easily trick the humans, like Satan tricked Eve to eat the apple of the forbidden Tree. Displaying dragons on their official documents could, therefore, be a way for the knights to show that they subjugate them.
Thus, the Holy Roman emperor Sigismond founded his personal order of knights, the Order of the Dragon in 1418. Its members swore to defend the Church against the heretics and the Turk invasion5. Knights of this order wore jewels with a golden inverted dragon on it. This could mean that the knights of this order subjected dragons and, consequently, were very

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