ANIMALS IN MEDIEVAL PERCEPTIONS: THE IMAGE OF THE UBIQUITOUS OTHER

In the early years of the eleventh century, a poor southern French knight decided to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome. Owning no mount, he borrowed a mule from his brother. On the way, the mule died near the monastery of Conques. Distraught with the magnitude of the catastrophe, the knight railed against fate, which not only prevented him from completing his pilgrimage, but made it impossible for him even to reimburse the mule’s original owner. But being near Conques, he addressed his specific complaints to the local saint, Saint Foy (Faith), who promptly brought the mule back to life (Bouillet 1897).