Skip to main content
Log in

Woofing and weeping with animals in the last days

  • Short Essay
  • Published:
postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The medieval eschatological tradition of the ‘15 Signs of the Last Days’ pays special attention to the anguish of animals. This attention seems unnecessary, as animals will not be judged, or resurrected, but only destroyed. Their unnecessary cries might be heard as the cry of life for itself, now useless to God and humans, and also as a reminder to humans of the richness of the worlded selves they abandon in their fantasy of celestial life freed from the flux of worldly being.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aebischer, P., ed. 1964. Le Mystere d’Adam (Ordo representacionis Ade). Geneva, Switzerland: Droz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas, T . 1947. Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 3 volumes. New York: Benziger Bros.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ava . 2003. Ava's New Testament Narratives: ‘When the Old Law Passed Away’, trans. J.A. Rushing, Jr. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J . 2004. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J . 2009. Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G. and F. Guattari . 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. B. Massumi. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furnivall, F., ed. 1878. Adam Davy's Five Dreams about Edward III, EETS o.s. 69. London: N. Trübner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giliberto, C . 2007. The Fifteen Signs of Doomsday of the First Riustring Manuscript. In Advances in Old Frisian Philology, ed. R.H. Bremmer, Jr., S. Laker and O. Vries, 129–152. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D . 2008. When Species Meet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heist, W.W . 1952. The Fifteen Signs before Doomsday. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horstmann, C., ed. 1892. The Minor Poems of the Vernon MS, EETS o.s. 98. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobus de Voragine. 1993. The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, trans. W. Granger Ryan, 2 volumes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  • Linzey, A. and P.B. Clarke, eds. 2004. Animal Rights: A Historical Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lydgate, J . 1934. The Minor Poems of John Lydgate, ed. H. Noble MacCracken, 2 volumes, EETS o. s. 192. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Migne, J.P., ed. 1844. Patrilogiae cursus completus: Series latina, 217 volumes. Paris: Migne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nölle, G . 1879. Die Legende von Den Fünfzehn zeichen vor dem Jüngsten Gerichte. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 6: 413–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, K . 2009. Animal Lessons: How They Teach Us to Be Human. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regan, T . 2003. Animal Rights, Human Wrongs: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarry, E . 1985. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steel, K . 2008. How to Make a Human. Exemplaria 20: 3–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varnhagen, H . 1880. Zu mittelenglischen Gedischten. X: Zu den ‘Singa ante Judicium. Anglia 3: 533–551.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victorinus, M . 1967. Ars Grammatica, ed. I. Mariotti. Florence, Italy: Felice le Monnier.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Steel, K. Woofing and weeping with animals in the last days. Postmedieval 1, 187–193 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2010.24

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2010.24

Navigation