The Heraldry Society - coat of arms

No. 185 Spring 1999

Fabulous Legless Reptiles

Medieval Beastiaries, drawing heavily on Classical sources, are full of stories and pictures of creatures, some totally imaginary some possibly not so. Prominent among them are the legless reptiles, many of which have featured as charges and in crests over the centuries. A few of the more interesting are described below.

Amphibena
This prodigious serpent had two heads as if "one mouth were too little to cast his venom", although it is not clear just where on his body these were located. Some texts say merely the creature was double-headed, but a manuscript in the British Library shows it with heads at each end. Sources agree it is easily endured, even sought the cold, and had eyes that shone as brightly as lamps.

Asp
The most famous reference to the asp in English literature comes at the end of Shakespeare's play Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-7) in which the Egyptian queen, fallen into Caesar's hands but determined not to be a mere trophy of his conquests, takes her own life by the bite of an asp. In beastiaries and legend the characteristics of the asp and its form vary. The Queen Mary Psalter, for example, depicts a creature so lion-like that it is difficult to believe it can be thought of as a serpent. In another instance it is reptilian and shown with an animal's head, wings, and two legs ending in spurred claws, while in a third although sinuous and heavily marked, its head is almost dog-like. The asp was said to be entranced by music, which could lead to its undoing, hence when "she is charmed by her enchanter to come out of her den by charms or conjurations [and] is not willing to come forth, [she] layeth her own ear close to the ground; the other she stoppeth and covereth safely with her tail: and so she heareth not the voice of the charmer, neither cometh out to him, nor is obedient to his voice". This legend is referred to in Psalm 58 in which, in verses four and five, in speaking of the wicked, David says "their poison is like the poison of a serpent:

they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not listen to the voice of the charmers, charming never so wisely". There are several reasons adduced for the creature's behaviour, a popular one being that it was the asp's duty to guard a tree which was the source of a valuable aromatic gum and it stopped its ears against the seductive songs of those who came to came to lure it away and gain access to the substance.

Cerafte
According to Isidore of Seville (1602-636) the Cerafte was a serpent with horns on each side of its head, crooked and wrinkled like those of a ram. It appears to have been timid and avoided all creatures which approached it.

Dipsa
Reputed to be the least of all serpents, the Dipsa was wont to lie on paths so that men might tread on it. Its bite, though fatal, was not painful. It was said "he that dyethe by that venyme (venom) fealeth no soare", and stories are that victims died smiling. Lucan wrote of one heraldic display "the snake's head, twisted backwards, bites a pale young (armigerous) man of the blood of the Turrenne. He scarcely notices the pain or feels the tooth". [ continues here ]