The eagle (ern)

In Ancient Rome the eagle symbolised power and strength, and since then it has also represented courage, vision, and leadership. The eagle has been associated with Zeus by the Ancient Greeks, Jupiter by the Romans, Odin by northern European tribes, and St John the Evangelist by Christians. Countries all over the world have officially adopted the eagle as a national symbol — Panama, Mexico, the United States, Poland, Serbia, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

In the Middle Ages, the eagle had positive as well as negative symbolism. It was believed that the eagle renewed itself when it grew old. It did this by flying towards the sun, burning off old feathers and the ‘mist’ that clouded its eyes. When the eagle turned its eyes to the sun, it represented Christians turning their eyes towards God, not allowing their spiritual vision to become clouded over time. When the eagle dove down from the sky to catch fish, it showed how Christ dove down from heaven to carry up deserving souls. When the eagle sharpened its beak on a rock, it signified a Christian sharpening his or her soul on Christ. (A strange image indeed!)

But one could also argue that the eagle represented (bad) earthly power as opposed to (good) spiritual power. The eagle was sometimes associated with evil spirits who stole away the souls of humankind. When the eagle descended from the sky to catch fish, it could represent the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden — a rapid fall from on high for the sake of food (fish for the eagle, forbidden fruit for man).

As an American, my associations with eagles are similarly double-edged. I was taught to associate our national bird with freedom and liberty. However, my view of my country has become increasingly jaded over time, and now I tend to see the eagle as a symbol used by the people in charge (those with earthly power) to cloud the vision of the masses with nationalism. Sometimes, though, the eagle can represent the masses fighting back against evil spirits.

What does the eagle represent to you?

The medieval eagle description below is from the Middle English Physiologus (the same text as the elephant and spider).[1]

Translation and glossing by Hana Videen. Hover over words to see how they’re pronounced. More about this project here.

I will make known to you the ernes kindeeagle's nature, as I read it in a bokebook: how he renews his guðhedeyouth and comes out of old age, after his limbs have become unweldeunwieldy, his becbeak all twisted, his flight unstrongweak, and his eyes dim. HereðHear how he neweðrenews himself…

He seeks a spring that always flows, both bi nigtby night and bi daiby day. He flies over it and travels up until he sees heueneheaven, through six and seven skies. When he comes to heaven, as straight as he can, he hovers in the sunnesun.

All through his fligtflight the sun burns him, and it also makes his eyes brigtbright. His feðresfeathers fall out because of the heteheat, and soon after he falls down into the wetewater, to the bottom of that spring, where he becomes whole and sound, cumeð utemerges al neweall new, were it not for his untrewecrooked beak.

His becbeak is still crooked like before, although his limeslimbs are strong. He can procure himself no fodefood, no good thing for himself. Then he goðgoes to a stone and billeðpecks it until his beak loses its crookedness. Afterwards, with a rigte bilestraight beak, he can get the food he desires.

Below are some work-in-progress illustrations by James Merry. Remember that (as always) James has no idea what kind of animal it is until I publish this post. I remove the critter’s name from the description. For more on this process, read my first post.

Notes:

[1] The Middle English text is from The Early English Bestiary, ed. by Richard Morris (London: Trübner, 1872), pp. 3-4, ll. 53-87. The translation included here is my own. [back]