Maastricht Hours, f. 84r: the fox who preaches to chickens

Maastricht Hours, Liège or Maastricht region, first quarter of the 14th century, British Library, Stowe MS 17, folio 84r. A fox in a blue hooded habit leans on his staff and holds forth to an attentive goose and two chickens. Medieval readers knew how the story ended: the preacher was eyeing his congregation as dinner. This tiny book of hours, probably made for an aristocratic lady, is crammed with animals and half-animals, and the preaching fox was a favorite dig at smooth-talking clergy.