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The Medieval Pig
Examines the role of the pig in medieval society in material and textual sources.
The pig was a common sight in the Middle Ages. They might be eating under an oak tree, or out in a field. They might be in the street, with the swineherd close behind at their heels. They might be dismembered, for sale by a butcher. They might be represented on misericords, in a church or cathedral, dancing, playing the bagpipes, or suckling people. Pigs were in all these places. But what was the pig's place?
This book considers pigs in medieval Europe from a number of whether part of the countryside, the cityscape, on the plate or in the mind. Drawing on a rich wealth of sources, both textual and material, it examines in particular the paradoxes that the pig both good and bad, fecund/fornicator, noble/filthy. It uncovers the pig's numerous roles in medieval society, how pigs shaped human life, and how humans shaped theirs.
The pig was a common sight in the Middle Ages. They might be eating under an oak tree, or out in a field. They might be in the street, with the swineherd close behind at their heels. They might be dismembered, for sale by a butcher. They might be represented on misericords, in a church or cathedral, dancing, playing the bagpipes, or suckling people. Pigs were in all these places. But what was the pig's place?
This book considers pigs in medieval Europe from a number of whether part of the countryside, the cityscape, on the plate or in the mind. Drawing on a rich wealth of sources, both textual and material, it examines in particular the paradoxes that the pig both good and bad, fecund/fornicator, noble/filthy. It uncovers the pig's numerous roles in medieval society, how pigs shaped human life, and how humans shaped theirs.
130 pages, Hardcover
Published April 2, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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August 1, 2026Feral pigs, a phenomenon of now (marauding throughout 38 U.S. states and reproducing so fast that 2/3 of the total 5–6 million must be culled every year just to keep the population from growing further (!) and causing ~$800 million in damage per year in Texas alone, combining both agricultural and other property) and of the past (which is where this book focuses), are interesting creatures worth studying because they are at once a mirror and comparison point for humans ("You eat like a pig!" is no idle comparison: pigs are the animal most internally similar to us) and a historical and contemporary companion of sorts.
These pigs were not the big, pink, hairless pigs we see today (an 18th-century breeding project that crossed European stock with imported Chinese pigs for fat and fast growth). The medieval pig was closer to the wild boar: bristles, long snout, and tusks. Considerably edgier.
This book lays it all out: many medieval people owned a pig (in the countryside AND in towns), pigs were featured in stories and artwork (including the Judensau, used to dehumanize Jews in cathedral art showing them suckling a sow), and pigs were assumed to have rationality and so were taken to legal proceedings and even hanged for murdering children. The pig was paradoxically scorned as a savage, dirty beast yet seen as valuable because it provided meat and wealth.
Pigs were admired for being able to root around and find their own food, until they were rooting up cemeteries and causing chaos, though most were actually kept penned or escorted by a swineherd.
They'd also eat anything and served as de facto garbage disposals for medieval people because, like a porcine Midas, they'd magically turn otherwise worthless city scraps and forest acorns into quality meat, which could be salted and kept through winter.
The legal trials surprised me most. I'd assumed premodern people put animals well below the level of humans, which they did, yet they also credited pigs with enough rationality to know right from wrong, and held them responsible accordingly.
These pigs were not the big, pink, hairless pigs we see today (an 18th-century breeding project that crossed European stock with imported Chinese pigs for fat and fast growth). The medieval pig was closer to the wild boar: bristles, long snout, and tusks. Considerably edgier.
This book lays it all out: many medieval people owned a pig (in the countryside AND in towns), pigs were featured in stories and artwork (including the Judensau, used to dehumanize Jews in cathedral art showing them suckling a sow), and pigs were assumed to have rationality and so were taken to legal proceedings and even hanged for murdering children. The pig was paradoxically scorned as a savage, dirty beast yet seen as valuable because it provided meat and wealth.
Pigs were admired for being able to root around and find their own food, until they were rooting up cemeteries and causing chaos, though most were actually kept penned or escorted by a swineherd.
They'd also eat anything and served as de facto garbage disposals for medieval people because, like a porcine Midas, they'd magically turn otherwise worthless city scraps and forest acorns into quality meat, which could be salted and kept through winter.
The legal trials surprised me most. I'd assumed premodern people put animals well below the level of humans, which they did, yet they also credited pigs with enough rationality to know right from wrong, and held them responsible accordingly.
November 13, 2025
My biggest tripe, I mean gripe, with this book is that is a bit short and feels a bit rushed at times. I found it entertaining but not particularly groundbreaking if one already is aware that the pink things we call pigs today are not at all what pigs looked like a thousand years ago or even 200 years ago. Leaner, fairly meaner, tusked and hairy pigs in the middle ages were rougher sturdier animals that took a fair amount of physical and mental space in the medieval world. A facet worthwhile to consider and contemplate but not one to really fixate on.
January 1, 2026
I read this because I saw it as a reference in a Tasting History YouTube food video "The Killer Pigs of the Middle Ages".
I am a bit childish and focused on the medieval pictures of pigs because they looked cute though I did read the text even if I did not retain the information. I just know I would probably have give a butchered pig as payment if I ever raised them especially if I fattened them using the nuts or plants on some gentry's land. They also might be put on trial if they do some manslaughter.
I am a bit childish and focused on the medieval pictures of pigs because they looked cute though I did read the text even if I did not retain the information. I just know I would probably have give a butchered pig as payment if I ever raised them especially if I fattened them using the nuts or plants on some gentry's land. They also might be put on trial if they do some manslaughter.
March 4, 2026
An answer to the age old question: “But what is a pig’s place?”
June 29, 2026
Fue un magnífico libro sobre un personaje inusual pero fundamental para la cultura
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews