Barnacle goose myth

The barnacle goose myth is a widely reported historical misconception about the breeding habits of the barnacle goose and brant goose. One version of the myth is that these geese emerge fully formed from goose barnacles. Other myths exist about how the barnacle goose supposedly emerges and grows from matter other than bird eggs.
The etymology of the term "barnacle" suggests Latin, Old English, and French roots. There are few references in pre-Christian books and manuscripts – some Roman or Greek. The main vector for the myth into modern times was monastic manuscripts and in particular the bestiary.
The myth owes its long-standing popularity to an early ignorance of the migration patterns of geese. Early medieval discussions of the nature of living organisms were often based on myths or genuine ignorance of what is now known about phenomena such as bird migration. It was not until the late 19th century that bird migration research showed that such geese migrate northwards to nest and breed in Greenland or northern Scandinavia.

Early references

An early, but not the first reference to the myth of the barnacle goose, is in the eleventh century Exeter Book of Riddles. The riddle NUMBER 10, is asked as follows:
To which the anticipated answer was "The Barnacle Goose".
In Ray Lankester's Diversions of a Naturalist there is evidence of a serious literature debate arising from the work of Max Muller, together with a French Zoologist, Frederic Houssay, George Perrot and Charles Chipiez. The debate centered on the possibility that the barnacle goose myth could have been known to early Mycenaean settlers –1100 BCE. Lankester claimed that drawings, often seen on Mycenaean pottery, were an interpretation by contemporary artists of the features of typical geese. Lankester pointing out the way the Barnacle Geese were represented, wrote that the solution was:
He goes on to suggest that "it is fairly evident that the intention has been to manipulate the drawing of the leaf or fruit so as to make it resemble the drawing of the goose, whilst that in its turn is modified so as to emphasise or idealise its points of resemblance to a barnacle".
He summarises the possibility that Mycenaean drawings of birds – especially the goose – seen on pottery shows that the barnacle goose myth was known to settlers on the Greek islands, a thousand years BCE. He concludes his observations as follows:
There is an absence of evidence to support his claim from Greek or Roman folklore. Neither Aristotle or Herodotus or Pliny the Elder make any explicit reference to this myth. Buckeridge 2011 doubts the claims made by Edward Heron-Allen as follows:

Myth in ancient Rome

Many writers reference Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historiae as an early first century Roman source for the myth. This belief is a myth itself. Pliny the Elder did not discuss the barnacle goose myth. Pliny's Naturalis Historiae is an early encyclopaedia that expands his views on the physical and natural world. While he makes extensive reference to "Geese", e.g., goose fat, he does not mention Barnacle Geese and their origins in his sections on Marine Animals and Birds.
The first printed copies of Naturalis Historiae appear in the late 1480s. A 1480 version of Naturalis Historiae was printed by Andreas Portilla in Parma in Northern Italy. A copy of this book was owned by Hector Boece at the time he wrote his account of the barnacle goose myth. It is impossible to be certain if Hector Boece was influenced by Pliny. Almost certainly Boece would have been aware of the myth from his time at the Collège de Montaigu in the University Paris where he worked with Erasmus and when he was a student at the University of St Andrews. Boece is most likely to be influenced by Topographia Hibernica, compiled by Gerald of Wales around 1188.

Medieval bestiary

The most important way that the barnacle goose myth was propagated during the early medieval period was through bestiaries. Bestiaries described a beast real or imaginary and used that description as a basis for an allegorical teaching. As this period was intensely religious, Monastic orders, Churches, Universities and royalty acquired and copied manuscript versions of Bestiaries repeating and building and moralising stories about animals. Animal stories, both real and mythical, were used. As people were dependent on wild and domestic animals for their survival, they had an obvious interest in the world and its animals around them. Jews as well as Christians considered most of the Hebrew Bible which contains many references to animals, to be sacred. including text from other sources such as Greek Physiologus.
Bestiaries were not text-books of zoology but religious works. They described the world as it was known and understood by clerics, monastic writers, and the nobility, and they gave earlier mythical stories a sense of authority and weight.

Emperor Frederick II and other reported eyewitnesses

, an ornithologist and learned scholar, is best remembered for his seminal work, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus ''. This book was written in Latin around the year 1241. Frederick is believed to have based his observations about birds on personal experience. As a result, he is suspicious of the barnacle goose myth propagated by Gerald of Wales. In this, Gerald of Wales claims:
Frederick not only claims to have seen the embryos but also collects empirical evidence to support his dismissal of the myth. In a short passage from De Arte..., Frederick II writes:
It is claimed that Gerald of Wales provided the basis for the dissemination of the myth before being referenced by medieval bestiaries. He was not first to record in Latin folk tales or myths about spontaneous generation or transformation of young barnacle geese from rotten wood via the goose-necked barnacle to fledgling geese. In 1177 the future English king John was appointed Lord of Ireland and the English rule was set in these territories. As a royal clerk and chaplain to King Henry II of England, Gerald of Wales accompanied Prince John between 1183 and 1186 on an expedition to Ireland. After his return, in 1187 or 1188, he had published a manuscript with the description of the new Irish lands called Topographia Hibernica. His views on Ireland in Topographia Hibernica include the following passage:

Influence on church doctrine

The Fourth Council of the Lateran was called by Pope Innocent III with the papal bull "Vineam Domini Sabaoth" of 19 April 1213. The Council met in Rome at the Lateran Palace. Several writers make reference to a canon drawing a distinction between the barnacle goose as a "bird", and as a "fish" resulting from Pope Innocent III at this council.
The decision would have been important for adherents to Western Catholic Church, especially during Lent, when believers were banned from eating "meat" – e.g. birds. Lankester repeats this story, which is also found in Muller, The claim was that the clergy in France, Ireland and Great Britain, were instructed to stop permitting the eating of Barnacle Geese, during Lent, as a "fish". Seemingly, it had become accepted practice that eating Barnacle Geese was allowed, while eating other forms of meat, e.g. duck was not. Given the migration patterns of the barnacle goose, there would have been many geese seen across Europe by people living on the western coast of Ireland, Scotland and France. Conveniently these birds were seen as an alternative to other forms of "meat" e.g. wild ducks. Therefore, fulfilling one of the requirements for fasting days during Lent. Elaborating on this, Lankester wrote;
Importantly, Muller disputes the source of a Lateran prohibition. He claims it may have been a confusion with Vincentius Bellovacensis writing just after the Lateran Council. He says
Beauvais' Speculum Naturale, contained thirty-two books with more than 3700 chapters, across a variety of topics; including cosmography, physics, botany and zoology. In chapter XVII Beauvais described the various theories on how Barnacle Geese came about. He concludes that "Innocentius papa tertius in Lateranensi Consillio generali hoc ultra fieri vetuit". That is, the Pope banned the practice of eating Barnacle Geese. However the records of the 4th Lateran Council do not include reference to such a ban amongst any of its decisions.
Van der Lugt provides the most reasoned and detailed case against the claims for a Lateran Council prohibition of barnacle goose eating during Lent. He argues that while there certainly was a lengthy debate between canonists in the late 12th and early 13th centuries relating to what was permissible for adherents to eat during Lent, it did not concern the barnacle goose. Finally, at the time of the Lateran Council, scholars such as Gervase of Tilbury and Alexander Neckam frequently referred to myths or folklore about the natural world. Neckam wrote of a bird called the "bernekke". Neither Gervase of Tilbury or Alexander Neckham make reference to a prohibition by Pope Innocent III.

Renaissance Era testimonies

In 1435, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus travelled to Scotland to encourage James I of Scotland to assist the French in the Hundred Years War. He spent several months travelling around Britain, and recorded these travels in his book entitled "de Europa". A short section of the book is devoted to Scotland and Ireland. He described James as "a sickly man weighed down by a fat paunch". He noted the cold inhospitable climate of Scotland and "semi-naked paupers who were begging outside churches went away happily after receiving stones as alms".
Continuing in this vein, he records the following story:
It is believed that this story from Pope Pius II is the first recorded account of the Barnacle Geese myth in Scotland.
Sir John Mandeville is associated with both the Barnacle Geese myth and a similar myth about cotton, which has been illustrated to show sheep hanging from a tree. His book is commonly known as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The book was first circulated between 1357 and 1371. The earliest-surviving text is in French. Although the book is real, it is widely believed that "Sir John Mandeville" himself was not. It is possible that de Melville was a Frenchman whose name was Jehan à la Barbe.

This book is often referenced in relation to the barnacle goose myth. In a translation from the French, the author writes: