The New Murrey and Blue blog

Here’s an oddity. Well, perhaps not, given that the kings of England had a royal menagerie at the Tower, in which a variety of exotic (to England) animals were kept.

While looking at the Calendar of Patent Rolls for 1385 I came upon the following entry:-

The entry doesn’t say the ostrich was kept in the Tower menagerie, but I imagine it was. Yet this is the only mention of the bird that I can find. I’ve looked at this site but there’s not a squawk of an ostrich. Nor at this one.

But the ostrich was a badge of Richard II’s beloved queen, Anne of Bohemia, as is mentioned here Apologies for the small print. :

An ostrich also features on Anne’s tomb, as you will read here. It’s the same picture as above, but enlarged.:-

You can also read about medieval thoughts on ostriches at JSTOR here but will need to register and choose a password to read it. Worth doing because you gain access to a number of free articles.

So, I suppose it isn’t surprising that somehow Richard II acquired a real ostrich, although its full story remains a mystery. To me anyway.

Hmm…I wonder if Henry IV‘s parrot knew about it?