hippogriff

Roger Delivering Angelica by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, painted 1819, portrays the scene from Orlando furioso in which Roger, mounted on a hippogriff, rescues Angelique.

A Hippogriff (also spelled Hippogryph and Hippogryphe, Italian: Ippogrifo) is a legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare. Ludovico Ariosto's poem, Orlando furioso (1516) contains an early description (canto IV):

XVIII

No empty fiction wrought by magic lore,

But natural was the steed the wizard pressed;

For him a filly to griffin bore;

Hight hippogryph. In wings and beak and crest,

Formed like his sire, as in the feet before;

But like the mare, his dam, in all the rest.

Such on Riphaean hills, though rarely found,

Are bred, beyond the frozen ocean's bound.

XIX

Drawn by enchantment from his distant lair,

The wizard thought but how to tame the foal;

And, in a month, instructed him to bear

Saddle and bit, and gallop to the goal;

And execute on earth or in mid air,

All shifts of manege, course and caracole;

He with such labour wrought. This only real,

Where all the rest was hollow and ideal.

According to Thomas Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne:

The reason for its great rarity is that griffins regard horses as prey. It has been suggested this idea was strong enough in medieval times to produce an expression, "to mate griffins with horses", which meant about the same as the modern expression, "When pigs fly". The hippogriff was therefore a symbol of impossibility and love. The hippogriff, in legends is said to be far faster, stronger and more intelligent than their fathers, the griffin, apparently traveling at the "speed of lightning". This was supposedly inspired by Virgil's Ecologues: ... mate Gryphons with mares, and in the coming age shy deer and hounds together come to drink.., which would also be the source for the reputed medieval expression, if indeed it was one.

Among the animal combat themes in Scythian gold adornments may be found griffins attacking horses.

Hippogriff, illustration by Gustave Doré for Orlando furioso.

The hippogriff seemed easier to tame than a griffin. In the few medieval legends when this fantastic creature makes an appearance, it is usually the pet of either a knight or a sorcerer. It makes an excellent steed, being able to fly as fast as lightning. The hippogriff is said to be an omnivore, eating either plants or meat.

The most famous hippogriff is Buckbeak, of the Harry Potter book series by British author, J. K. Rowling.

References

• Thomas Bulfinch, Legends of Charlemagne, 1863.