Medieval Guide Dogs

This online exhibit/page is designed to introduce and make accessible some of the findings from my project on medieval guide dogs, which was funded by the Dutch Research Council’s Open Competition XS grant. The goal of this project was to identify and collect medieval artistic and textual representations of guide dogs from four regions (The Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, and France). The project focused on representations created between 1100 and 1500, although representations created outside of this date range were also considered.

Here is an example, from a fourteenth-century collection of Alexander romances produced in Flanders:

Two illustrations of the same man guided by guide dog. The man holds a yellow staff and wears a hat. The dog is on a leash held by the man. In the illustration to the left, a bowl lies on the floor between the dog and the man; in the illustration to the right the dog is in front of the man and holding the bowl in his mouth.

Note: Information about how the guide dogs were identified for this project is available here.

This exhibit is designed to be accessible to everyone; academic analysis of the representations that appear here (and others) appears in my forthcoming book on the topic.

All images here are creative commons licensed (Licence Creative Commons Attribution – Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale 3.0 non transposé), unless otherwise indicated. All come accompanied by image descriptions (for use with, e.g., screen readers). Other images that were identified for this project, including those that are not creative commons license, have not been included on this page but are discussed in my forthcoming book.

If you would like to discuss one of the examples that you learned about on this page in an academic work, here is the citation information for this page: Milne, K.A. “Medieval Guide Dogs [Funded by NWO’s Open Competition Grant], 2025. wwww.kristamilne.com/guidedogs. Accessed [replace with date].

It was once believed that guide dogs are a modern (i.e. post-1400) phenomenon, but they have a long history.

At the bottom of a folio, a figure wearing a blue tunic holding a staff (right hand) and leash (left hand) walks with a small brown dog (approx. 2 feet in length, counting the tail) with small ears and a small curly tail

This image of a guide dog, for example comes from the medieval Bible jaromĕřska (Prague, Mus. Nat. Bibl. XII.A.10, f. 69v). The image was produced in the late thirteenth century in Northern France.

Here is another example, which is taken from the fourteenth century Maastricht Hours. The example illustrates the episode of Christ giving sight to a blind man. In the image, the blind man receives sight from Christ while his small white dog watches the scene unfold.

A blind man receives sight from Christ while his dog looks on. The man wears a hood and holds a staff between his elbow and body; his hands are in a praying position and his eyes are closed. The dog is white with short hair and a long tail and is wearing a collar.

Representations such as these ones reveal new information about medieval approaches to guide dogs and, in so doing, strengthen our understanding of the roots of modern-day attitudes toward guide dogs.

Guide Dogs in Medieval Romance Manuscripts

Manuscript image depicting a banquet in Arthur's hall. A blind harp player (later revealed to be Merlin) stands before the table; the guide dog's leash is tied to the messenger's belt and the messenger holds a harp with both hands.

While the examples discussed appear in religious manuscripts, some of the representations of guide dogs collected for this project appear in manuscripts of medieval romances. This example appears in a collection of Arthurian romances produced toward the end of the thirteenth century, likely in Flanders. The scene illustrates an episode that appears in the accompanying romance in which a mysterious blind messenger (later revealed to be Merlin) appears in Arthur’s hall playing a harp and accompanied by a small guide dog.

Here is another example of a guide dog produced around the same time that illustrates the same narrative. In both illustrations, the guide dog accompanying the messenger is small and white.

Banquet in Arthur's hall. A harp player (the messenger) stands before the table with a guide dog attached to a chain; the messenger holds a harp with both hands.

A Variety of Types

While the dog in the image above is relatively small, medieval representations of guide dogs depict a wide range of different types and sizes, including this large brown dog with pointed ears:

The man, whose eyes are closed, wears patched clothing and seems to be a beggar. He wears a large shoulder bag and a hood. He holds the guide dog's leash in his right hand and a tall staff in his left. The dog has a somewhat fox-like appearace (brown hair, with a bushy tail and short ears pointing upright). The dog is apprx. 2-3 feet long, excluding the tail.

The example above comes from a copy of the Smithfield Decretals that is now in the British Library collection (it’s the same example I mentioned in a 2017 post that was designed to draw attention to the presence of guide dogs in medieval manuscripts).

Man facing left holding a staff in his right hand and a leash in his left hand. He has long robes on and is wearing a hat. The illustration is in a grisaille style so the colour of the dog cannot be determined. The dog is apprx. 2-3 feet in length (not counting the tail, which is bushy, medium-sized and a bit curly). The dog holds a bowl.

Guide Dogs with Bowls

In many of the examples identified for this project, guide dogs are depicted alongside people wearing tattered clothes or otherwise depicted as economically disadvantaged (the reasons for this are discussed in my book). The example here is described as a beggar accompanied by a dog in Lilian M. C. Randall’s Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts (1966).

This dog, like many of the ones discussed here, holds a bowl in his mouth for collecting alms (or charitable donations). In medieval Europe, many blind people faced significant financial difficulties (as discussed in this blog post from 2018).

The image is from the collection of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0 licensed.

"Blind man wearing a hat with his eyes closed and accompanied by a dog. The man holds a leash in his right hand and a staff in his left. A woman above him drops alms into the bowl, which is held by the dog. The man appears to be barefoot and is wearing a small belt bag."
Another example of a guide dog carrying a bowl, from a fourteenth-century psalter. Here, a woman drops a contribution into the bowl.

Where were representations of guide dogs produced?

The example above was produced in Flanders. Several of the examples identified for this project were also produced in this region.

Here is another example, from a Book of Hours produced in Flanders c. 1300:

Man with a long hat and eyes closed holds a leash in his left hand and a staff in his right hand. The man has a long white beard and a blue tunic with a hood. The dog is brown with a long bushy tail.

Northern France is also well represented among representations identified for the project. Why these regions? The reasons are explored in my book, which is forthcoming later in 2025 and which presents the analysis of the images presented here and of other representations identified for this project. As this book shows, exploring representations of medieval guide dogs is valuable, because it provides insight into medieval cultural history, and into the roots of modern day attitudes and approaches toward guide dogs.