Unknown Artist
Today is May 4th, which means ... it is Star Wars Day! The date comes from the famous phrase “May the Force be with you,” which sounds like “May the Fourth be with you.” On this day, people celebrate the cultural impact of the Star Wars saga—revisiting the films, sharing memes, and highlighting the many unexpected ways the galaxy far, far away has entered popular culture.
One of the most amusing Star Wars sightings appears in a medieval manuscript known as the Smithfield Decretals, a 14th-century book containing nearly 2,000 Decretals (decrees) of Pope Gregory IX. The manuscript is famous not for its legal (and quite boring) content but for its lively marginal drawings—playful "drolleries" that often have little to do with the text itself. The manuscript includes a small figure that looks strikingly like Yoda, complete with pointed ears and a robe.
Despite the resemblance, the figure is not actually the wise Jedi master. Still, the similarity is uncanny and serves as a reminder of the vivid—and sometimes delightfully strange—imagination of medieval manuscript artists. More than 600 years before Star Wars was created, an illuminator had already sketched a creature that looks remarkably at home in the Star Wars universe.
P.S. If you love funny creatures, you’ll love our glass water bottle!
P.P.S. If you are a fan of Star Wars, you're going to love these iconic paintings reimagined as Star Wars!