The Tudor's Dynasty Podcast.

Rebecca got me thinking about monkeys and exotic animals and especially trying to always find,

and probably anyone who knows a bit about my work knows that I talk a lot about is,

I'm trying to find things that I can trace back to Catherine Varagon's influence, but because a lot of the documents around

her were destroyed, I have to find it through different avenues.

You're listening to the Tudor's Dynasty podcast with Rebecca Larson.

Welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Rebecca Larson.

One of the most popular topics that we cover on the website and the podcast is

symbolism in portraiture. So today I am talking to Dr. Emma Cahill Marone and Mel Taylor

about the portrayal of parrots in various works of art and sculpture. We'll be exploring the earliest

appearance of portrayal of parrots in medieval

and early modern works, why these birds were thought to be so special, where they came from,

and who was it that supplied the growing demand in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.

So to start, is there any documentary evidence of trade in exotic birds to Western Europe?

And if so, where can they be found?

Shall I answer that, Emma?

Yes, you should.

Okay, right. Well, we have evidence going back to three or four hundred years BC.

Parrots came across to Europe and they were imported by the Egyptians and the Romans and the Greeks.

And Alexander was the one who brought the parrot called the Alexandrine parrot into Europe

and they just proliferated all over the place.

The Romans loved them and they even, they had them as pets,

...