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# A 15th-century French book of hours on Melusine, the queen who turned into a dragon
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/martovskii-kalendar-zovet-liudei-pakhat-seiat-i-navodit-poriadok/
- Published: 2024-03-02T08:17:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:41:59.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Art, Monarchies

The March calendar summons people to plough, sow and put their houses in order. And dragons to return to the castle. Though, strictly speaking, we are talking about one very particular dragon.

A French book of hours of the fifteenth century records one version of the legend of Queen Melusine, who, by her mother's curse, was half serpent, monster and dragon, and turned into the creature once a week. The rest of the time a beautiful maiden, Melusine married a king, lived with him happily and bore him many lovely children. The sole antenuptial condition was that Melusine should remain inviolable once a week, when the king was forbidden to enter her chamber. But after many years of marriage the king could not restrain himself and peeped into the queen's apartments, only to see that she was half monster. Melusine then turned into a dragon, left the king two magic rings and the children, and quitted the castle.

The legend has it that she returned only in March, to look upon her offspring.

The story of Melusine has been known in many European kingdoms since the Middle Ages. Several European monarchies, moreover, trace their descent from her, among them the Angevin kings, many German princes, the founders of Luxembourg, and Richard I the Lionheart himself, who, apropos of the family legend, even quipped: “From the Devil we came, and to the Devil we shall go.”

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11381@02-03-2024_11-17-41.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11382@02-03-2024_11-17-41.jpg)