H. Rackham in the introduction to his edition of the Statutes (Cambridge, 1927), describes the various marginal illustrations in the manuscript, many of which seem to be purely decorative. However, in the case of this illustration of an ape riding piggy-back on a human figure, there may be a link between text and image. It accompanies the chapter entitled ‘Of the scholastic exercises of the fellows’ and treats the curriculum and pedagogical method. At this date, mastery of the curriculum involved ‘hearing or performing all the lectures, responsions and oppositions’. In other words, a degree of ‘aping’ was required, somewhat different to modern pedagogical practice. The ape has sometimes been associated with imitation, the word ‘simian’ deriving from the Latin ‘similis’, meaning ‘resembling’. It has also been observed that there is a possible play on the confusion between ‘singe’ (French for monkey) and ‘signe’ (letter), as if text itself can be mischievously duplicitous, and therefore needing to be scrutinised and patrolled closely.
