CHICHELVACHE

In medieval European folklore, the Chichelvache is the wife of Bicorne. Chichelvache takes the form of an undernourished cow who has a miserable expression on her human face. She is supposed to live on a diet of wives who were both obedient and tyrannized by their husbands. Since it was supposed that there would not be a surplus of such women, the Chichelvache was always hungry! Chichelvache and Bicorne were frequently represented in allegorical sculptures and misericords in churches to represent the lot of wives and husbands. Sometimes Chichelvache (‘Scrawny Cow’) is called by the alternative Chichifache (‘Thin-Face’), which is how Chaucer spelled it in his ‘Clerk’s Tale’ in The Canterbury Tales.