account, with the Monster of Ravenna centrally displayed on the frontispiece; by this point, the creature was well-established as possessing a single clawed foot. A major element in the popularity of the "monster" was its appearance alongside similar signs and portents; the occurrence of other preternatural events was a major factor in convincing Landucci that this was not an isolated incident. In 1514, with the example of Ravenna still fresh in public memory, a so-called "Monster of Bologna" was reported. This child was born with two faces, three eyes, and a woman's vulva on its forehead. She lived long enough to be baptized as "Maria" but died four days later. Interpretation Contemporary accounts sought to explain the "monster" and its unusual features in religious terms. The version proposed by Multivallis was fairly typical of the age; the recent Battle of Ravenna was a common theme in most texts produced very soon after the initial incident, being mentioned in both Landucci's report and that of Ambroise Paré, who tersely listed the Monster of Ravenna as an "Example of the Wrath of God" upon Pope Julius II and the people of Italy. Others emphasized the specific vice of sexual immorality, as Pietro Martire d'Anghiera recorded the belief that the monster was born the illegitimate child of a married mother. During the Protestant Reformation, monstrous births and similar incidents were cited with political intent, most notably in the example of Luther's mooncalf. In the fifth volume of the anti-Lutheran Centvrien by Johann Nas, Martin Luther is himself identified with the Monster of Ravenna. Early woodcuts were produced by Protestants which depicted the child as having been born in a Florentine convent, the offspring of a nun and the Pope himself. This was followed by the more established narrative that the birth presaged the invasion of Louis XII as an agent of God's displeasure with Catholic power. The Monster of Ravenna is referenced briefly in Mateo Alemán's novel Guzmán de Alfarache, which was published at the end of the seventeenth century. After protracted criticism of his own father for being sexually and religiously immoral, Guzmán invokes the grotesque imagery of the Monster as a being which transcends the societal norms of sex. Speculation on origins Analyzing the later account of Ambroise Paré, Walton et al. proposed a tentative diagnosis of sirenomelia with related factors; additionally, they emphasize possible indicators of hydrocephalus causing a bulging